Robin Hood Awards “Fuel for 50” Funding to Forestdale Inc.

NEW YORK, NY, January 12, 2023 – Robin Hood, New York’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy,

today announced the ten organizations that have each been awarded $250,000 in funding as part of the

second phase of FUEL for 50, a three-year, $10 million initiative to support the learning and

development of young children living in poverty through programs focused on their caregivers. These

ten awardees advance from a cohort of 50 organizations that each received $25,000 in support in March

2022. Their programs represent uniquely promising, community-led approaches to promoting child

development, connecting support for caregivers to missions in immigration, housing, mental health,

nutrition, and more.

"Any organization that serves parents or families has the potential to affect a child's development

positively," said Kelly Escobar, Ph.D., Director of the Fund for Early Learning. "By engaging a diverse

cohort of nonprofits that includes both long-established programs and new, caregiver-focused

approaches, we are expanding the tent of early childhood work and moving closer to a New York City

where all children have a fair shot at long-term success. The additional funding for these ten

organizations will provide a full year of collaboration and give us an opportunity to learn from each

other as the awardees add new capacities and position their programs for sustained funding and

impact.”

FUEL for 50 is an initiative of Robin Hood’s Fund for Early Learning (FUEL), which has committed $50

million to transform New York into an early learning metropolis. With an emphasis on holistic support

for parents and adult caregivers and funding phased over three years, FUEL for 50 is designed to engage

and nurture community-led programs that might otherwise be shut out of early childhood funding.

These ten organizations – which represent work in all five boroughs of New York City – will each receive

$250,000 in unrestricted funding to develop and scale their program throughout 2023. They were

selected from the cohort of 50 organizations chosen by a committee of local parents, nonprofit leaders,

and early childhood researchers to participate in the first phase of the FUEL for 50 program in 2022. The

third, final phase of FUEL for 50 will take place in 2024 when up to three of the organizations will share

$3 million in funding to further scale their efforts and impact within their community.

View the full list of FUEL for 50 Phase 2 awardees below [and read more here]:

• Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) – to help asylum-seeking families access work permits

and critical resources