FALL 2020
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HOW WE PUT YOUR DOLLARS TO WORK
ROBIN HOOD RELIEF FUND
$25 buys an infant carrier so a low-income family can take their baby home from the hospital safely
$5 covers three hot meals at a local soup kitchen
GRANTS GIVEN 676
# OF ORGANIZATIONS FUNDED 521
DOLLARS DISTRIBUTED $51 MILLION
$33 buys a weekly unlimited- rides MetroCard for an essential worker
$50 pays for a student’s tablet for remote learning
3% 3%
$100 gets a preschooler with disabilities or developmental delays an hour of speech therapy $500 provides cash assistance to low-income college students impacted by COVID-19 to cover essentials like food, rent, and Wi-Fi $2,000 provides emergency cash assistance to families who have lost a loved one to COVID-19 for urgent needs like, rent, utilities, or food
$200 shelters a homeless New York family for a night
10%
$1,000 provides emergency cash assistance to two unemployed restaurant workers $5,000 helps one victim of domestic violence receive legal, mental health, and employment- related services
41%
13%
15%
15%
HOUSING SAFETY CASH ASSISTANCE EDUCATION FOOD BENEFITS HEALTH
*Robin Hood’s Board of Directors covers all administrative expenses to ensure 100% of your donation goes directly to New Yorkers in need. DONATE NOW!
*As of October 1
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FALL 2020 A M E S S AG E F R OM T H E C E O Throughout time, the North Star has been a beacon of inspiration and hope. It led slaves to freedom and brought immigrants to new shores. This year, illness and death, economic collapse, unprecedented unemployment, and simmering social discord exposed fissures in the fabric of our society that have never been mended. The upheaval wrought this year makes our North Star, elevating New Yorkers out of poverty, even more consequential than ever before. Honestly, your commitment and generosity enabled us to meet unprecedented demand in 2020, and only your continued support will make it possible for New York to one day hold our North Star within her grasp. Before COVID-19, our own data revealed a staggering 50% of New Yorkers lived in poverty for at least one year and nearly 80% are people of color. Since the pandemic began in New York City, 23,861 people have died and 242,315 have been stricken by the virus, leaving families tattered and in shambles. Today, more than 1 million New Yorkers are out of work with two-thirds of unemployed New Yorkers earning $40,000 or less a year, before the pandemic’s outbreak. The pandemic and the subsequent economic crisis revealed the stark inequities people live with every day in New York City. These inequities may not have always been visible to everyone, yet existed and festered nonetheless. Seventy-five percent of the low-wage, hourly workers called to remain on the frontline throughout the pandemic, are people of color. Blacks and Latinx people died of COVID-19 at twice the rate of white New Yorkers, and the hardest hit communities in the city continue to be home to immigrants, low-income households, and people of color. This summer we also experienced a national reckoning with racism, fueled by fresh examples of widespread systemic bias in police departments that, too often, result in the wrongful deaths of Black people. The experiences of this year reinforces what data and research concluded: Poverty is concentrated, generational, and relentlessly intentional. As New York moves forward from relief to recovery, Robin Hood will be resolute in embracing the challenges laid bare this year. We will continue to meet the immediate needs of our neighbors. We will help them regain their footing, and we will work together with our community partners, elevating people from poverty, by dismantling the systemic structures of racism and poverty. I want to invite you to read through this year’s fall magazine and see what we have accomplished together, how we envision recovery, and how, we can contribute to the resurgence of New York City for a stronger, more equitable future. Thank you for everything you have done this year and all you continue to do as we work to make our North Star a reality.
TA B L E O F CON T E N T S
A MESSAGE FROM THE CE0 RELIEF TO RECOVERY INTRODUCTION
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RELIEF TO RECOVERY
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RELIEF TIMELINE
STORIES FROM THE FIELD CASH ASSISTANCE
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HEALTH
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FOOD
10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17 18-19 20-21 22-23 24-25 26-27 28-29
HOUSING
JOBS
EDUCATION
BENEFITS
SAFETY
PARTNERSHIPS
RESURGENCE
THE POWER FUND
RESURGENCE 0F NYC POLICY THANK YOU
RISE UP NEW YORK ROBIN HOOD CORPS WAYS TO GET INVOLVED
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WHY WE GIVE
ROBIN HOOD NATION
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Elevate,
ABOUT THE COVER The image on the cover, designed by Robin Hood’s creative director Mary Power , is an artistic homage to the quilt-making tradition in the United States. According to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture , this tradition of expression is shared across cultures, genders, and eras. In the African American quilting tradition, the use of bright colors, asymmetry, and large shapes conveys many meanings and stories, but for Robin Hood this year, the theme of comfort and its symbolism of the cycles of life resonates especially, both for their functionality and aesthetic beauty. This year, we all need to be held closely, taken care of, and reminded that our destinies are interwoven by the space, time, and place we all share in the city we all call home.
Wes Moore
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Recovery Re very
Relief is how we have delivered money and emergency aid, quickly, to communities in crisis, after September 11, Superstorm Sandy, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before COVID-19 devastated New York City, scores of New Yorkers were already living precariously on the edge of poverty. 12% of the entire city’s population were food insecure before the pandemic hit. Nearly half of New York City renters were paying more than 30% of their income on housing, and 1 in 4 households were facing the prospect of eviction in some zip codes. More than 40% of New Yorkers didn’t have the cash to cover an emergency expense of $400 or more. 50% of adults in New York City experienced poverty at some point over a four-year period. Relief to Relief
Recovery is how we help people to regain their footing in a sustainable and lasting way. What jobs are coming back? How do we get food to people who need it? How do kids get back to school? Our efforts don’t stop until questions like these are answered.
