The choices we make today will fundamentally shape the New York of tomorrow.
Neighborhoods First provides the resources communities need to plan and build a just New York City.
Neighborhoods First believes that public actions, policies, and investments must disrupt patterns and practices that amplify racial and economic inequality in the built environment.
The Neighborhoods First Fund (NFF) is a multi-year collaborative philanthropic initiative aimed at strengthening the capacity of community-based organizations to fully participate in and proactively shape neighborhood planning, land use, housing, and community development decisions.
We believe that the communities most impacted by structural racism and inequality, including displacement, housing precarity, and homelessness, need to lead in designing and implementing alternative systems. To do this, they need resources to engage community members, to build and wield power and to hold government accountable.
Through its grant-making, NFF supports grassroots organizations and coalitions that work to:
- Effectively engage historically marginalized communities in shaping policy and decisions on housing, land use, and development in New York City.
- Develop and adopt public policies, laws, programs, and budgets that support equitable and inclusive development, fight displacement, preserve affordable housing and neighborhoods, and comprehensively address the many specific manifestations of the housing crisis.
- Preserve public housing in New York City and ensure that public housing residents and communities have effective voice in decisions about its future.
- Support both individual organizations working to build power on issues of housing and land use, and the organizing ecosystem that multiplies the impact of their work and sustains it over time.
NFF supports the following, with a focus on low-income, low-wealth communities of color:
Community-led organizations and coalitions that engage local residents, workers, businesses, institutions, and government in creating, enacting, and implementing policies and plans that shape New York City and its neighborhoods.
Organizations that provide technical resources and help build community capacity in planning and organizing.
Organizations and coalitions that research, develop, and advocate for policies to confront displacement, promote community voice and power in development, and hold government accountable for effectively implementing those policies.
Partnerships among communities, advocates, elected officials, and city agencies that define and address local and citywide issues of density, equity, and displacement.