Go Local! Giving Champaign – Giving U™

I love NYC!  I loved living here and I love visiting.

What I don’t love is seeing the abject poverty underpinning some of the city’s communities.

Driving from JFK airport through Brooklyn, the cab took Atlantic Avenue through some of the worst neighborhood blight I’ve seen in a while. The view through the backseat window was starting to rival several third world countries.

America is a great place to live, but the struggles many face are far too evident – and this is just what we see on the surface. Unfortunately, the roots of poverty run too deep.

And so I’m launching a Go Local! Giving Campaign!

You Nominate 3 Local Orgs

The Go Erin Go! Fund will give $100 to the first 3 community organizations that are nominated. All you have to do is write me at Erin@GoErinGo.com and tell me the name of your hometown community foundation or a local nonprofit organization and the Go Erin Go! Fund will donate $100 to their  efforts.

I’ll announce the grant recipients via Twitter – one each day this week.

My $250 Go Local! Gift

To kick off the campaign, the first Go Erin Go! grant will be to the Brooklyn Community Foundation. The fund will give $250 to help support projects and programs that create opportunities for economic and social progress for Brooklyn’s people and neighborhoods.

Brooklyn Facts – Our Go Local! motivation:

Poverty: Brooklyn is home to the 2 neighborhoods in the city with the highest percentage of residents 65 and older; 25% of people in Brooklyn live below the poverty line, and the highest infant mortality rates in the city are in Brooklyn. 

Education: 30% of Brooklyn third graders are unable to read at grade level. 38% of Brooklynites are foreign-born and without essential language skills to help them succeed.

Housing: Brooklyn has the oldest and largest housing stock in New York City; the highest number of public housing units in the the nation, as well as some of the highest foreclosure rates in the city and rising unemployment. 

Nominate your local org!

Participate in the Go Local! Giving Campaign and nominate a nonprofit organization serving your community today!  

Let’s invest in our neighborhoods — and more importantly — our neighbors!

Tags: Brooklyn Community Foundation, Go Local! Giving Campaign

This entry was posted on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 and is filed under The Giving Guide.