Robin Hood Awards Over $39 Million in Q3 2025 Grants to Strengthen Core Services and Drive Innovation Amid Growing Strain on Low-Income New Yorkers

New York, NY — New York City’s largest poverty-fighting philanthropy, announced today that it has awarded $39.9 million in grants during the third quarter of 2025 to 96 nonprofit organizations across the five boroughs. The investment represents an 11% increase over third-quarter grants made in 2024. These investments come at a time when many of Robin Hood’s partners are facing cuts in public funding and surging demand for services, underscoring the need for strategic, disciplined, and impactful grantmaking.

The Q3 2025 grants span six strategic domains:

• High-Quality Education: $17.1 million across 31 grants
• Financial Stability: $5.9 million across 20 grants
• Career Advancement: $4.8 million across 15 grants
• Stable Housing & Thriving Communities: $5.1 million across 17 grants
• Mental & Physical Health: $2.9 million across 6 grants
• Capacity Building & Data: $4.2 million across 7 grants
  

“Our partners are being asked to do more with less,” said Matt Klein, Chief Program & Impact Officer at Robin Hood. “Although philanthropy can’t replace public funding, we are focusing support on what works—early childhood, education, jobs, food, and housing—while expanding flexible resources and management assistance to help organizations weather this moment. We remain disciplined about results and are continuing to invest in innovations that produce meaningful outcomes for low-income New Yorkers.”

Highlights from Q3 2025

Addressing New York City’s Housing Crisis

Robin Hood’s Q3 2025 housing and homelessness investments include a comprehensive strategy to address the city’s deepening housing crisis, with over $5.1 million awarded across 17 grants. These investments focus on four key priorities: increasing the supply of affordable housing, improving access to housing for voucher holders, preventing evictions, and supporting high-quality shelter and supportive housing services. Notable grants include Program-Related Investments (PRIs) to Community Access and Fifth Avenue Committee, totaling $1.3 million, to accelerate the development of over 1,100 units of affordable and supportive housing. Robin Hood also renewed support for Unlock NYC, a tech-driven initiative combating source-of-income discrimination, and Communities Resist, which provides legal services to prevent evictions in communities of color. These grants are part of a broader effort to ensure that homelessness in New York City is rare, brief, and non-recurring—especially as federal housing supports face potential cuts and the city continues to lag in affordable housing production.

Since January 2025, Robin Hood has approved $17,430,000 in grants to support affordable housing programs, the construction of new housing units, prevent homelessness, and evictions. This commitment represents a 129% increase in overall year-to-date spending on housing between 2024 and 2025.

New and Ongoing Grants Driving Innovation

Grants funded this quarter to support innovative programs and expand proven models:

• Fund for Public Schools received $973,000 in supplemental funding to implement NYC Reads, a citywide initiative to roll out high-quality curriculum and teacher training through a partnership with the Relay Graduate School of Education to ensure all students learn to read.
• Solar One was awarded $100,000 to expand its Green Workforce Program, training low-income young adults for careers in NYC’s growing green economy.
• Girls Who Code received $125,000 to enhance utilization of New York State’s paid family leave through the Paidleave.ai initiative.
• Community Access and Fifth Avenue Committee were awarded loans of $500,000 and $800,000 respectively to develop affordable and supportive housing.
• NYC Kids RISE received $250,000 to expand enrollment in the Save for College program, helping families build college savings early.
• CAMBA, Big Picture Learning, and Good Shepherd Services were renewed grants totaling over $1.4 million to support transfer school initiatives that improve graduation rates and career readiness.
• Teach for America New York and the Fund for Public Schools were awarded $750,000 combined to strengthen the teacher pipeline through certification pathways and coaching.
• New York City Health + Hospitals received $462,000 to ensure families have access to benefits beyond health assistance, including housing and nutrition support.
• Research Foundation of CUNY was awarded $291,000 to provide immigration legal services to low-income students.
• Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and Urban Homesteading Assistance Board received supplemental support to sustain core programs and strengthen organizational capacity.

Sustained Support for Proven Impact

Of the 96 grants awarded:

• 84 were renewals, reinforcing Robin Hood’s long-term partnerships.
• 3 were supplemental, providing additional support to existing programs.
• 5 were new grants, introducing innovative solutions to persistent challenges.
• 4 were final grants, concluding multi-year funding cycles.

Robin Hood continues to prioritize data-driven philanthropy, with several grants supporting policy research and evaluation efforts, including the Poverty Tracker at Columbia University and fiscal analysis by the Center for New York City Affairs. For more information on Robin Hood’s grantmaking and impact, visit robinhood.org.

About Robin Hood

We are NYC’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy and since 1988, we have invested nearly $3 billion to elevate and fuel New Yorkers’ permanent escapes from poverty. In 2024, through $129.5 million in grantmaking with 285 community partners, we created pathways to opportunities out of poverty through our strategic partnerships on childcare, child poverty, jobs, living wages, and more. We are scaling impact at a population level for the 2 million New Yorkers living in poverty. At Robin Hood, we believe your starting point in life should not define where you end up. To learn more about our work and impact, follow us on X @RobinHoodNYC or go to robinhood.org.

Media Contact

Crystal Cooper, Deputy Director of Communications, Robin Hood, press@robinhood.org