Here’s what we are doing to facilitate recovery:
We’re getting New Yorkers the benefits they’re entitled to: There has been a 12.5% INCREASE in applications for SNAP, otherwise known as food stamps. So, we’re making grants to expand the number of households enrolled in public benefits, including a new grant to Hunger Free NYC to expand SNAP enrollment. We’re prioritizing survival needs: By investing in free clinics, school-based mental health, and housing programs for New Yorkers. We’ve made a grant to the Right to Counsel Coalition to help make sure people have the legal services they need to prevent eviction. We’re helping to keep students learning: Low-income students are the most likely to drop out of college or not enroll at all, so their education is in jeopardy. We’re giving a new grant that expands the CUNY ACE program for transfer students at John Jay College to ensure that students — especially those for whom college is a financial hardship — remain enrolled. We’re stabilizing nonprofits: SEVEN PERCENT of NYC’s nonprofits have closed their doors because of the pandemic, and another 30% cannot sustain another six to 12 months of operations. Trusted community centers will suffer the most. So, a new mission investment , combined with a management assistance grant to Primary Care Development Corporation, will help community health clinics reopen. Get people back into jobs: A new policy grant with the Center for New York City Affairs at the New School will help us monitor economic conditions and opportunities, and to provide workforce policy recommendations for economic recovery.
COVID has laid bare the inequities of our society. Black and Latinx New Yorkers are dying at twice the rate of other groups. 735,000 New York City households are estimated to have lost employment income because of COVID-19, 31% of New York City renters work in occupations vulnerable to income disruptions, and the number of food- insecure households doubled. With your help, together, our relief efforts and our core grant-making program of $120 million annually are feeding the hungry, keeping people in their homes, helping children access instruction through technology, ensuring that the basic needs of health care works are met, helping those without work bridge difficult times and making sure families secure the government assistance they need to survive.
As the pandemic continues to rage across the country, recovery may be a very long process, but we are in it for the long haul. We are focused on improving the infrastructure and systems New York’s most vulnerable depend upon. We are helping New Yorkers regain their footing in a sustainable and lasting way. We are preparing for the resurgence of New York City as a vital metropolis, stronger, with a brighter, and more equitible future. For 32 years, people like you have kept Robin Hood at the forefront of the fight against poverty. Because of your generosity, we are the city’s largest poverty fighting organization and with your continued support we remain the best social investment in New York City. To every one of our incredible donors, we are so grateful.
“During the pandemic, we were present and hands-on because that is how we are built. Acting quickly and nimbly in crisis is in our DNA. When change happens, we lean into it, learn from it, and change with it, to help the people who need it the most.” — John Griffin, Robin Hood Board Chair
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ROBIN HOOD R E L I E F T I M E L I N E
In mid-March, less than one week into the Governor’s order to stay at home, Robin Hood met with a group of New Yorkers to get a sense of how COVID-19 was affecting families. “Three weeks ago, I got a job and was finally feeling stable,” one man told us. “On Monday, I lost my job because of COVID. Now what should I do?” Robin Hood’s response was clear: to reactivate the Relief Fund, — for the third time in our history. In the weeks and months that followed, thanks to your generosity, Robin Hood distributed more than $51 million to 521 different organizations in all five boroughs of New York City, awarding more than 676 grants to help New Yorkers in need. We are most proud to report that nearly two-thirds of grant recipients are new partners with Robin Hood. And we’re still going.
June 8, marks the 100th day of the crisis. New York State’s seven-day average for new cases exceeds 1,000, and 56 new deaths are reported on this day alone. A week after the killing of George Floyd, an emboldened nation moves to protests, outrage, grief, and resolve. By Week 12, Robin Hood has deployed 419 grants to community-based organiza- tions, largely serving communities of color, who have been disproportionately affected by the virus and its aftermath. “We need community.” — Wes Moore, CEO, Robin Hood The city begins to reopen. But many businesses, and nonprofits, were forced to close forever. By Week 19, Robin Hood deployed 523 grants to community-based organizations, helping partners provide loans and business counseling in low-income neighborhoods. “COVID-19 has the potential to be an extinction-level event for nonprofits.” — John MacIntosh, Managing Partner at SeaChange Capital Partners New York students and parents are making tough decisions about how to start the unusual school year — with over 26% opting to stay home and learn remotely. By Week 23, Robin Hood deployed 576 grants, including to partners stepping in to support home-based solutions. “The pre-COVID ‘normal’ did not serve all students and communities in an equitable way. We are in the throes of creating a new normal.” — D r. Richard A. Carranza, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education
JUNE 8, 2020
Robin Hood forms a relief committee of the board. Given the urgency of the crisis, the group will go on to review and approve grants weekly. Robin Hood also convenes more than 100 like-minded funders, who will gather every Tuesday, by phone, to discuss philanthropy’s response to COVID-19. Right away, we know we need to get emergency food and cash to families as quickly as possible. Over 2 million New Yorkers are hungry. A third of the city’s food pantries closed and demand for emergency food increased by 50%. By Week 4, Robin Hood deployed 173 grants to community-based organizations, keeping food pantries open, and putting NYC’s restaurants back to work. “Dignity is something that I fear is going to get lost in this scurry to get people food. We wanted to make sure that when we were making food, it was beautiful.” — Matt Jozwiak, Founder and Executive Director, Rethink Food NYC Unemployment claims increased by 2,637% compared to last year. By Week 5, Robin Hood deployed 219 grants to community-based organizations, getting emergency cash to vulnerable families, fast. “Families are dealing with impossible choices, and it’s clear to us that the best way to provide relief is through immediate cash at scale.” — Jimmy Chen, CEO, Propel There are 22,000 children enduring quarantine in shelter; 100,000 more are not stably housed. By week 7, Robin Hood deployed 258 grants to community-based organizations, helping families cover rent and ensuring that shelters adapted to changing needs like WiFi . “There are more children in shelters than there are seats in Madison Square Garden. The work that the team at Win does on a good day is challenging. Then you add COVID-19, and the challenges skyrocket.” — Christine Quinn, President and CEO, Win
MARCH 17, 2020
JULY 24, 2020
APRIL 17 2020
AUGUST 16, 2020
APRIL 17, 2020
The Robin Hood Relief Fund surpasses $50 million threshold in distributed grants across all five city boroughs. Nearly two-thirds of grants awarded to date are new funding partners to Robin Hood.
