Brooklyn Nonprofits Can Apply for Up to $5,000 in Matching Funds for Community Baby Showers Occurring Before May 2025
BROOKLYN, NY (July XX, 2024) – Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso today announced the creation of a $50,000 ‘Community Baby Shower Fund’ to support community-led baby showers for Brooklyn’s new and expecting parents. Brooklyn nonprofits hosting community baby showers in Brooklyn can request up to $5,000 in reimbursed funding from the Community Baby Shower Fund for non-personnel expenses. Black women in New York City are eight times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their White counterparts. This initiative is the latest installment in the Borough President’s historic maternal health agenda aimed at addressing this staggering disparity.
“No Brooklynite should have to experience the joys and anxieties of pregnancy and parenthood alone, and community baby showers offer a powerful venue for neighbors to come together in celebration and in support of one another,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “It’s my honor to support the nonprofits who are doing the work of caring for our neighbors and plugging the holes left by decades of disinvestment in largely Black and Brown and low-income neighborhoods. By celebrating the exciting journey of parenthood for new parents and providing resources to raise our newest Brooklynites, we’re proving that we can help close the gaps in maternal healthcare through community, celebration, and love – the Brooklyn way.”
In April 2024, Borough President Reynoso hosted a ‘Brooklyn Community Baby Shower’ for 100 new and expecting mothers. The day-long celebration took place at NYCHA’s Van Dyke Community Center in Brownsville and was chock-full of games, arts & crafts, giveaways, and information about pregnancy and postpartum care. Since the beginning of his administration, Borough President Reynoso has advanced a historic maternal health agenda, giving the entirety of his first-year capital funding to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal health improvements and launching a variety of initiatives, including his Maternal Health Taskforce, ‘Born in Brooklyn’ baby boxes, and a multilingual, multimedia public health education campaign.
“Black women in New York City are about eight times more likely to die of pregnancy-related complications than their White counterparts. It’s alarming, it’s unconscionable, and it’s a crisis that requires all hands on deck,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. “I made a promise to do everything I can as Borough President to make this borough the safest place to have a baby, and I have been so proud of Brooklyn for rallying around this cause.”
About the Community Baby Shower Fund
Information for Prospective Applicants
Overview
Borough President Reynoso will provide up to $5,000 in matching funds, provided on a reimbursement basis, to support the cost of non-personnel expenses associated with the community baby shower.
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for the Community Baby Shower Fund, applicants must:
- Have a current 501(c)3 status.
- Be able to match requested funding amount by submitting a description of where matching funds are coming from, whether internal to the organization, in-kind sponsorship, etc.
- Have a history of service in at least one of the initiative’s target neighborhoods.
- Have a history of serving prenatal and postnatal/postpartum individuals and their families.
- Have a history of planning community baby showers or similar resource events.
- Host their event between July 31, 2024, and May 30, 2025.
Priority Neighborhoods
Borough President Reynoso will prioritize funding to applicants holding community baby showers in neighborhoods with historically high maternal mortality and morbidity rates, including:
- Bedford-Stuyvesant
- Brownsville
- Bushwick
- Canarsie
- Coney Island
- Crown Heights
- East Flatbush
- East New York
- Flatbush/Midwood
- Sunset Park
Important Information
- Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until funds are no longer available.
- Submission of an application does not guarantee funding.
- All funding is issued on a reimbursement basis.
Community Baby Shower Guide
Borough President Reynoso offers a guide on how to host a community baby shower, which includes ideas for activities, step-by-step planning suggestions, best practices, as well as helpful templates. You can find the Borough President’s Community Baby Shower Guide at [LINK].
How to Apply
- Submit your application via the Community Baby Shower Fund request form available on our website at [LINK].
- Submit these three documents to [email protected] with the subject line “Community Baby Shower Fund.”
- 501(c)3 Letter of Determination.
- Most recent Form 990 or financial statement.
- Project budget.
The Borough President’s Historic Maternal Health Agenda: A Recap
Maternal Health Task Force
In April 2022, BP Reynoso formed his Maternal Health Task Force of eight Black women OBGYNs, nurses, midwives, mental health advocates, nonprofit and other community leaders to guide efforts to improve pregnancy outcomes for Black and Brown people in Brooklyn. The Task Force is led by Dr. Wendy Wilcox (Co-Chair), Chief Women’s Health Service Officer at Health + Hospitals, and Helena Grant (Co-Chair), Senior Advisor of Midwifery Initiatives for DOHMH.
$45M for Public Hospitals
Over the 2022 summer, BP Reynoso allocated the entirety of his FY2023 capital funding – a total of $45 million – to Brooklyn’s three public hospitals for maternal healthcare improvements. This marked the first time a Borough President has ever allocated an entire fiscal year’s capital funding to one cause, and within one city organization.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County received $15.625M to renovate the newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and mother-baby units.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health received $18.5M to renovate the outpatient care center, labor and delivery rooms, post-partum recovery rooms, and NICU.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull received $11M to build a state-of-the-art birthing center.
‘Born in Brooklyn’ Baby Boxes
In November 2022, a total of 500 post-partum families receiving care at select Brooklyn hospitals and clinics received “Born in Brooklyn” baby boxes with free baby supplies and post-partum resources for new parents through a $100,000 grant from the BP’s office to Met Council.
‘Healthy Pregnancy’ Public Education Campaign
In the fall of 2022, BP Reynoso launched a $250,000 multimedia public education campaign connecting Brooklynites with a resource guide for a healthy pregnancy informed by the Borough President’s Maternal Health Taskforce. The multicultural campaign included English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole informational ads in bus and train stations in key Brooklyn neighborhoods and across digital platforms.
Maternal Health Expo
In July 2023, BP Reynoso welcomed over a hundred new and expecting parents to Brooklyn Borough Hall for a ‘Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies’ maternal health expo. The afternoon-long event included:
- Workshops on prenatal nutrition, breastfeeding, safe sleep, and rights like parental leave and health insurance;
- Mommy and Me yoga and belly dancing classes;
- Resources and information from 20+ agencies and community organizations;
- A Pack-n-Play raffle.
Over $1M for Brookdale
BP Reynoso allocated $1,045,000 in FY24 capital dollars to renovate and modernize the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Brookdale Hospital. Brookdale is a safety-net hospital that provides comprehensive healthcare services to underserved communities in central and northeast Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Community Baby Shower
In April 2024, BP Reynoso hosted a ‘Brooklyn Community Baby Shower’ for 100 new and expecting mothers. The day-long celebration took place at NYCHA’s Van Dyke Community Center in Brownsville and included:
- Over a dozen organizations tabling with resources and information;
- Workshops on safe sleep and postpartum mental health;
- Games, arts & crafts, and contests;
- And of course, gifts!! Attendees left with diaper bags full of diapers, baby wipes, baby blankets, postpartum pads, and baby books, as well as a supply box containing a baby bottle, cocoa butter, additional baby wipes, and more.
Community Baby Shower Fund
In July 2024, BP Reynoso announced a $50,000 ‘Community Baby Shower Fund’ to provide matching funds of up to $5,000 to Brooklyn nonprofits hosting community baby showers in neighborhoods with high maternal mortality and morbidity rates.