The WellMet Gazette                                        Volume Two, November 2017

WELCOME LETTER Dear WellMet Community, I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! WellMet's calendar year runs from October to early June, giving us and our partners at The New York Community Trust enough time to seek qualified finalists for our annual grants. After issuing RFPs in January and making site visits in the spring to all candidates, in June we were privileged to award a total of $215,000 to 10 diverse, exciting and relatively new 501(c)(3) organizations. Here are the names, founding year and brief description of the grantees from our 2016-17 season: Bangladeshi American Community Development and Youth Services (2009) helps low-income youth and adults in New York City neighborhoods where there is a strong Bangladeshi presence to have educational and economic success, lead healthier lives, secure affordable housing and develop leadership skills. Building Beats (2013) develops and expands DJ and other music programs and disciplines to underserved youth at schools, workshops and community centers. City Science (2010) uses the city as a science and environmental lab for pre-K through 8th grade students, and also trains teachers in these fields. Culture for One (2010) inspires NYC foster kids by providing cultural experiences and exposure to culturally broader worlds. DMF Youth (2015) offers free dance, fitness and life skill development to underserved youth in schools and homeless shelters. Made in Brownsville (2013) uses architectural design to help local youth take ownership of their East Brooklyn neighborhood and eventually seek careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math (STEAM) professions. New York on Tech (2014) works with high school students, their parents and schools to create pathways for underrepresented students to earn degrees in STEM disciplines.  Shakespeare Forum (2009) provides East Harlem youth with acting workshops, after school programs, performances and a festival, all built around Shakespeare's works. Sonia & Celina Sotomayor Judicial Internship Program (2014) cultivates and develops future leaders through judicial internships with the goal of increasing diversity in the legal profession. Tomorrow’s Leaders (2011) provides over-age middle school students with support services and essential training to further their education. Hearty congratulations to all! You have all made our jobs a real pleasure! Warmly, Deborah McManus Co-Founder, WellMet Philanthropy

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WELLMET GAZETTE SPOTLIGHT: REVEREND ALFONSO WYATT

For more than 15 years, Reverend Alfonso Wyatt has been an invaluable friend and resource for the WellMet Philanthropy community. In fact, since the 2001-02 season, approximately 40 percent of WellMet’s grantees have been referrals from him. Wyatt currently serves as an advisor to nonprofit organizations, and is also an ordained minister at The Greater Allen Cathedral of New York. Previously he worked as Vice President for the Fund for the City of New York for 22 years.   Each year, Wyatt works to identify emerging nonprofits that could be potential candidates for WellMet grants. "I always have WellMet in the back of my mind,” he says. “I start looking for organizations a year in advance, and I find myself going to events where I can meet potential grantees. Once I meet them, I get a sense of them, their budgets and their capacity. Can they grow beyond a grant? Sometimes organizations are not ready for a grant."   Then, Wyatt selects up to four organizations to give a short presentation to WellMet members at an annual meeting each fall. He always strives to suggest organizations that work on a variety of issues, and advises them to infuse personal stories about their work in their presentation. "I think of it as an opportunity for organizations to get their first experience with a funder," Wyatt remarks. "It creates momentum and shows new organizations how the process works." After the meeting, WellMet members decide which of Wyatt's recommended organizations they will recommend for a potential grant. Wyatt is grateful for the opportunity to help fledging nonprofits grow and thrive.  "By treating each organization like it was my money, I've been able to live vicariously and had the real joy of being able to help organizations."