OCTOBER 12, 2020
APRIL 24, 2020
“I’ve chaired the Robin Hood Relief Fund each of the three times we’ve needed it. Our team, our donors, and our community partners have always risen to the occasion. “One of the hardest parts of the COVID-19 crisis has been the physical separation. To share the enormity of the need, we’ve convened frontline responders from all fields with philanthropy leaders in a weekly Funders Call. There’s no price of admission; we’re facilitating the exchange of information among experts, government officials, and philanthropists, helping people think about how we’re going to improve New York as our city recovers. “A phenomenal joy of this Relief Fund has been the 530 current, former, and new-to-us community partners — large, small, and tiny — that we have been able to fund and re-fund — to keep working throughout NYC since mid-March. We are so thankful for the helping hands they give our neighbors every day.” — Victoria Bjorklund, Chair of the Robin Hood Relief Fund, and member of Robin Hood Board of Directors
MAY 1, 2020
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In the Bronx, comfort came from close to home Cash assistance meant all the difference for these families in need.
COVID-19 brought Benito’s life to a halt.
tenant of their three buildings, to their Family Support and Head Start families, to home- based child care providers and parents, to members of youth programs and more. The team checked in with hundreds and hundreds of New Yorkers every week for several months to be sure that anyone they served in their many capacities got what they needed. With COVID relief support from funders like Robin Hood, WHEDco was able to distribute $180,000 in grocery store cards to more than 700 families and 28,000 meals and snacks to members of the community. For Benito and his family, this level of need was a first. He characterized the generosity of Robin Hood donors like this: “For people like me, we were in a kind of stable situation,” said Benito. “When you just go down deep, that help is like a miracle. It’s like if God just looked down and said, ‘I’m helping you out.’” With the gift cards, they were able to buy supplies like toilet paper and paper towels to get through quarantine. With restrictions at medical clinics still in place, Benito is waiting to go back to work, but he knows that the worst is behind him. “It’s something that made a difference between being in need and having something to eat,” he said. “You can think a little bit clearer, and say, ‘OK, this will be all right. Everything will be all right.’”
S T O R I E S F R O M T H E F I E L D
His job, as a medical translator, ended as clinics closed. The colleges that two of his three daughters attended shut down, so he drove to Boston and D.C. to pick them up. His wife lost her job, too, and soon the house was full. “We had no income coming in after March,” said Benito, who spent two months waiting for unemployment benefits to kick in. Worried about how he’d feed his family, he got an unexpected call from a longtime Robin Hood grantee, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco), the community development organization that owns the Bronx apartment complex where he’s a tenant. “We were scared,” said Benito. “WHEDco called, and they asked me, ‘what do you need?’ They sent me gift cards to go to the supermarket, and they brought food.” They helped him fill out the paperwork for SNAP (food stamp) benefits.
The feeling, he said, was like being rescued.
“That was amazing. That was like if you’re in the middle of the desert, and you get a cold Coca-Cola. That was just really, really appreciated.”
Throughout the pandemic’s peak, WHEDco workers made weekly calls to every single
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Helping the health care heroes At the height of the crisis, Robin Hood donors funded programs to feed medical workers.
On February 10, Dr. Eric Wei and his wife welcomed their third child, a boy, at Bellevue Hospital. “It’s just crazy to think that we were bringing a new life into the world while coronavirus was spreading, unbeknownst to us and New Yorkers, throughout our city, and mere weeks later Bellevue was one of our receiving hospitals for transfers of critically ill COVID- 19 patients from across the system.” Dr. Wei is the Senior Vice President and Chief Quality Officer for the Robin Hood- supported NYC Health + Hospitals, the largest public health care system in the U.S. Because there was a newborn at home, in addition to a 3- and 5-year-old, Dr. Wei and his wife made the heartbreaking decision that he would isolate from the family. So he moved into an apartment downstairs from his wife and kids while working 18-hour shifts. If New York City was the epicenter, Health + Hospitals was the epicenter of the epicenter. The system serves 1.1 million patients a year, in the neighborhoods most struck by poverty. “COVID was disproportionately affecting Black and Latinx communities. Socio- economic status was playing a huge part. These were essential workers who had to keep riding the subway. Those are our patients. That is our mission. We are the
safety net here for anyone who comes through our doors, without exception.”
