Our Neighbors are people experiencing job, food, and housing insecurity. They live in or near Brownsville, Brooklyn, where we are piloting. There are 43 Neighbors in our current pilot. Here's a little more about them:

• 90% identify as Black.

• 87% identify as women.

• 81% are currently housing insecure (living in shelters or public housing, using vouchers to cover rent, or without the means to pay rent).

• 87% are food insecure (and require support from SNAP or food pantries to get by).

• 81% are job insecure and either unemployed, in temporary work, or underemployed (and the majority of our Neighbors are not earning money outside of public assistance).

• 61% are single parents.

• 31% are immigrants (some undocumented).

• 25% are survivors of domestic violence.

The reason that we give Neighbors direct cash assistance is that we believe that no one is better positioned than they are to make wise choices for their well-being. This hypothesis has been tested increasingly by organizations like GiveDirectly, the UN World Food Programme, UpTogether (formerly Family Independence Initiative), FreeFrom, Humanity Forward, The $1K Project, and Foundations For Social Change’s New Leaf Project, who set up a randomized control trial in Canada to provide people experiencing homelessness with $7,500. They found:

The people who received cash transfers moved into stable housing faster and saved enough money to maintain financial security over the year of follow-up. They decreased spending on drugs, tobacco, and alcohol by 39 percent on average, and increased spending on food, clothes, and rent, according to self-reports (Vox, Oct 2020).

Read more here in a blog post we wrote on the importance of direct cash assistance to those who need it.

While our initial recruiting came from flyers in the Neighborhood and promotional efforts from our trusted partner, the Brownsville Partnership, Neighbors generally find out about GatherFor through word of mouth from existing participants. After they are referred to GatherFor, they complete a short, written application explaining some of the challenges they’re facing. We then have a phone call with them to better understand their situation, explain our program, and determine if they would like to participate.

If you’re poor in the United States, many government and non-profit programs require you to demonstrate how poor you are. This is often dehumanizing and creates a sense of shame for our Neighbors. What if instead we let Neighbors know, “We have your back, if you’re also willing to support your community as well”? By inviting Neighbors to be part of a community of mutual support, our “selection process” is less about making them prove they’re poor and more about affirming their gifts can be used to support their community, who will also support them through their time of need.

Yes, this has happened once. When we began our program, we gave $500 to Neighbors immediately after their joining, in an effort to quickly distributed critically needed funds at the height of the pandemic. After receiving their $500, one Neighbor (out of the 45 we have engaged) did not return to future meetings. However, this Neighbor did need cash assistance and we know these funds were put to good use helping meet their basic needs. Meanwhile, most other Neighbors stay engaged in the community for at least three months (with roughly 5 dropping out after this point), with our 40 current Neighbors having stayed engaged and planning to continue.

The Neighbors themselves advised us to shift to providing $500 in direct cash assistance (which every Neighbor receives early in their GatherFor journey) after the third meeting a Neighbor attends. That gives them a sufficient sense of what the program entails, gives them the chance to get to know their team a bit, improves the odds of longer-term engagement, and gives us a chance to ask them if they’d like to commit to the community of mutual support.

When each Neighbor joins GatherFor, they receive $500 in direct cash assistance to use as they need. According to a survey we conducted with our Neighbors, 95% spent the $500 they received entirely on bills, housing, and food. The remaining 5% used at least a part of the money to purchase gifts for their children or family during the holiday season.

Yes! GatherFor is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, as verified by Guidestar. After your donation, we will send you a donation receipt so you can deduct your contribution amount from your taxes.

In our pilot phase, we’ve been operating the model of organizing and resourcing Neighbor Teams since late October 2020. In this time, we have hosted monthly town halls to receive input from Neighbors on our effectiveness and strategic direction and sent out surveys to check how well our approach is working. While we are also working with our Neighbors to establish metrics, here’s what we’ve learned so far:

• 67% of our Neighbors feel like their Neighbor Team truly has their back. The remaining third appreciate their relationships with their Neighbor Teams, and are still getting to know them.

