GIVE LOCAL: Myrtle Avenue Neighbors Campaign

Many of you are familiar with our work on Myrtle’s commercial corridor supporting our small business community. That is only one part of what we do, however. We are building a connected and supportive community anchored by Myrtle Avenue, and if you’re receiving this message, you are already a part of this story.  😃 

If we had to summarize what we do here in one sentence, we’d say: we connect neighbors to the neighborhood, and the neighborhood to neighbors. Our great community is teeming with resources, and an emerging role for our organization is to match those resources to our neighbors in need. What does this look like? Some examples: providing free fresh produce for food-insecure families, creating opportunities for local volunteerism, coordinating community celebrations where neighbors connect, amplifying community leadership, and supporting our local shelters.

This community-focused work is important because our neighborhood is changing. Our challenge (our = us, you – all of us) is to ensure that Myrtle remains welcoming to all in spite of that change. Here are a few things we are proud of from the last year: 

• The Shelter Initiative: There are six residential shelters near Myrtle, and we spent the past year reaching out, simply asking how we could be a better neighbor. So far, we connected a women’s shelter to a local business who raised $10K for essential items, found a sponsor for holiday turkeys at a family shelter, and catered a meal for residents at a men’s shelter. 
• Tech + People:  About 20% of Myrtle’s households are at or near the poverty line, and these low-income households struggle to meet their needs locally. We partnered with tech start-up Benefit Kitchen to connect our neighbors to government benefits and local deals that help stretch their household budgets. 
• Food Access & Community Leadership: The Fort Greene & Farragut Fresh Pantry gave over 100K lbs of produce to families in 2018, and we helped local resident associations stepped into a leadership role at the pantry. We’ve also welcomed hundreds of neighbors and partner organizations as volunteers this year, and we’re encouraged by the enthusiasm to give back locally. 
• Telling Our Stories: Local senior citizens published a book in partnership with Pratt that shares their experiences living in this community for decades. 
• Connecting with Youth: Our Youth Entrepreneurship Mentorship Program celebrated its 12th year, reaching 250 local teens. YEMP provides first-time job experiences for local teens at Myrtle’s businesses.  

You can feel our community’s strength and resilience when you walk the avenue. This is not easy to quantify, but community connectivity is palpable here, and is the collective result of all of these projects large and small.

Much of this work is not grant funded. It grows from the support we receive from you - our neighbors, partners and friends. Your support allows us to deepen this community-building work, to be responsive to requests for help in real time, and to show that we care. We love Myrtle Avenue and our Fort Greene & Clinton Hill neighborhoods and neighbors. We know you do too.  
 
 Please donate to support your neighbors, and your neighborhood.