One day, about a month into the pandemic, Dr. Wei and his kids saw each other for the first time, separated by a glass door. “That was the closest we could get.” Meanwhile at work, things were exploding. “It was like somebody opened the floodgates and turned on the fire hose,” he said. The hospital staff’s greatest needs were food, transportation, child care and housing. Philanthropy money — including from Robin Hood’s tireless donors — arrived, and the hospitals were able to give everyone meals. BlackRock made a significant donation, and Element Capital matched it. Catering com- pany Great Performances donated food, and Equinox arranged for free meditation. Thanks to Robin Hood’s donors, these brave workers were able to keep doing their jobs. “To the people who sent these comforts to our health care heroes, we’re incredibly grateful,” said Dr. Wei. Seven weeks after he started isolating, Dr. Wei was finally able to rejoin the family and see his infant son. The baby felt a lot heavier than he had at 3 weeks old. And holding him, said Dr. Wei, “was amazing.”
“TO THE PEOPLE WHO SENT THESE COMFORTS TO OUR HEALTH CARE HEROES , WE ’RE INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL .” — DR . ERIC WEI
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Putting food on the table and workers on the job To revive restaurants, a Robin Hood partner thought outside the box.
In April, the COVID-19 pandemic was intensifying and Matt Jozwiak, co-founder of Rethink Food, was deeply concerned about the increasing number of people facing food insecurity. So he called Robin Hood, who had been “super involved” in his organization’s relief efforts. “I was really glad that they were there,” said Jozwiak, who appreciated the money that helped Rethink feed hungry New Yorkers in every borough, but also the moral support. “Robin Hood was just such a good thought partner throughout the process.” Robin Hood’s program team became friends and confidants, helping brainstorm Rethink’s pivot from collecting excess food from restaurants to creating nutritious meals for community centers to reopening closed kitchens and putting laid-off workers back on the job. Rethink’s new mission was to empower restaurants to deliver fully cooked meals while also investing money in a devas- tated workforce. He and his team had a big job: The city went from 1.2 million people who are food insecure to over 2 million. “You had three times the size of lines lining up and community centers had closed. You just don’t say no. So we kind of went in guns blazing.”
Since March, Rethink has provided nearly 2 million meals for New York’s hungry. They reopened kitchens in restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, where Jozwiak had been Chef de Partie. They created no fewer than 300 jobs and catered 75 community centers. Nearly two-thirds of New York restaurants have said they’re likely to close by year’s end without financial relief. By June, the city had lost over 200,000 jobs in the industry. The generosity of Robin Hood donors and New Yorkers he met in every borough is what helped Jozwiak to power through exhaustion and frustration. “I saw groups of high school kids delivering food to senior citizens just because we couldn’t deliver food door to door. These kids were grabbing 12 meals and were like, ‘we’re just dropping off to our friends and family.’ It was just amazing to see. People are really dynamic. It always keeps me going, the people element. New York specifically has that little bit extra.” Rethink is still making around 50,000 to 70,000 meals a week, out of more than 40 restaurants, because the need continues. Next up, Jozwiak hopes to expand. “The restaurant industry needs business. That’s what makes New York churn,” he said. “It’s all about really thoughtfully using every philanthropy dollar to make sure it goes to the right place.”
“ IT’S ALL ABOUT REALLY THOUGHTFULLY USING EVERY PHILANTHROPY DOLLAR TO MAKE SURE IT GOES TO THE RIGHT PLACE .” — MATT JOZWIAK
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Pulled back from the brink of eviction The crisis almost left her homeless. But Robin Hood’s partners were there.
2019 was a bad year for Vernaize Coleman.
The Coalition for the Homeless initially planned to give Coleman $1,000, but it was able to increase the grant. “Jerry saw that I was not giving up,” said Coleman. “He called one day, said ‘V, we’re going to give you $2,000.’ I was blown away. I was in tears.” The Coalition reached out on Coleman’s behalf to another Robin Hood community partner, The Bridge Fund of New York, who also provided Coleman with a grant and a loan. “I’m almost out of this financial nightmare,” said Coleman. “Just imagine someone who didn’t have my tenacity or wasn’t an advocate for themselves. If I advocate for my clients, I’m going to advocate for myself. I was persistent, and I was not going to give up.” Coleman continues to work full time from home and pays her rent in full every month. Her debt is almost erased. Thanks to the support of donors like you, Coleman persists. “I have learned so much in the last year,” she said. “I never felt sorry for myself. I survived.”
The 58-year-old moved to Harlem from Houston, Texas, but lost her job just after signing for a new apartment.
A slip-and-fall on an icy sidewalk followed, and then a devastating cancer diagnosis.
