Our GRants
Our GRants
We make strategic grants to nonprofit partners working in all five boroughs of New York City.
Each of our grants aligns with at least one of three programmatic pillars:
Our “YOUTH AND EDUCATION” program supports children, teenagers, and young adults by offering education and career opportunities that keep participants safe and enable them to pursue their goals. A representative program is our partnership with the Police Athletic League, through which we provide tutoring and internships for young people who have been in the family court system.
Our “NEIGHBORHOODS” program provides funding and capacity support for initiatives operating at the block level and similar scale. Typical funding recipients are groups of neighbors responding to community needs at a grassroots level. Through this program, which we operate primarily in partnership with the Citizens Committee of New York City, we fund projects like neighborhood watch groups and cleanups of abandoned lots.
Our “CRIMINAL JUSTICE” program supports direct crime-prevention initiatives like New York Crime Stoppers, which pays cash rewards to individuals who provide the NYPD with information leading to the arrest of violent criminals.
In addition to making grants, we support our partners by helping them evaluate and ensure program effectiveness; helping them promote their work; and developing and enhancing linkages between organizations that do complementary work.
America SCORES New York
Project: Literacy in Action
Program Area(s): Youth and Education; Neighborhoods
America SCORES New York (ASNY) is a combined soccer, literacy, and service-learning program for children ages 5-18 in under resourced NYC communities. Instead of exposure to troublesome influences and participation in negative activities, ASNY engages youth with soccer, poetry and community service projects. ASNY fills a void in the lives of underserved children, helping to curb juvenile violence and drug use.
Bottom Line
Project: Trailblazer Council Grantee
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Bottom Line is a grantee recipient chosen by the JAR Trailblazer Council. The Trailblazer Council is comprised of passionate, engaged young professionals who are committed to JAR’s mission.
Bottom Line helps first-generation students from low-income backgrounds get into college, graduate, and go far in life. Their objectives for their students are that they earn bachelor’s degrees, accumulate no more than $31,000 in debt, and be employed or continuing their education six months after graduation. Bottom Line was founded in 1997 as one of the first community-based organizations to focus on college completion. They now operate in New York City, Boston, and Chicago.
Child Abuse Prevention Program (CAPP)
of New York Foundling
Project: Child Safety Workshops
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
CAPP educates children in the New York City public schools about keeping safe from physical and sexual abuse. The program uses lifesized puppets in skits to teach children how to recognize, resist, and report abuse. Each year, CAPP prevention specialists visit 150 schools, providing vital safety information and helping to build a safer community environment for roughly 20,000 New York City children. Each workshop is followed by an opportunity to speak privately with staff and counselors about personal issues.
Citizens Committee for New York City
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Safe Neighborhood Awards
Program Area(s):Criminal Justice, Neighborhoods
Microgrants awarded through this program support resident led groups of New Yorkers from all over the city who are contributing to critical local safety improvements. Through these grants, neighbors work together to cover up graffiti on their block, convert vacant lots into safer community spaces, hold interactive youth forums on topics surrounding crime, and so much more.
The Doe Fund
Project: Forever Fathers
Program Area(s):Criminal Justice
The Doe Fund implements programs that work to break the cycles of poverty, including homelessness, addiction, and criminal recidivism. The Forever Fathers program functions as a support system and provides men with parenting classes where they discuss topics such as communication, discipline, and father’s rights.
Foster Pride
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Financial Literacy Workshops of HandMade
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
The HandMade program enables teenage women in foster care to develop and launch their own small businesses. Participants create and market crocheted accessories in order to learn entrepreneurship. The John A. Reisenbach Financial Literacy Workshops help the young women in HandMade develop money management skills and economic self-sufficiency.
Fountain House
Project: Hardest To Serve
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice
Fountain House strives to improve the lives of people living with serious mental illness by offering multifaceted programming to this population. The Hardest to Serve program would provide temporary beds for up to 10 people per year who are “hardest to serve”—those living with severe mental illness who have had histories of chronic homelessness and who may have a co-occurring disorder.
Good Call NYC
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Internship Cohort
Program Area(s): Youth and Education; Criminal Justice
Good Call provides a 24/7 emergency arrest hotline. The hotline connects arrested individuals with a free lawyer. Good Call's internship program gives students and system involved youth ages 17-25, an opportunity to develop their community outreach, technology, and leaderships skills, while helping Good Call build awareness and trust in local communities by serving as emerging leaders and credible messengers. The JAR Internship Cohort focuses on raising awareness around community safety within our communities.
Harlem Girls Cheer
Project: Harlem ROAR
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Harlem Girls Cheer empowers the next generation of female leaders using the platform of competitive cheer to enhance the lives of girls and young women ages 8-14, in the communities of Harlem and the Bronx. Harlem ROAR addresses the need for girls to engage in physical activity in an environment that provides encouragement and nurture, but also demands hard work, leadership, and teamwork.
Internationals Network for Public Schools
Project: English Language Learners
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Internationals Network educates recently arrived teenage immigrants through a network of International High Schools. Many students arrive in New York City speaking little to no English and are consequently at heightened risk for unemployment and poverty. The Reisenbach Foundation funds training and support for the International High Schools’ teachers, who enable at risk English language learner students to succeed in high school and beyond, helping to create a safer New York City.
Jeremiah Program New York
Project: From Poverty to Prosperity
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Youth and Education
Jeremiah Program works in Brownsville, Brooklyn to end the cycle of poverty for low-income single mothers and their children, two generations at a time. This unique, two-generation (2Gen) approach ensures access to post-secondary education for single mothers, high-quality early childhood education for their children, and holistic support for the whole family.
