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 four programmatic pillars:
Youth and Education Grants support children, teenagers, and young adults by offering education, mentoring, and career opportunities that keep participants safe and enable them to pursue their goals.
Housing and Community Grants support the unique needs of specific neighborhoods and communities throughout New York City. Many of these grants focus specifically on the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness.
Justice and Safety Grants support initiatives like community-led violence prevention programs. This is JAR’s oldest program pillar, and its purpose is to prevent any other NYC families from living with the agony of losing a loved one to violence.
Pandemic Relief Grants
support our city's newly vulnerable communities, resulting from the economic and public health crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. These groups include medical field workers, first responders, workers experiencing severe economic impact, and domestic violence survivors.
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
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.
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 New York City public schools about how to keep themselves safe from physical and sexual abuse.
Citizens Committee for New York City
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Safe Neighborhood Awards
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Justice and Safety
Micro-grants awarded through this program support resident-led groups of New Yorkers from all over the city who are contributing to local safety improvements.
Comedy Gives Back
Project: COVID -19 EMERGENCY NY COMEDIAN RELIEF FUND
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Comedy Gives Back provides a safety net for comedians in need whether it be mental health, medical and crisis support. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a need for comedians who have experienced a sudden loss of income. Donations contributed to the COVID -19 EMERGENCY NY COMEDIAN RELIEF FUND will help comedians with basic living expenses.
The Doe Fund
Project: Ready, Willing, and Able
Program Area(s): Justice and Safety
Ready, Willing & Able (RWA) is a nine-to-twelve month residential transitional work program, dedicated to returning formerly homeless and incarcerated men back to their communities as contributing and self-sufficient individuals.
EMS FDNY Help Fund
Project: Covid-19 Relief Client Services and Grants
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
The EMS FDNY Help Fund mission is to ensure the security of our Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics and their families in the event of death, injury, illness or hardship.
Food1ST
Project: Covid-19 Relief Client Services and Grants
Program Area: Pandemic Relief
This initiative helps feed emergency service workers and our neighbors who have limited access to food by partnering with restaurants throughout New York City in a way that will also revitalize the City’s food and beverage industry.
Foster Pride
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Financial Literacy Workshops of HandMade
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
HandMade 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.
Fountain House
Project: Hardest to Serve Homeless Initiative
Program Area(s): Housing and Community
Fountain House is dedicated to the recovery of men and women with mental illness by providing opportunities for our members to live, work, and learn, while contributing their talents through a community of mutual support. The Hardest to Serve Homeless Initiative pairs peer specialists, who are Fountain House members, with adults who have the greatest need for Fountain House’s unique set of support services and social interventions.
Good Call NYC
Project: The John A. Reisenbach Internship Cohort
Program Area(s): Justice and Safety; Youth and Education
Good Call provides a 24/7 emergency arrest hotline to connect 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 leadership 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
HGC empowers the next generation of female leaders using the platform of competitive cheer to enhance the lives of girls and young women in the communities of Harlem and the Bronx.
Internationals Network for Public Schools
Project: English Language Learners
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Training and support for the International High Schools' teachers, who enable at-risk English language learner students to succeed in high school and beyond.
Jazz Foundation of America
Project: COVID-19 Emergency Musicians' Emergency Fund
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Provides compassionate support, financial relief, and meaningful employment to jazz and blues musicians and their families in times of crisis. Donations contribute to the COVID-19 Musicians' Emergency Fund, which offers direct assistance for basic living expenses.
Jeremiah Program New York
Project: Pathway to Family Stability
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Youth and Education
The Jeremiah Program works in Brownsville, Brooklyn to end the cycle of poverty for single mothers and their children, two generations at a time. This 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, many of whom have spent much of their lives in the child welfare system. 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 trusted 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.
National Domestic Workers Alliance
Project: Coronavirus Care Fund
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
NDWA is the nation’s leading voice for dignity and fairness for the millions of domestic workers in the United States. This grant provides emergency assistance for NYC-based home care workers, nannies and house cleaners to support them in staying safe, staying home, and caring for themselves and their families.
Neighbors in Action
Project: Community Ambassadors
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Justice and Safety
NIA improves community collaboration, fosters local leadership, and makes the neighborhoods of central Brooklyn safer and healthier for all residents. Community Ambassadors will receive conflict mediation and de-escalation training to continue NIA's mission to reduce shootings and killings.
New York Cares
Project: Career Preparation & Education Services for Individuals Reentering the Workforce
Program Area(s): Justice and Safety
This program prepares individuals with criminal justice involvement to rejoin the workforce. Workshops, including resume development, mock interviews, job readiness, and adult education, facilitate the skills and attitudes needed to enter and succeed in employment.
New York Edge
Project: High School Today, College Tomorrow
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
This afterschool program 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 from New York Edge’s staff.
New York Foundation for the Arts
Project: COVID Relief for Artists in NYC
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Donations will go to support individual artists and arts workers in NYC who are being impacted by COVID. NYFA provides professional development resources, financial support and educational opportunities to individuals working in the arts field. NYFA’s work is vital to ensuring that artists and arts workers who are economically vulnerable, continue to have a voice in our society.
NYC Health + Hospitals
Project: COVID-19 Relief Effort
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Donations will support the following fundamental expenses for health care workers who provide care to all New Yorkers: meals, groceries for families of health workers, hotel expenses, laundry service, child care expenses, scrubs, and taxi rides.
NYC Outward Bound Schools
Project: Crew Mentors
Program Area(s): Youth and Education
Outward Bound Schools trains and supports successful alumni from their schools to provide support to groups of students just beginning college at a local CUNY institution.
New York City Police Foundation
Project: Crime Stoppers
Program Area(s): Justice and Safety
Following John Reisenbach's death in random shooting, which remains unsolved, JAR supports Crime Stoppers to help ensure that no other families need endure the agony of losing a loved one to an unsolved homicide.
The Point CDC
Project: Camp PowerPOINT
Program Area(s): Housing and Community, Youth and Education
CPP offers a comprehensive program in which 65 youth, ages 14-21, participate in required activities and chosen electives in the areas of leadership, arts-in-education, stewardship and social skills building. For many, this job is their first and/or only formal work experience.
Police Athletic League
Project: Reisenbach Interns Program
Program Area(s): Justice and Safety; Youth and Education
Reisenbach Interns at PAL are teenagers involved in the court system; they receive individualized academic support and hands-on work experience to help ensure that they meet their academic and workforce goals.
Safe Horizon
Project: Covid-19 Relief Client Services and Grants
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Provides support, prevents violence and promotes justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities.
Safe Horizon
Project: Streetwork at Safe Horizon
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Youth and Education
Safe Horizon's Streetwork Project serves a particularly vulnerable population: homeless youth. Based at Streetwork's Uptown Drop-In Center in Harlem, this project connects participants with safety, shelter and basic services.
The Actors Fund
Project: COVID-19 Relief and Every Artist Insured Campaigns
Program Area: Pandemic Relief
Donations go directly to emergency financial and health insurance assistance to affected entertainment industry workers with the greatest need.
Women In Need
Project: Young Adult Income Building
Program Area(s): Housing and Community; Youth and Education
Win 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 more.
Working Today: Affiliate of the Freelancers Union
Project: Freelancers Relief Fund
Program Area(s): Pandemic Relief
Donations provide grants to freelancers, such as: professional writers, journalists, designers,technologists, music and performing artists, and marketing and advertising professionals, who are experiencing economic hardship or health crises as a result of COVID-19. Financial assistance will be provided to cover lost income and essential expenses not covered by government relief programs, including: food/food supplies, utility payments, cash assistance to cover income loss.