Coleman, a counselor with a master’s degree, was working full time through chemotherapy and radiation when her body gave out and she landed in the hospital for a month. Though she worked through her illness, she owed $10,400 in back rent, and her landlord began eviction proceedings. In March 2020, her cancer was in remis- sion and she was ready to pick up a new work schedule when COVID-19 shut down the city and her in-home social work job. That’s when the Coalition for the Homeless, an organization Robin Hood funds, stepped in. “That organization has stuck with me through some things,” Coleman says. “They have been the best. (My case manager) Jerry worked with me patiently, he made phone calls for me to other agencies I didn’t even know about.”
“ I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH IN THE LAST YEAR. I NEVER FELT SORRY FOR MYSELF. I SURVIVED.” — VERNAIZE COLEMAN
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He got back to work — and back on his feet Thanks to a Robin Hood partner, this Brooklyn dad got the job he needed.
When COVID-19 struck and unemployment skyrocketed, the employment coordinators at Henry Street Settlement, a Robin Hood- funded community organization, sprang into action to place clients into new jobs. Over the course of the pandemic’s peak, they helped 77 workers find new employment.
For Tshering’s family, loss of income was a near-disaster. “I was worried,” Tshering said. His wife’s babysitting job came to an end when the family she cared for left town. Then the couple both contracted the virus, leaving Tshering panicked. “There was nobody here to look after us,” he said. Both have recovered, though they were hospitalized briefly. Tshering considered construction work, taking a 10-hour online certification course. But like many English learners, he found the training difficult to understand. “Then I went to Henry Street again,” he said. “I sent an email saying ‘Can you please help me? I’m in very bad condition.’” This time he met employment coordinator Jayne Sugg, who implored him not to give up.
Phurbu Tshering is one of them.
Tshering arrived in the U.S. in January 2019. A Tibetan from New Delhi, he joined his wife and two children after a decade apart. A friend connected Tshering to Henry Street, where he enrolled in ESOL and met with the employment coordinators. Tshering’s work permit took months to arrive; while waiting for it, he sold photo frames in Times Square. Then came the pandemic. Tourists disappeared practically overnight, and Tshering joined tens of thousands of newly jobless New Yorkers. By April, unemployment claims in New York City had increased 2,637% over the previous year. Jobs become a top priority for Robin Hood and the nonprofits we fund — from placement in commercial truck driving jobs through organizations like Brooklyn Workforce Innovations or work for the formerly incarcerated through the Center for Employment Opportunities.
“She was so kind,” Tshering said.
Sugg sent Tshering on interviews and the third, at maintenance company We Clean, was the charm. In early July, with his work permit finally in hand, Tshering was assigned to the Downtown Brooklyn Holiday Inn. “It’s very good,” he says, “and suitable work for me because I did this kind of work in India for a long time.” Thanks to Robin Hood donors’ support of these crucial community organizations, Tshering, like so many other New Yorkers, is back on his feet.
THANKS TO ROBIN HOOD DONORS’ SUPPORT OF THESE CRUCIAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS , TSHERING, LIKE SO MANY OTHER NEW YORKERS , IS BACK ON HIS FEET.
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How CUNY is keeping its graduates on track
COVID challenged education. Robin Hood invested in the solution.
Graduates from Bronx Community College’s Robin Hood-funded program Future Now, which promotes the educational and vocational development of young adults residing in the Bronx. Below: CUNY main campus.
Dr. Felix Matos Rodriguez is the eighth — and first Latino — Chancellor of CUNY, the largest urban public university system in the United States. “CUNY as a system is very special because it is one of the few places in the U.S. where, within a single system, you can go from getting a high school equivalency degree all the way to a PhD, a medical degree, or a law degree,” said Dr. Rodriguez on a Robin Hood funder’s call this summer. Because of your generosity, Robin Hood awarded its first grant to the university system in the opening weeks of the Relief Fund, and then provided over $1 million to its central Relief Fund as well as to four of its campuses. The reason for Robin Hood’s consistent support of CUNY, said CEO Wes Moore, is that “there is no greater engine to this idea of sustainable economic mobility that we have in the city of New York more than CUNY.” They serve nearly half a million New Yorkers across 25 campuses scattered throughout the boroughs. Nearly 40% of CUNY’s students come from homes in New York City where the household income is less than $20,000 a year. About half of the students are the
first one in their families to attend college. Nearly 40% were not born in the U.S. “When we made the pivot in March to move 50,000 courses into the distance learning modality, we needed to understand the moment and circumstances our students were facing,” said Dr. Rodriguez. Between 15 and 20% of CUNY students are parents. “So think about your routine, totally disrupted,” he said. “Your children would now be with you fighting for computer time to be able to take the courses.” With the support from Robin Hood and others, CUNY was able to prioritize the students who were the poorest. “And then we prioritized among those students, those who were student parents, and those who had 12 credits or less to graduate,” said Dr. Rodriguez. “We wanted to make a push for those students who were finishing. We didn’t want to lose them in the pandemic.” “We know the efficacy of this institution and how they’re really working to serve a vast number of students in New York City,” said Moore. “CUNY is an imperative way to reach the population with monetary and other social supports. And we’re proud to have them as partners.”
“THERE IS NO GREATER ENGINE TO THIS IDEA OF SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC MOBILITY THAT WE HAVE IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK MORE THAN CUNY.” —WES MOORE
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How a hotline brought hope in the crisis More New Yorkers have needed public benefits than ever before. Here’s who they called.
