How does $4,000 become $75,000?
By Meghan Stevenson-Krausz
New York. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, they say.
To this day, New York City is a major point of entry for new immigrants to the US, such that the percentage of immigrants in New York (38% in 2018) is more than twice that of the US as a whole (13.5% in 2017). 80% of those immigrants speak a language other than English at home, which is an additional hurdle when job seeking. And more than half of the estimated 3.1 million immigrants living in New York are women.
Regardless of where they’re from and their level of education, women are more likely to be out of the labor force or underemployed. But this is particularly the case for immigrant women who are not educated in the United States: 1 in 3 are out of the workforce.
That’s why in 2017 Spark Members decided to fund New Women New Yorkers (NWNY) in their mission to provide professional development and other programs to empower immigrant women to get their first paying, fulfilling job in the NYC workforce or pursue higher education.
When we gave NWNY our $4,000 grant, they had only one staff member, Founder & Executive Director Arielle Kandel. In the last year since our grant, they were able to hire a part-time Program Associate, Gyuzel Zaripova, and we’re excited to share that they just received a $75,000 grant from the The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America to be able to hire Gyuzel full-time and begin expanding the scale and scope of their workforce development and other programs serving immigrant women in New York City!
It can often be difficult for small, grassroots nonprofits like NWNY to receive funding for their activities. Many potential funders may require evidence of past success and support from other foundations. Having early support from the Spark community – aka you! – can mean the world for these nonprofits. It can make the difference between receiving a grant like the one NWNY just received and being passed over.
Spark growth for other grassroots organizations like New Women New Yorkers, by helping us raise $5,000 between now and International Women’s Day this Friday to kickstart our grantmaking program. Every donation – whether $20 or $200 – can make a difference in the lives of women everywhere, making it truly priceless.