GRANTEE NEWS AND UPDATES

AWARDS Barbershop Books received a 2017 Innovations in Reading Prize, which honors organizations and individuals who discover new ways to empower communities through literature. The organization is a community-based reading program that creates child-friendly reading spaces in barbershops. Getting Out and Staying Out (GOSO)'s President and Co-Founder Mark Goldsmith was honored at New York Nonprofit Media's 50 over 50 Awards, which recognizes NYC's most prominent and accomplished nonprofit leaders. GOSO empowers young men to avoid involvement in the criminal justice system by reshaping their futures through educational achievement, meaningful employment and financial independence. MEDIA COVERAGE Dr. Melony Samuels, the Executive Director of Bed-Stuy Campaign Against Hunger (BSCAH), whose mission is to empower its neighbors to lead healthier, more productive and self-sufficient lives by increasing their access to nutritious food and related resources, was featured in a New York Times story outlining the devastating impact of the proposed Trump tax cuts on their food pantry customers. Refinery 29, a digital media company focused on women, filmed a video about Bottomless Closet and featured it on the Refinery 29 Facebook page in August, which has over 5.3 million followers. The video has since been shared by Upworthy and has amassed a total of 739,000 views, over 13,000 reactions and over 3,200 shares. In October, POLITICO ran an article on City Health Works (CHW) , describing their health coaches as "the ground troops in a fresh approach to primary care." Also, this past June, CEO & Founder Manmeet Kaur presented a two-minute Brave Idea at the Aspen Ideas Festival. CHW enables individuals with chronic illnesses to self-manage their health and navigate medical and social services through one-on-one health coaching and ongoing check-ins.  Senior Director of Programs at  Girls for Gender Equity Tarana Burke saw her me too movement go viral after Alyssa Milano tweeted out #MeToo in response to accusations of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein, prompting thousands of people to post as well. Burke founded the me too movement a decade ago as a way to help survivors of sexual assault heal. Girls for Gender Equity is committed to the physical, psychological, social and economic development of girls and women. As part of their Re-Think campaign to honor non-profit organizations, the  Atlantic  ran a feature online story about Hour Children ’s programs to reunite families impacted by incarceration. Hour Children helps incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women and their children successfully rejoin the community, reunify with their families, and build healthy, independent, and secure lives. Mentoring in Medicine, Inc.' s school-based program at KAPPA International High School in the Bronx was featured on FOX News earlier this year. Mentoring in Medicine, Inc. is a continuity pipeline program that inspires and educates future health and science professionals from second grade through career. The organization hosts after school programs and in-class electives in 21 schools teaching health science beginning in second grade.   Earlier this year, NY1 ran a story  profiling  Safe Passage and its work on behalf of refugee children living in New York. Deputy Executive Director and Co-Founder Gui Stampur was featured in the piece and reports that Safe Passage has grown significantly and is currently serving almost 700 children with full legal representation. STEM From Dance 's work was featured in a  Fast Company  article titled "This Is How Dancing to Beyonce Is Turning Underrepresented Girls into Coders." The organization uses dance to grow the number of underrepresented minority girls who are STEM-college ready.

GRANTS The Center for the Integration and Advancement of New Americans (CIANA)  received a $50,000 grant from State Senator Jose Peralta to continue providing legal services and educational programs to the immigrant communities of Queens. Kids Creative   was awarded two federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grants to expand and continue their after school and summer programs at the Joseph O. Loretan campus in the Bronx and at PS 102 in East Harlem. The organization provides after school and summer programs to over 1,900 youth annually. Let's Get Ready received a transformative $1.35 million renewal grant from The Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. The grant, invested over three years, will fund an expanded effort to ensure that Let's Get Ready's participants successfully attain their college degrees after enrollment. The grant builds upon a $1.1 million initial investment the Dell Foundation made in 2014 to help Let's Get Ready launch their College Success program. Scholarship Plus (SPLUS) received a $300,000 grant over four years from The New York Community Trust. This gift is helping SPlus provide a substantial college scholarship and academic and personal support to its largest class to date. SPlus also celebrated its fourth class graduating from college and another year of a 100 percent college graduation rate. Youth Advocacy Corps (YAC) , which works to support and empower young people to become social justice leaders and respond to resource gaps in their communities, was selected as one of three projects in Brooklyn Community Foundation's Incubator Project. The Foundation highlighted YAC's work in their 2017 Impact Report, which can be seen  here . In addition, YAC also hosted a health justice summit for over 100 young people in Brooklyn this past August, which was covered by News12 Brooklyn and featured by Brooklyn Community Foundation in a promotional video . NEW INITIATIVES HYPOTHEkids has a new initiative called  STEAM the Streets which brings science to unexpected places all over NYC. Since launching on Earth Day, they have been to all five boroughs, popping up in plazas, parks, farmers markets, and literally, on the streets when they are closed to vehicular traffic. STEAM the Streets' partners include the Uni Project, the DOT, NYCHA, NYCGrown, and Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) that want to activate underutilized outdoor spaces in their neighborhoods.  A group of immigrant parent leaders at  Masa , called Masa Parents in Action, came together in recent months to develop a campaign to combat race-based bullying, discrimination and violence in NYC public schools. Masa Parents in Action hosted a successful kickoff event in mid-October, which was attended by over 200 people including several public officials. Masa partners with Mexican and Latino children, youth, and families in the South Bronx to develop strong learners and leaders who fully contribute to the broader community. Through a partnership with Friends of Island Academy,  The Possibility Project  began a new program for young men on Rikers Island and will provide arts workshops during the 2017-18 program cycle. Also, the Possibility Project's Youth Justice Program, now in its third year, will premiere its original musical, “On the Ropes,” at Teatro Latea from December 6-9 at 7:30pm. Tickets are available  here . Young New Yorkers , which provides arts-based diversion programs to court-involved young people, have launched their first   #ArtNotJail  campaign, where the graduates advocate for teens who are caught up in the adult criminal justice system. ArtNotJail participants create a public art project advocating for criminal justice reform and invite the very judges and prosecutors who sentenced them to attend. 