For six years, Yvonne Cintron has been answering phones for Benefits Data Trust, a nonprofit organization supported by Robin Hood to connect low-income individuals to public benefit programs. Of the many crises she has worked through, COVID-19 is the worst she’s ever seen. “I spoke with families all the time who were calling for the first time,” said Cintron, who is now a contact center supervisor. “Business owners who had to shut their doors. This one family had three teen boys. The mom said, ‘we’re not getting any business, and it’s like, do we keep the lights on or do we buy food? And these boys are home, so they’re eating me out of house and home.’” The family had never needed help before, but Cintron helped them access the benefits they were eligible for. “I let them know, ‘you did the right thing. Thank God you called, because we can help.’” The process of applying for public benefits like SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid can be complicated, long, and daunting. People don’t know that they’re eligible, and they don’t know how to
apply. Benefits Data Trust, with the help of Robin Hood, is changing that. Since COVID-19, at the height of demand, Benefits Data Trust saw a 100% increase in call volume. Robin Hood’s grant allowed them to expand in New York, increasing both the number of calls they are able to answer and the number of benefits they can support. In a single call, clients can be screened and applied for up to 10 different benefits. Of the SNAP recipients in New York City who had jobs in 2020, 86% have lost earnings due to COVID-19. More than half of SNAP recipients had only a few days of food and cash on hand during the crisis. And the number of people receiving benefits rose 16% between February and June.
“WE ’VE GOT TO FOCUS ON THE GOOD, AND RIGHT NOW WE ’RE THE GOOD. WE GET TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.” — YVONNE CINTRON
So Benefits Data Trust is growing.
“We’re seeking to help as many people as possible,” said Cintron. “We are relentless at the work that we do.” Despite the tough conversations she has every day, Cintron is optimistic about the future. “We’ve got to focus on the good, and right now we’re the good. We get to be part of the solution.”
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Health care centers were at risk. A no-interest loan was the answer Nearly 1.5 million served by community care facilities now have a fighting chance
As the pandemic settled into hard-hit areas like Jackson Heights and the Far Rockaways in Queens, home to immigrants, communities of color, and a population with high rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease, community health centers were feeling the pressure. At first, clinics were seeing patients with COVID symptoms, but as soon as the state shut down, many had no option but to scale back services and consolidate sites or were forced to operate with a skeleton staff. Suddenly, revenues dropped between 30 to 60% during the pandemic, leaving primary care for more than a million low-income New Yorkers in jeopardy. Community-based health centers are federally designated and provide primary care services, irrespective of a patient’s ability to pay. In New York City, there are 40 such centers, each serving 35,000 people on average. Because most patients either qualify for Medicaid or are uninsured, federal and state money keep safety net health centers afloat. With the State of New York facing a $14.5 billion deficit this year alone, and the federal government assistance running out,
Robin Hood sensed a catastrophe was in the making. We partnered with the Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), a national nonprofit certified by the U.S. Treasury as a community development financial institution to develop a COVID-19 Community Health Care Loan Fund. We seeded the fund with a $1 million no-interest loan over four years. This new fund enables nonprofit community health centers to obtain loans to support COVID-19 related expenses, including, recruiting and training staff, redesigning patient flow, and facilities to accommodate new protocols, setting up technology for telehealth, providing personal protection equipment, are all critical expenses necessary for clinics to safely reopen sites, restore services, and provide quality health care. Most importantly, by reopening, clinics we’re able to provide critical health care services, like childhood vaccinations, diabetes treatment, and mental health services as well as connections to other critical supports like food pantries and domestic violence services.
Because we understood that reopening was no small task, Robin Hood also awarded a $125,000 management assistance grant to support PCDC’s expert capacity building team to provide additional in-house business and operations technical assistance to weather this crisis. Our initial investment was leveraged to attract new investors to the fund. That worked. Recently, the Google Foundation/ Opportunity Finance Network provided a $5 million loan, and PCDC pledged another
$5 million. The organization is seeking additional investors to broaden the reach of the fund. Now more than ever, preserving a safety net in health care is critical for vulnerable New Yorkers, and necessary to better ensure the public health of everyone. Your contribution to Robin Hood enables us to continue to identify and shore up fragile systems like community health centers, so that our neighbors in need have a fighting chance to regain their footing.
NOW MORE THAN EVER, PRESERVING A SAFETY NET IN HEALTH CARE IS CRITICAL FOR VULNERABLE NEW YORKERS AND NECESSARY TO BETTER ENSURE THE PUBLIC HEALTH OF EVERYONE .
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Unique partnership maximizes relief Driven by need, ROAR and Robin Hood deploy $1.5 million to restaurant employees.