The Jewish Board
Project: Independent Living Skills Groups at Kaplan House
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Kaplan House serves young men in the foster care system, aged 17-21, from throughout New York City. At any given time, 25 youth live there, many of whom have spent much of their lives in the child welfare system. The transition from youth to adulthood is challenging for everyone, but the difficulties are multiplied for those who must simultaneously transition out of foster care. Kaplan House ensures that when residents leave, they do so with viable independent housing options, educational accomplishments, a path to meaningful employment, and permanent connections with trusting adults.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Each year, JAR supports the educational expenses of high-achieving John Jay students working in areas relevant to our mission.
The John A. Reisenbach Master's Scholarship Program is an investment in high-potential graduate students at John Jay College who are planning careers advancing safety and quality of life in New York City. Winners of this scholarship must commit to working in relevant fields in New York City for at least five years after graduation. Past scholarship recipients work as social workers, NYPD officers, federal law enforcement agents, lawyers, nonprofit leaders, and forensic scientists, among other service-oriented professions.
The Judith Bronfman Memorial Scholarship is available to both undergraduate and graduate students at John Jay. It is awarded to students who have already made a significant contribution to safety and quality of life in New York City via work, volunteering, or academic study. This scholarship honors the life and achievements of long-time JAR board member Judith Bronfman, who was a professor of English at John Jay and a driving force behind the foundation's master's scholarships.
Neighbors in Action
Project: Community Ambassadors
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Criminal Justice
Neighbors in Action improves community collaboration, fosters local leadership, and makes the neighborhoods of central Brooklyn safer and healthier for all residents. It strives to demonstrate how neighborhoods once torn apart by violence can become peaceful, vibrant communities through the collaborative efforts of residents, local nonprofit organizations, businesses, elected officials, and faith-based leaders. Community Ambassadors receive conflict mediation and de-escalation training to continue Neighbors in Action's mission to reduce shootings and killings.
New York Cares
Project: Career Preparation for the Formerly Incarcerated
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice, Youth and Education
New York Cares’ Career Preparation programs provide former prisoners with the knowledge and skills to rejoin the workforce. These initiatives combat the risks – including rearrests and imprisonment – that are associated with underemployment and unemployment.
New York Edge
Project: High School Today, College Tomorrow
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
New York Edge is the largest provider of afterschool programming in NYC. New York Edge recognizes that children and teens living in low-income neighborhoods need and deserve safe, welcoming, and creative opportunities after the school day. High School Today, College Tomorrow offers college and career guidance to rising juniors and seniors who attend Flushing High School in Queens, NY. Participants attend college and job fairs, college visits, receive financial aid application assistance, and academic support.
NYC Outward Bound Schools
Project: Crew Mentors Program
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
For the school year 2018-2019, the Crew Mentors pilot program was launched in partnership with JAR. Through this program, Outward Bound Schools trains and supports successful alumni from our schools to provide support to groups of students just beginning college at a local CUNY institution. With the program, “middle tier” students are targeted -- those whose academic record suggests they need extra support to successfully complete their first year at college.
New York City Police Foundation
Project: Crime Stoppers
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice
With the public’s help, the New York City Police Department has captured some of the city’s most dangerous criminals through the Crime Stoppers program. As one of the most effective crimefighting tools of the NYPD, Crime Stoppers
offers cash rewards of up to $2,500 for anonymous tips that lead to the arrest and indictment of a violent criminal. The Reisenbach Foundation funds a portion of these rewards.
The Point CDC
Project: Camp Powerpoint and The House of Spoof Collective
Program Area(s): Neighborhoods, Youth and Education
The Point CDC is dedicated to youth development and the cultural and economic revitalization of the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. Camp Powerpoint provides participants with pre-professional training in areas such as literacy and digital media, environmental and social justice, and civic engagement. The House of Spoof Collective brings together artists of all ages from all over the world to celebrate the role of art in the vitality of our communities and to highlight the benefits of art, culture and community as an alternative to violence and as a form of trauma relief.
Police Athletic League
Project: Reisenbach Interns Program
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice, Youth and Education
Youth Link is an early intervention strategy that helps young people who have been in the Family Court system remain out of detention, complete probation, reconnect to school, receive job training, and get back on track with their lives. Reisenbach Internships are the first jobs most Youth Link participants have ever had, and the internship curriculum is designed to provide stepping stones to brighter futures. In addition to counseling support needed to desist in criminal behavior, Reisenbach Interns receive targeted academic support and hands on work experience necessary for success in school and the workforce.
Safe Horizon
Project: Streetwork
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice, Youth and Education
Safe Horizon’s Streetwork Project serves a particularly vulnerable population: homeless youth. Based at Streetwork’s Uptown DropIn Center in Harlem, this project connects participants with safety, shelter, and basic services. The Reisenbach Foundation supports youth advocates, who ensure that the young people at Streetwork receive the services they need, including intensive case management, counseling, psychiatric consultations, HIV prevention, medical care, and benefits and housing advocacy.
Women In Need
Project: Income Building Program
Program Area(s): Criminal Justice
WIN is an organization that provides safe, clean and private transitional housing for families, as well as long term supportive housing with intensive one-to-one case management, to break the cycle of homelessness for New York City women and their children. The Income Building Program offers employment counseling, employment retention workshops, interview preparation, mock interviews, GED preparation, resume writing assistance, job fairs, computer skills training, and much more. WIN partners with employers, job training and placement specialists, and volunteer organizations to increase client employment gains and maximize household income.