Annual Impact: 2024
Since its founding in 2018, WSCF has given over $1,100,000 in grants to organizations in Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, and Hudson Yards*.
The 2024 Annual Impact Report outlines the impact of WSCF’s Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 grants and highlights a few of the grantees’ initiatives. Key impact areas include food security, education and economic empowerment, community improvement, and health and wellness.
We encourage you to read the report and learn more about the critical services the grant recipients are providing to under-resourced residents in Chelsea, Hudson Yards, and Hell’s Kitchen.
We are proud to partner with these organizations and to continue advancing the Fund’s mission of strengthening the west side communities.
Grantee Highlights
Mouse Design League Empowering youth to solve community issues
With WSCF grant funds, Mouse expanded Design League, its flagship computer science and technology education program, at the High School for Environmental Studies in Hell’s Kitchen. Learning from a curriculum aligned to state standards, program participants gain core computational skills, grow in social-emotional learning, engage a network of mentors, and acquire a practical understanding of how to access meaningful careers in tech. Students are challenged to move beyond consumption of technology into creation, utilizing technology to solve problems in their communities.
Four students collaborated on an app, Plastic Track, designed to motivate the public to keep the environment clean using competition, reward, and a social networking element as incentives. The project was selected as a finalist at the Emoti-Con NYC Youth Digital Media & Technology Challenge by a panel of judges from Facebook, Google, IBM, and more.
Design League alumni have credited the program for their career readiness and feelings of empowerment. One participant noted, “Having these experiences really made a difference when I was applying for jobs...I had a nice resume for someone my age, and that was because of Mouse.” Another student shared, “Mouse gives young people agency and the feeling that they can make it happen. Once you think about using technology for a purpose, it becomes integral to who you are. I learned about technology, but also so much more about being a great person.”
FundaveNYC Connecting new New Yorkers with essential resources
FundaveNYC utilized their WSCF grant to host an Open Arms Resource Fair in Chelsea, servicing the west side’s newest New Yorkers. Asylum seekers, immigrant communities, and families in temporary housing were among the hundreds of individuals connected to life-sustaining resources.
In partnership with the Shed and NYC Public Schools, FundaveNYC gathered dozens of organizations offering visual and dental care, vaccinations, health insurance registration, bank account setup assistance, legal aid, housing support, and above all, a tangible sense of community. In addition to providing access to these crucial services, culturally-specific hot meals were served, promoting feelings of belonging for those who attended.
A highlight of the program was the giveaway of hygiene kits filled with essential products. A mother of three commented, “The body lotion had a wonderful scent that instantly transported me back to my best days in Venezuela, bringing back cherished memories of that time.”
Midtown South Community Council Building community and promoting sustainability
Midtown South Community Council (MSCC) addresses food shortages and promotes sustainable living through their Urban Farm Program, where volunteers harvest, transport, and distribute fresh produce in Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. Vulnerable populations are able to access essential nutrients that support physical and mental well-being, and the quality meals provided at no cost alleviate financial burdens. A WSCF grant was allocated towards the initiative and its mission to foster a stronger, healthier, and more connected neighborhood.
MSCC demonstrates interdependence as it collaborates with a network of local farmers, markets, food kitchens, senior centers, housing shelters, and other community groups during the process of food growth and distribution. The Urban Farm Program not only alleviates hunger, but builds community as staff and volunteers mobilize around the common, constant need of food security.
One volunteer voiced, “It’s heartbreaking to see how many elderly individuals are struggling with food insecurity. What MSCC provides is incredible and so valuable. I can guarantee that once we fill this cupboard, it will be empty again within an hour.”