We can’t do what we do without our partners that make it all possible. They expand our reach, carry out the vision, and continually inspire us to do more. Throughout COVID, we forged many new partnerships to help speed relief to those in need. Chef, restaurateur, entrepreneur, and advocate Camilla Marcus, recently named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business, is committed to rethinking what it means to be a good neighbor through the lens of hospitality. In the height of the pandemic, Marcus and her organization, Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants (ROAR), partnered with Robin Hood to create an employee relief fund. Here’s what she said on a recent Funders’ Call about the restaurant industry, how Robin Hood helped, and more. “Our industry is still very much in the dire position we were in March. “One in four people unemployed right now come from the restaurant industry. “We jumped on the phone with Robin Hood very quickly. I remember saying to Wes,
‘What I’m scared of is, people are not going to be able to pay for their groceries tomorrow. How do we get cash in their hands?’ “We worked pretty much around the clock for 14 full days and could not have done it without Robin Hood. “This is an unusual situation unlike any other. Our industry cannot work from home. Two-thirds of restaurants across the country are independently owned. Eleven million people are employed in restaurants across the country, and almost 1 million in New York State. We employ more people in our industry in New York than airlines do nationwide. “As part of our restaurant relief fund, anyone who works in a restaurant in NYC can fill out a very simple application through our website and get a $500 check mailed to them immediately. To date, we’ve deployed over $1.5 million raised through Robin Hood and ROAR. We’ll keep the fund open until this crisis is over, which unfortunately looks more like 12 to 18 more months. “Our industry is a big boat without many paddles; at least we have one very strongly in the Robin Hood community, and we’re immensely grateful.”
NYC Healthcare Heroes
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, health care workers have been working overtime — literally — to save New Yorkers’ lives. They were exhausted from long shifts, hungry after going home to empty fridges, and scared of contracting and spreading the virus after intense exposure. In early April, one of New York City’s most generous family foundations wanted to help. So we joined them. In partnership with the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, the American Red Cross, and Robin Hood, the Debra and Leon Black Family and Aramark launched a massive effort to get brave, relentless hospital workers the food and supplies they needed. Initially aimed at serving over 100,000 health care professionals across the five boroughs, the program expanded in May to include more than 5,000 EMS and disaster services workers. Through June, NYC Healthcare Heroes launched more than 400,000 care packages filled with 15 million products, including shelf-stable food,
household cleaning and toiletry supplies, as well as over-the-counter medicine to staffers at hospitals in all five boroughs. Lines at supermarkets and pharmacies were long, if the stores were even open once workers got off their shifts. The Black Family donated $10 million and another $10 million match to the effort, which provided more than 100,000 workers with mac and cheese, disinfectant, lotion, vitamins, Tylenol, and more to make the peak of the crisis a little less stressful. Most importantly, we were all able to express our gratitude. “Our city is forever indebted to our health care heroes for the tireless work and painful sacrifices they have made over the past few months,” said Debra and Leon Black. “Like all New Yorkers, our family has been humbled and inspired by their courage and resilience, and it has been an honor to support their heroic efforts through NYC Healthcare Heroes.”
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Resurgence While the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated our relief work and seeding recovery fuels our efforts to help vulnerable New Yorkers regain their footing, long-term justice drives our work to increase opportunity and transform safety nets into springboards for economic mobility.
Black and Latinx people in New York City are dying at twice the rates of whites, not because COVID-19 identifies skin color, but because of the broken systems of housing, health care, nutrition, education, and others that enable disparities to persist. We live in a city where 80% of the 1.6 million people living in poverty are people of color. The underlying causes of death from COVID-19 are more than just comorbidities. And the murder of George Floyd and the many other people of color killed at the hands of police officers has reawakened a consciousness within many of us. We are reflecting upon the systemic and structural racial issues that both confound and characterize the face of poverty, and we are ready to act. The interplay between racism and poverty — and the failures of systems that led to the deaths of people of color — did not begin in March, nor will it end with the development of a vaccine. Instead of rebuilding a broken system, Robin Hood seeks to restructure the very systems that make race and poverty inextricable, and its reality, for too many New Yorkers, generational, inescapable, and permanent. We are placing racial and economic justice at the center of our work because without justice, we cannot achieve equity.
With the resurgence of New York City comes an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past. We believe in the agency of every individual, but we also know systemic issues of race and the unintended or deliberate consequences of public policy impede the ability of people to rise above their circumstances. As a city, we know we can do better — and with your help, we will. We have launched the Power Fund, an initiative investing in organizations on the frontlines of impact, funding leaders of color who are reflective of the communities they serve, while catalyzing a shift in long-term grant-making priorities both within our own organization and across the field of philanthropy. We are also championing advocacy and seeking policy changes to ensure deep, lasting change. It is also why we partner with community members living in poverty — because their input ensures we are delivering what they need. Generous New Yorkers, like you, are helping make change possible. Our work in relief and recovery is seeding the resurgence of New York City. We’re paving the way forward for philanthropy to a forge lasting impact that will transform the lives of New York’s most vulnerable for generations to come.
“COVID-19 has put our existing inequities in sharper relief and exacerbated them. The sad reality is that we give the least to the students who need the most. We have learned some difficult lessons, and one is that we need a stronger safety net. In the wealthiest country in the world, we can take care of our people and make sure they are safe and healthy. And that will be to the benefit of kids and schools. We know that Robin Hood’s donors, as they have for 32 years, will play a large role in that effort.” — John King, former United States Secretary of Education, and member of Robin Hood Board of Directors
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Harnessing the power of leaders of color to effect change Robin Hood’s Power Fund is set to influence philanthropic grant-making.
— James Baldwin American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist (1924 – 1987) changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” “Not everything that is faced can be
Amid a global pandemic, racial injustice took center stage in 2020, sparking a public reawakening on systemic issues of race and fresh demands for change. As a poverty-fighting organization in a city where 80% of those in poverty are people of color, we know that poverty and race are inextricably linked. The myriad of research on poverty underscores that race is one
of the strongest predictors of most life outcomes. Poverty fighting solutions that do not account for the conflating impacts of economic and racial injustice consistently fall short. The resurgence of New York City’s vitality required our response to this historic moment to be bold, proximate, and enduring.