PROGRAM/OTHER

Arts & Minds provided training and consultation for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and The Smithsonian Institution, as well as for "Just Us at The National Gallery of Art ,"  a new program at the museum for people with memory loss and their caregivers . " Just Us at the National Gallery of Art" was  featured  in  The Washington Post  and mentioned Arts & Minds' Executive Director. The organization provides museum-based experiences for people with dementia and their caregivers.

In just two years, Green City Force has built three new large-scale urban farms in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and this month, they broke ground on a fourth farm in the Bronx. For the past three years, they've engaged over 100 young adults in building and managing a total of five farms. All of these farms are built on public housing property and provide free fresh produce to low income public housing residents across the city while building the workforce skills of young adult NYCHA residents.

This summer, Groove With Me converted their storage room and dressing room into a third dance studio. Groove With Me is a free dance school in East Harlem whose mission is to attract and engage girls during idle out-of-school time hours and build self-confidence in an effort to prevent risk-taking behaviors. The new studio allows them to hold more classes, break the ballet program into more levels and host workshops like bullying prevention & basic finance.

Healing Communities Network (HCN), a prison re-entry/re-integration program, recently began working in the Rikers Island Vernon C. Bain Prison Boat in the Bronx. In addition to the Rikers Island location, HCN also serves six New York State prisons and four community groups. HCN's mission is to help reduce recidivism by working with people inside prison and after prison to direct their own rehabilitation in support groups that build self-esteem and a sense of community.

100 percent of Row New York seniors from the class of 2017 graduated from high school and matriculated to colleges, including Columbia University, Brown University, Vanderbilt University, NYU, and a number of other competitive SUNY, CUNY, and independent schools. Additionally, for the first time in organizational history, four Row New York athletes qualified to participate in Youth National Championships, the country's premier junior rowing event in Sarasota, Florida this past summer.

This past summer, Sakhi for South Asian Women welcomed their new Executive Director,  Kavita Mehra . Kavita has 15 years of experience in the nonprofit world, and her very first internship was actually at Sakhi! She recently wrote a  thank you letter t o South Asian domestic violence survivor Neha Rastogi  for Brown Girl Magazine .

Nominate an Organization WellMet is currently accepting nominations for our 2017-18 grant cycle. In order to be eligible, organizations must serve the NYC population; have either 501(c)(3) status or a fiscal sponsor; have been in operation for at least one year; and have a budget between $25k-$750k. Please email your suggestions to:  inquiry@wellmetphilanthropy.org . Become a WellMet Member We're always recruiting new WellMet members to our dynamic, all-volunteer group and we'd love you to join! Memb ers meet four times a year, and also participate in a site visit. You can read more about membership here, and e-mail inquiry@wellmetphilanthropy.org if you're interested in joining.

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WellMet’s mission is to support community-based social innovation by funding emerging New York City nonprofits, while actively engaging women in philanthropy.