Park Slope Nonprofit Wins $100,000 From BK Community Foundation

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A nonprofit based on 4th Avenue will get $100,000 from the Brooklyn Community Foundation, the organization announced. VOCAL-NY was one of five local organizations chosen to receive the annual Spark Prize.

The organization, started in 1999 as a progressive AIDS housing network, will be honored at the foundation's Spark Breakfast next month. It was chosen along with four other Brooklyn-based organizations from a pool of more than 120 applicants across the borough.

This year's slate of winners is the first prize cohort to be entirely woman-led and includes other organizations taking on property and hunger, criminal justice, the opioid epidemic, young women's leadership and opportunities for youth, the foundation said.

“Brooklyn is a hub for groundbreaking, high impact nonprofits, and we hope that this prize not only rewards these organizations’ excellence, but also springboards their future work across our borough and beyond," said Brooklyn Community Foundation President and CEO Cecilia Clarke.

VOCAL-NY, or Voices of Community Activists & Leaders, has grown since its founding into a movement led by low-income people of color to end the AIDS epidemic, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and homelessness. It was created to shift attention toward root causes to the AIDS epidemic in low-income communities of color, according to the organization.

Now, VOCAL-NY operates a syringe exchange that distributes over 50,000 clean syringes annually, provides overdose prevention training and other services. The nonprofit has worked to pass 15 pieces of legislation since 2013.

The Spark Prize is sponsored by National Grid, Santander Bank, Sugar in the Raw, Cleary Gottlieb, and Kirkland Ellis with support from BKLYNER.

The other 2019 Brooklyn Community Foundation Spark Prize winners are The Campaign Against Hunger, Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation, Girls for Gender Equity and Red Hook Community Justice Center.

The foundation also awarded $5,000 to each of the top 20 finalists for the Spark Award.

Photo from GoogleMaps.