Robin Hood launched its Power Fund, a new initiative investing in organizations on the frontlines of impact, funding leaders of color who are reflective of the communities they serve, while catalyzing a shift in long-term grant-making priorities both within our own organization and across the field of philanthropy. Seeded with an initial $10 million investment from Robin Hood donors, the fund elevates nonprofit leaders of color who share our mission of increasing economic mobility, while addressing the interplay of racial and economic injustice through their work. Over the last two decades, only around 10% of philanthropic dollars have gone to organizations led by people of color, despite giving increasing nearly 400% over the same period. This affects
the organizations and the people they seek to help. Driven by research on the barriers leaders of color consistently face in accessing, securing, and sustaining philanthropic funding, the Power Fund is grounded in three pillars of support: a meaningful investment in the organization; targeted capacity-building and technical assistance support for the organization; and self- directed investment in each leader’s own development and elevation. Early supporters, like the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), helped to launch the Power Fund, and now your contribution can sustain that momentum and make funding the work of leaders of color a hallmark in our fight against poverty.
How does the Power Fund further Robin Hood’s mission of increasing mobility from poverty, and help address systemic racial justice? •Funding leaders of color is critical because they bring strategies that understand and address the unique experiences of communities of color. People who are closest to the problems of disadvantaged communities have the clearest solutions. •Often, leaders of color are some of the most creative and innovative in their approach to the challenges facing disadvantaged communities because they offer a keen understanding of the needs and assets of the communities they serve. The solution-based approaches they employ reflect the lived, racialized experiences of people of color. •Within philanthropy, leaders of color face consistent barriers to capital, including interpersonal bias, cultural illiteracy on the part of funders, and lack of access to social networks.
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these are serving the communities that need help the most — and they’ve received little funding assistance from the CARES Act. • Advance the House’s state fiscal stabilization fund to support statewide and local funding for K-12 and public postsecondary institutions. • Extend the Child Tax Credit, Earned Income Tax Credit, and any future stimulus payments to Individual Tax Identification Number (ITIN) filers and make stimulus payments retroactive for ITIN filers — to protect 10 million undocumented migrants and more than 5 million children and spouses.
Our advocacy and policy team was equally engaged at the city and state levels, as Governor Cuomo, the state legislature, Mayor de Blasio, and the City Council forged it’s own relief plans. One special area of focus was helping local policy and lawmakers recognize and stave off the looming crisis of evictions, due to the unprecedented number of people who lost their jobs and could not afford to pay their rent. As we move through a period of slow recovery toward the resurgence of a dynamic city, advocacy and policy work will guide our efforts to dismantle the systems and structures underlying poverty in New York City.
Robin Hood’s new offensive line — policy and advocacy Dismantling systems and structures requires strategy.
“Budgets are moral documents” is a highly relevant quote often attributed to the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Budgets reflect our priorities, while policies guide decisions that affect lives. Both are driven by choice and intention. At Robin Hood, we know that governmental decisions can have generational consequences for poor people. Our data and research support an often-voiceless constituency and help policy and lawmakers make better- informed decisions. We understand that to win the fight against poverty, we must actively and aggressively leverage the role of philanthropy to combat the budgetary priorities and policy structures behind poverty in New York City. At Robin Hood, we are in the fight for the long haul, and we are seeking real change. The extraordinary events of 2020 have had our advocacy and policy team working in overdrive. While Congress began its debate of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, our team was busy talking to our community partners on the frontlines of the pandemic and translating the real impacts of the pandemic for policy and lawmakers. As soon as President Trump signed the CARES Act into law, our team
sprang into action advancing an agenda to shape the next wave of federal relief funding. These are some of the policies Robin Hood is currently calling upon Congress to enact to provide urgent assistance and stimulate New York City’s long-term economic recovery: • $100 billion in emergency rental assistance for renters who have lost work or income during this pandemic — plus additional aid in Homeless Assistance Grants for people experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness. • A continued expansion of federal unemployment insurance benefits and an increase of maximum Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, while also extending the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Program until students return to school full time for in-class instruction. • Make permanent the expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credits to childless adults, to benefit the nearly 16 million working childless adults across the country, including essential workers. • Institute automatic Federal Medicaid Assistance Percentage (FMAP) increases for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Providers who depend on
735,000
91%
LOW-WAGE EARNERS
735,000 New York City households are estimated to have lost employment income because of COVID-19. That’s one-third of all renting households.
Of the most severely burdened New Yorkers, 91% are low wage earners.
Nearly half of Poverty Tracker respondents who lost work or income after COVID-19 began reported experiencing food hardship within just three months, marking a nearly 30% increase, with a disproportionate impact on Black and Latinx New Yorkers. Increasing SNAP benefits reduces hunger rates and food hardship — and each additional dollar spent on SNAP benefits generates up to $1.79 in additional economic activity.
INCREASE IN FOOD HARDSHIP 30%
+ $1 = $1.79
$$
Studies show that the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) encourages work, boosts incomes, and reduces poverty among families with children.
=
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