Dear Colleagues:

Like many of you, Engage New York is continuing to think about the best ways to support advocates and community organizers to raise the voices of New Yorkers impacted by injustice. There are no shortage of challenges impacting our nonprofit leaders today and the communities they serve - the increase of hate crimes, increase of surveillance, unemployment, unsafe housing, inflation, access to quality healthcare, education, transportation, etc. There has never been a time for our State when community organizing has been more critical. I am encouraged by the number of foundation leaders moving resources to nonprofits engaging residents in their processes and working to find solutions to these challenges.

Below you will find information meant to help your staff in your 2023 planning and grantmaking processes. Highlighted below is an opportunity to attend the Advocacy Institute's post-election funder briefing. AI works with numerous advocacy organizations that lead important statewide campaigns. AI provides training, tools, and consulting to social justice organizations so more New Yorkers can organize effectively to change the polices that impact them. AI briefings are full of important, timely, and informative information and can help provide context to what is and isn't happening in Albany. If you have not met the Advocacy Institute team, this is a great way to get to know them and their work. They work with agencies across New York on some of the most important issues of our time.

In the Grantee Spotlight section below, you can learn about a Syracuse-based non-profit organizing impacted families in the fight to end childhood lead poisoning. Families for Lead Freedom Now is one group that is part of the Lead Free Kids New York coalition that includes public interest lawyers, researchers, advocates, and families working to end this crisis in New York. In the last section - there are some great resources and tools with important information about immigration, surveillance, and the fight for voting rights.

The mid-term elections in this country have always been important, whether we as a nation have discussed them with that level of importance or not. No matter what happens in November, the challenges we are all dealing with today will remain. The question remains, what will philanthropy do and how will the sector step up to meet the moment?

If you are already a member of Engage New York or one of our working groups, thank you! We are looking forward to our continued work together as we move our various projects forward. If you haven't joined Engage New York yet and you are ready, contact us. The network is

With Respect,

Lisa Fasolo Frishman

Program Director

Post-Election Funder Briefing

Reflections on the Current Political Moment in New York

This year has seen an unpredictable election cycle and redistricting process, coupled with a political climate of reactionary backlash against the historic wins achieved by social justice organizations in New York in the last few years. Despite this, the movement for a better, more just New York forges ahead.

Join the staff of AI on Wednesday, November 30 at 10:00 am to learn about the challenges and opportunities facing advocacy organizations across the state, and to learn how the Advocacy Institute is poised to support their success as they prepare for 2023. The staff will provide an update on the political landscape in Albany, the election cycle, and highlight some critical bills and campaigns to look out for next year. This is a great event for funders interested in learning more about advocacy and policy agendas impacting local and state policy.

About the Advocacy Institute

The Advocacy Institute supports social justice organizations to build the advocacy skills, knowledge, and power they need to shape government policy for a more just and equitable New York. They work with communities of color, immigrants, low-income people, LGBTQ+ people, and other underrepresented groups throughout New York to provide them with the tools to fight for policy change more effectively.

RSVP HERE

Grantee Spotlight

Families for Lead Freedom Now, Syracuse, NY

Families for Lead Freedom Now is a grassroots organization driven by parents and families who have been directly impacted by lead poisoning. In their own words, they "are experts, guides, and organizers of action for solutions to the violence that childhood lead poisoning is causing in our families and neighborhoods. We provide mutual support for families dealing with childhood lead poisoning; we organize around basic principles of environmental justice to have a say in policy decisions in Syracuse; and we press for more resources for safe and equitable housing for all, starting in the most under-resourced communities." Families for Lead Freedom Now is also part of the Lead Free Kids New York Coalition that Engage New York supports along with the Community for Greater Buffalo, the Central New York Community Foundation, Lead Free Mohawk Valley, and the New York Community Trust to advance equitable policies at the State level to support local efforts.

At a recent press conference, Oceanna Fair, one of the key organizers for Families for Lead Freedom Now, is helping to raise awareness that the lead crisis is not solved as many people believe, and reinforcing the point that ending lead poisoning exposure is a solvable problem. The Coalition is working with the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County to help remediate the issue.

To read more about this issue from around the State, visit the following news stories: