ANHD Awarded the Robin Hood Power Fund

NEW YORK, October 14, 2020 – ANHD’s Executive Director Barika X. Williams has been selected to the inaugural cohort of the Robin Hood Power Fund.

Robin Hood, New York City’s largest poverty-fighting organization, launched the Power Fund to address a critical funding disparity by investing in leaders of color who bring perspective, proximity, and expertise to the fight against poverty. The current moment of health, economic, and racial crises has (re)exposed the historic and systemic inequities facing our marginalized communities in New York City. ANHD is deepening our commitment that: housing justice is economic justice is racial justice. In partnership with Robin Hood, ANHD will tackle long-standing racist housing and economic development systems and policies that intentionally disadvantage and deliberately silence low- and moderate-income communities and communities of color, so that we can uplift communities of color and build community power.

The inaugural assembly of Power Fund Leaders includes dynamic innovators collectively tackling inequities and driving solutions across New York City. We at ANHD are honored that our Executive Director Barika X. Williams is part of this impressive cohort. And we are also excited that Bernell K. Grier, Executive Director of IMPACCT Brooklyn – a long-time ANHD-member organization – was selected as well. Congratulations to them and all the leaders of color selected for this opportunity.

“Race has and continues to shape every part of our lived realities – from where we work to where we live. Any efforts to address the needs of New York City’s communities of color and marginalized communities must recognize the legacies of oppression that created our current conditions and their continued impact on place and neighborhoods,” said Barika X. Williams, Executive Director of the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD). “We are building a movement to dismantle the historic roots of the systemic and structural policies that continue to perpetuate wide inequitable outcomes in neighborhoods and communities.”

“Organizations like ours need support to tell our own stories of our communities and what works for them. This is a critical part of our fight for racial justice,” said Bernell K. Grier, Executive Director of IMPACCT Brooklyn. “It is through this lived experience that we can help New Yorkers build and sustain flourishing communities.”

Power Fund organizations will each receive catalytic investment and will benefit from the access of Robin Hood’s management assistance and network support to build their capacity, including assistance with board member recruitment, fundraising, and strategic planning, in addition to intentional access to philanthropic, government, and community partner networks. The leaders will also receive self-directed funding for leadership elevation support. In addition to supporting Barika’s leadership, ANHD plans to use this opportunity to advance our research, advocacy, and coalition building to support our members - like IMPACCT Brooklyn - in our collective work to build equity and justice in our neighborhoods and city-wide.

“As a poverty-fighting organization in a city where 80 percent of those in poverty are people of color, we know that poverty and race are inextricably linked. Leaders of color are often some of the most effective and innovative leaders because their solution-based approaches reflect lived, racialized experiences,” said Wes Moore, Chief Executive Officer at Robin Hood. “I am honored and humbled to welcome these remarkable nonprofit leaders into the Robin Hood family.”

Like many other industries, nonprofits struggle to foster and support leaders and color, especially Black leaders committed to racial and social justice work. With this support from the Robin Hood Power Fund, ANHD will be able to expand our work for affordable housing and thriving, equitable economic development and deepen our efforts to combat white supremacy and center justice for our communities of color.

Press Contact: Melanie Breault at Melanie.B@anhd.org

###

About the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development:

The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development Inc. (ANHD) is an umbrella organization representing 80+ non-profit community groups across New York City, dedicated to building community power to win affordable housing and thriving, equitable neighborhoods for all New Yorkers. ANHD uses research, advocacy, and organizing, paired with capacity building and technical assistance, to support our members in their work. To learn more, visit anhd.org.

About IMPACCT Brooklyn:  

IMPACCT Brooklyn’s programs and services focus on supporting historically-underserved, low-and-moderate-income families in communities of color through the ownership, development and marketing of Affordable and Supportive Housing, operating as HUD housing counseling agency; Resident Engagement and Advocacy; Small Business Services; and Social Services. As one of Brooklyn’s premier, community development corporations, IMPACCT is a trusted provider of key services throughout its targeted communities which include Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Brownsville. To learn more, visit impacctbrooklyn.org.

About Robin Hood:

Founded in 1988, Robin Hood finds, fuels, and creates the most impactful and scalable solutions lifting families out of poverty in New York City, with models that can work across the country. Robin Hood invests nearly $120 million annually to provide legal services, housing, meals, workforce development training, education programs, and more to families in poverty in New York City. Robin Hood tracks every program with rigorous metrics, and since Robin Hood’s Board of Directors covers all overhead, 100 percent of every donation goes directly to the poverty fight. Learn more at robinhood.org.