• 88% of Neighbors feel good about the 2-3 hours / week they’re spending on GatherFor. That includes attending their weekly Neighbor Team meeting on Zoom; attending workshops on topics like financial health, childcare, starting a business, immigration, and housing; participating in game nights; attending monthly town hall meetings; and having one-on-ones with GatherFor staff or other Neighbors.

• 92% indicate the topics / discussions / workshops we engage in are valuable to them.

We have also witnessed stories of Neighbors supporting each other in diverse ways. Here are a few examples:

• A survivor of domestic violence shared that she’s beginning to trust men again because of the men who are part of her Neighbor Team.

• A newly-employed single mother shared with her Neighbor Team that her children’s school had cancelled their bussing without explanation. Because of her working hours, she wasn’t able to call the school to find out what happened and to reinstate the needed transportation for her kids. One of her Neighbors volunteered to call the school and helped reinstate bussing for her children.

• A Neighbor expressed suicidal thoughts to their Neighbor Team because they believed no one cared about them. Their entire Neighbor Team engaged for a four hour conversation and multiple follow-ups, prompting the Neighbor to tell the new story, "I am truly loved."

• A single mother entering the shelter system was nervous and worried about what her experience would be like. She received coaching and moral support from her fellow Neighbor, who had been living in a shelter for years.

• A Neighbor with a medical emergency was in such acute pain, medical personnel could not understand her on the phone. Another Neighbor spoke to her on one line and translated and advocated for her with doctor's offices on the other line, before coordinating a ride to get her to the ER.

Imagine if our Neighborhoods looked this way. It’s these stories that we hope to deepen and to help make possible.

Neighbors will use the money to pay off outstanding bills, buy food, and secure childcare for their kids as many of them start finding livelihood opportunities as New York relaxes its COVID restrictions. In addition to the community of support, workshops, and connections to partners that we offer, we’re also raising an additional $105,000 to set up two funds: (1) a $35,000 emergency fund of a (2) $70,000 livelihood loan fund, both of which will be administered by our community of Neighbors.

(1) The $35,000 Emergency Fund. As Rachel Schneider, founder of Canary, shared with us, the timing of direct cash assistance can also matter as much as the amount. Let’s say you work as a delivery person but use your own car. One day, your car breaks down. The repairs cost $400, which even before the pandemic, the Federal Reserve shared that 4 in 10 Americans don’t have available for emergencies. Without that amount on hand, you might lose your job. If your health care is tied to that job, you may no longer have it (or have a gap in coverage). If in that window, you got injured, you would be looking at overwhelming debt, for want of an initial $400. To avoid this situation, we plan to resource the GatherFor community of Neighbors with a fund of (initially) $20,000 that they can allocate to Neighbors in emergency situations. Should the Neighbor be able to pay this amount back at some point, they can. But they will share, within the trusted contexts of their Neighbor Teams, what has happened and what amount they need. This becomes a Neighbor-powered financial safety net for any Neighbor who is part of GatherFor.

(2) The $70,000 Livelihood Loan Fund. In the event a Neighbor wants to start a small business or begin a new job that requires training (e.g. an electrician, a CNA, or an EMT), they can ask their fellow Neighbors for a zero-interest loan to cover the initial expenses. As part of their request, they’ll detail how they will plan to repay the loan. Inspired by micro-finance, Susus, and Self-Help Groups, this model can help each Neighbor move into higher earning opportunities and create a renewing financing vehicle for Neighbors as well.

We’re currently working with Neighbors on creating a decision-making process for how to allocate money, how to receive requests, and how to do so in a way that enhances community, and affirms all Neighbors’ humanity. Our hope is that these funding vehicles, combined with initial direct cash assistance, workshops, and a strong community of support, can scaffold a pathway to greater stability for our Neighbors and help us prove out the possibility of a “Neighborhood Safety Net.” If they work, we’ll raise more money for both funds, particularly as we grow to include more Neighbors.

Your monthly contributions always go straight to our Neighbors whether in the form of direct cash assistance for new Neighbors that we bring into GatherFor, into the Neighbor-administered emergency fund to support Neighbors through crises, or into the Neighbor-administered loan fund to support Neighbors pursue livelihood opportunities like starting a business or going through a training that boosts their earning potential.