A number of the recipients and group members of BP Anthony Reynoso’s Neighborhood Bathe Fund.
Photograph courtesy Workplace of Brooklyn Borough President
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso lately introduced that the primary six organizations would obtain funding from his Brooklyn Neighborhood Child Bathe Fund.
Launched in August 2024, Borough President Reynoso put aside $50,000 in discretionary funding to create the Fund and assist community-led child showers for Brooklyn’s new and anticipating mother and father.
Nonprofits from across the borough utilized to obtain the funding – as much as $5,000 in matching funds – for group child showers occurring earlier than Could 2025 and serving neighborhoods with traditionally excessive maternal mortality and morbidity charges.
The six awardees to obtain this funding are: Brooklyn Public Library Macon Department, serving Mattress-Stuy; Anticipating Aid, serving Bushwick; Hope Empowerment and Growth Zone (HEADZ), serving East New York; Mothers for Mothers, serving Sundown Park; NIA Neighborhood Providers Community, serving Coney Island, and Rewrite Corp. serving Brownsville.
“Brooklyn is at its finest once we assist each other, particularly throughout transformative and infrequently difficult milestones like being pregnant and parenthood. Neighborhood child showers present an area the place neighbors can share the thrill and anxieties of welcoming a brand new life into the world, entry sources, and create a community of assist for brand new and anticipating mother and father,” stated Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
“Every group receiving funding has demonstrated an unbelievable dedication to the communities they serve and to the spirit of neighborly love that makes Brooklyn so particular. I stay up for seeing their group child showers come to life,” he added.
Over the previous 20 years, Black ladies in New York Metropolis have been, on common, six occasions extra more likely to die from pregnancy-related issues than their white counterparts. Since starting his administration in January 2021, Borough President Reynoso has pursued a historic maternal well being agenda to deal with this staggering disparity.
In his first 12 months in workplace, he allotted the whole thing of his capital funding – a complete of $45 million – to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal well being enhancements. This marked the primary time a Borough President had ever allotted a complete fiscal 12 months’s capital funding to 1 trigger and inside one metropolis group. The Neighborhood Child Bathe Fund is considered one of Reynoso’s newest initiatives and stays open for purposes.
“The Neighborhood Child Bathe supplies very important requirements to new and expectant mother and father like bibs and diapers, together with important data and academic sources,” stated Librarian Nicole Bryan, Brooklyn Public Library’s Macon Department supervisor.
“We prolong our honest because of Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso for his beneficiant assist of this system, which is able to permit us to create an area and group the place mother and father really feel supported and empowered daily of the 12 months,” she stated.
“We’re really grateful to be one of many recipients of the Child Bathe Funding offered by BP Antonio Reynoso. For the previous two years, we’ve got hosted many bathe replicating workshops with a view to present the mandatory instruments for households going through monetary hardship to thrive. Aside from offering a protected area and child necessities to get their journey began, together with child gear, we educate our households to advocate for his or her rights in efforts to enhance maternal and toddler well being. As a grant recipient, we might maximize our outreach, inserting us able to be part of the answer versus the issue,” stated Vanessa Bracetty, founder and government director of Anticipating Aid.
“Hope Empowerment and Growth Zone (HEADZ) is thrilled to accomplice with the Brooklyn Borough President’s Workplace and Hope Metropolis Church to host a sequence of family-centered Neighborhood Child Showers through the 2025 calendar 12 months. Every bathe will honor, have a good time, and pamper 20 anticipating moms, who will every depart the occasion with a hospital bag containing the whole lot wanted for mother and child’s hospital keep (and a lot extra). We’re excited to bathe our households with love as we kick off the primary celebration simply in time for Mom’s Day!” stated Dr. Tyrone Stevenson, CEO of HEADZ.
“We’re deeply grateful to Borough President Reynoso’s workplace for supporting Mothers for Mothers by means of the Neighborhood Child Bathe Fund. This funding will permit us to offer important New child Child Bundles and Postpartum Restoration Kits to new and anticipating mother and father in Brooklyn, serving to them navigate the early days of parenthood with dignity and care. We plan to host our Neighborhood Child Bathe round Mom’s Day, making a significant alternative to strengthen our dedication to constructing a extra supportive group for Brooklyn households. Thanks, Borough President Reynoso!” stated Danielle Krupa, founder and government director of Mothers for Mothers.
“Free group child showers are about extra than simply giving child objects – they create a possibility for mothers to attach with each other, develop their private assist networks, and really feel really supported throughout such an vital time of their lives. For a lot of, this occasion supplies important sources and the enjoyment of a child bathe expertise they might not in any other case have. It’s a option to foster a way of group and care that each dad or mum deserves,” stated Isabel Paz, NIA Supervisor of Household Providers.
“Rewrite Company is dedicated to empowering underserved households in Brooklyn by offering important sources and assist. Funding for our Neighborhood Child Showers allows us to have a good time and uplift new and anticipating mother and father, making certain they obtain important objects like child gear, hygiene merchandise, and academic sources. We’re particularly grateful for the assist of The Brooklyn Borough President, whose contribution helps make this impactful occasion potential and strengthens our efforts to foster a nurturing atmosphere for households to thrive,” stated Brenda Carter, founding father of Rewrite Company.
Borough President Reynoso affords a information on the right way to host a group child bathe, together with concepts for actions, step-by-step planning strategies, finest practices, and useful templates. You’ll find the Borough President’s Neighborhood Child Bathe Information at www.brooklynbp.nyc.gov/babyshowerfund/
To use, candidates should submit an software by way of the Neighborhood Child Bathe Enjoyable request kind, which is offered on our web site at www.brooklynbp.nyc.gov/babyshowerfund/.
Submit these three paperwork to funding@brooklynbp.nyc.gov with the topic line “Neighborhood Child Bathe Fund – 501 (c) 3 letter of dedication. Most up-to-date Kind 990 or monetary assertion, Challenge finances
