Community Project Grants

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Community Project Grants to Prevent and Address Bias and Hate

The NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) and the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) are pleased to announce the availability of Community Project Grants to encourage individuals, groups, non-profit organizations, academic institutions, and other entities located in New York City to implement creative projects that promote community respect, prevent hate violence, and seek to address hate crimes, bias-motivated incidents, and discrimination through pathways outside of law enforcement and the criminal legal system. Applicants can propose projects including, but not limited to, community workshops, educational videos, events, conferences, and social media campaigns. Be creative! Community Project Grants will be administered by OPHC through discretionary funding.

OPHC and CCHR are partnering to inspire and support approaches that cultivate positive relationships among New Yorkers; increase community-led responses to hate crimes and bias-motivated incidents; improve reporting of incidents; build community cohesion; and develop educational programs that increase cultural competence, awareness, and respect for all.

Definitions

Hate Crimes: any offense that is motivated in whole or substantial part by a belief or perception of a person, a group or a place identified with a particular protected characteristic, including "race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity or expression, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual orientation."

Bias incidents: Identity-based verbal or discriminatory harassment that does not rise to the level of a hate crime and does not involve a physical attack, a threat of attack, or property damage.

Discrimination: To act based on a preference or prejudice; Occurs when you are treated differently because of any of your protected categories in a way that causes an adverse impact to you.

Grants are awarded up to: $10,000

Qualifications and Requirements

  • Applicants must be NYC residents or organizations based in NYC, serving NYC residents.
  • NYC agencies and other government entities are not eligible, but programs sponsored by city agencies, such as school and youth programs, may apply.
  • NYC organizations that are not already being funded through the Partners Against The Hate (P.A.T.H) Forward Initiative are encouraged to apply.
  • Awardees are expected to fulfill all the requirements of the program and will need to attend mandatory trainings and engage in periodic check-ins with city agency coordinators.
  • Awardees will need to provide periodic reports on progress and share all event information in advance with city agency coordinators.
  • Each public facing event flyer must include the OPHC and CCHR logo, and the event must be approved by the city agencies.
  • Individual grantees and/or staff, volunteers, or members of the funded organization will have to attend mandatory training on the Overview of NYC Human Rights Law conducted by CCHR and OPHC's Preventing Hate Together.
  • Awardees will be required to submit a closing report, receipts, and invoices after the completion of the project for reimbursement of expenses.
  • All projects must be concluded by June 16, 2025, and have submitted relevant documents concerning their completed projects by June 20th, 2025.
  • OPHC and CCHR will have the right to publicize all projects.
  • The grantee will also commit to leveraging its community outreach to promote community engagement about the NYC Human Rights Law.

Funding Criteria

  • Demonstrates innovative and entrepreneurial thinking.
  • Has potential for high impact in addressing bias, discrimination, hate violence and/or promoting community respect.
  • Can be continued or scaled for further impact.
  • Can reach under-served populations, especially those with language barriers, and underreporting.
  • Speaks to issues currently impacting New York City or its communities.
  • Has established metrics for measuring success.

Application Process

All submissions must be submitted electronically between January 31st - February 21st, 2025.

Applications will be reviewed by the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) and NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR). Funding will be determined/reviewed on a rolling basis.

Application Submission Period: January 31st – February 21st, 2025

Application Response from OPHC: Application decision notifications will be sent to applicants by April 9th, 2025.

Webinar Info Session

Interested in learning more about the Community Project Grants? Join us for an informative session hosted by The Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) and the New York City Commission on Human Rights (CCHR)!

Event Details:

  • Date: Monday, February 10, 2025
  • Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
  • Where: Online via Zoom
  • Topic: Community Project Grants Information Session

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_U50tAJQ0TK2QXRRM_O4jcA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

We look forward to your participation and are excited to share valuable insights on Community Project Grants!

Next Steps for Awardees

All projects must be concluded by June 16, 2025.

All relevant documents concerning the completed project must then be submitted by June 20, 2025.

Because of the volume of inquiries, the selection committee is unable to respond to individual messages concerning your submissions. If your submission is approved, you will hear back within the application submission period.

For those who have already applied, please monitor your email for any communications regarding its status.

Thanks to everyone for their continued interest and encourage you to follow OPHC on social media and CCHR on social media, or sign up for OPHC's newsletter for any major updates regarding our ongoing initiatives.

Go to the grant application