Our Grants

Backpack Buddies works to end childhood hunger one backpack at a time.  ATE has supported the partnership established by Temple Shaaray Tefila and two East Harlem organizations: the Association to Benefit Children and LSA Family Health Service.  Their work helps sustain children in need over the weekend by providing backpacks filled with 6 nutritious meals and 3 healthy snacks.

Blessings in a Backpack is a national organization with deep ties to New York City public schools. Traditionally, the organization sends children home on weekends with a bag of food to fight hunger at home when free meal programs are not available. With schools closed during COVID-19, the organization expanded its mission to get hungry children food seven days a week. The emergency grant from ATE will enable Blessings in a Backpack to add one more school to its roster with meal bags for family pick up.

Community Healthcare Network’s  Good Start Nutrition Program is a comprehensive pre-natal/perinatal nutritional counseling program for medically underserved pregnant women, babies, and young children in Jamaica, Queens and the Tremont section of the Bronx. The program consists of individual nutrition counseling and group breastfeeding workshop sessions to provide pregnant women and new mothers with the necessary education to improve their and their children’s health. The program will provide individual nutrition counseling sessions to patients at critical times within their pregnancy and the early stages of their newborn’s life. The program will also provide comprehensive breastfeeding support groups/workshops to prenatal/perinatal patients.

The mission of Corbin Hill Food Project is to supply fresh vegetables and fruit where they are needed most. Founded in 2009 by a committed group of Harlem residents, Corbin Hill Food Project has grown into a dynamic network of local farmers; deeply rooted community health, education, environmental and service groups; and more than 1,000 participating individuals in Harlem, Washington Heights and the Bronx—many living in ‘food deserts’—who care about good food and how it is grown.

Harlem Grown is a youth nutrition education non-profit. Traditionally, they work with children in Harlem to inspire an ambitious and healthful life through mentorship and hands-on experience in urban gardening, sustainability, and nutrition. In March, the organization quickly pivoted to react to the health and hunger crisis in their neighborhood. Working with local restaurants in Harlem, the organization provides an average of 165 weekly meals to local family shelters. This model keeps the most vulnerable fed and the restaurant keeps staff on payroll, further helping those families avoid food insecurity themselves. The emergency grant from ATE will allow them to sustain this vital neighborhood program.

Invisible Hands was formed in direct response to Covid-19 by a group of young adults, including some Hunter High School alums. They began by delivering essential items to local elderly and high risk neighbors who were housebound due to the threat of the virus. Growing to over 10,000 volunteers throughout the five boroughs and expanding into Northern New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut, this network has selflessly served every zip code in New York City. The emergency grant from ATE will be used to sustain this program and help fill an important service gap for the at-risk and underserved.

Also, we are particularly pleased with the outcomes of the Kingsborough Community College Urban Farm Bring it Home Program, which is working to close the gap between access to healthy fresh produce and healthy eating. Research shows that access alone does not mitigate food insecurity—eaters need skills, knowledge and comfort around fresh fruits and vegetables as well. Bring it Home at Kingsborough engages community college students through cooking interventions with the intention of continuing healthy eating practices even after they leave the college.

Since 1996, The Lower Eastside Girls Club (LESGC) has been providing innovative, community-based, holistic programs and services for girls and young women, ages 8-23, designed to help them grow, learn, have fun, and develop confidence in themselves and their ability to make a difference in the world. The mission of LESGC is to break the cycle of local poverty by training the next generation of ethical, entrepreneurial and environmental leaders.

The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University Silver School of Social Work will extend their Family and Food Matters program to pregnant women. This new pilot curriculum will create awareness of the unique effects of food insecurity among pregnant women. Family and Food Matters to Pregnant Woman will promote overall access to appropriately nutrient-dense foods to maximize in utero development; address food purchases and cooking of adequately nutritious food; and strengthen pregnant women’s internal and external resources for coping with the stresses and strains associated with food insecurity, economic hardship and motherhood.

The PS 84 PTA was created to cultivate an enriched, educational environment in this diverse, Upper West Side elementary school (PK-5). Unlike many New York City public schools, PS 84 has a 4,000 square foot rooftop garden—now revived and flourishing thanks to small grants and PTA fundraising efforts.

This 63-year-old multiservice organization serves 21,700 children each year at more than 60 locations, primarily in Queens, but also in Brooklyn, Manhattan and The Bronx. The Child Center of New York’s mission: To strengthen children and families with skills, opportunities, and emotional support to build healthy, successful lives.

The New York University School of Medicine’s Starting Early Program-Expanded Prenatal (StEP-exP) is a primary care-based program designed to reach high-risk pregnant women and to serve as a framework to provide additional resources to address food insecurity during this sensitive period. The project will integrate Health Bucks into StEP-exP in order to address key causes of food insecurity, specifically lack of money and inaccessibility of nutritious foods. The program will assess the efficacy of increasing fruit and vegetable consumption during pregnancy, reducing household food insecurity during pregnancy and increasing farmers market accessibility.

The River Fund was founded to help New Yorkers find resources during the AIDs crisis and evolved to help navigate the complex system of anti-poverty programs available to New York City residents. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought them back to their founding mission of helping New Yorkers during a complex health crisis, providing access to economic, food, and health resources during this time of great insecurity. Demand for their services has quadrupled and they now supply over 300,000 pounds of food a week. The emergency grant from ATE enables them to continue to meet the urgent need for food among impacted New Yorkers.

The Sylvia Center educational programs work at the community level to: 1) Promote good nutrition. 2) Prevent obesity. 3) Reduce health disparities in high need communities through the format of an in-depth and joyful cooking program.