Helping Hands News

Gerstner Philanthropies has made a gift of $166,667 to support the Helping Hands Student Emergency Fund at The City College of New York. Helping Hands provides one-time assistance to students facing one-time emergencies with the goal to help college students continue through to graduation. The grant will assist students for the remainder of 2023. “We are grateful to be able to partner with the Gerstner Philanthropies team, which allows us to expand on the important work of providing emergency support to our students to maintain momentum in their college career. Student retention is a key goal of City College,” said Dee Dee Mozeleski, senior advisor to the president, and vice president and executive director of The Foundation for City College.

As of March 1, 2023, Gerstner Philanthropies has awarded $7.9 million in Helping Hands funds to 24 social service organizations and colleges, a 47% increase from last year’s grantmaking. $7.3 million will expand support to existing emergency grant programs at 19 grantees across the country, with an additional $0.6 million supporting new partnerships with public colleges within the New York City area. Over $0.7 million of the awarded funds will support a new program capacity-building initiative at seven organizations with the goal of improving Helping Hands program efficiency and expanding its reach to serve more people in need.

Gerstner Philanthropies is excited to announce that it has awarded $950,000 to eight organizations across our core funding locations to support hunger prevention in our communities in 2023. These organizations provide food and related assistance to an increasing number of individuals and families struggling from the impacts of inflation and rising housing costs. These funds will be utilized by our grantees to continue to implement critical programs, such as mobile pantries and meal delivery for clients in food deserts, food rescue programs and one of the largest kosher and halal food pantries in the country. This announcement comes on the heels of three Thanksgiving meals grants totaling $43,200 to partners in Palm Beach, Boston, and Greater New York City, providing over 800 families with turkey dinners over the holidays.

GerstnerPhilanthropies announced today that it has awarded $4.9 million in Helping Hands funds to our grantee organizations. The Gerstner Helping Hands program provides financial resources to assist individuals facing a one-time, urgent need. These emergency cash grants are distributed by our partners, who combine Helping Hands funds with holistic wrap-around services to help clients avoid homelessness and instability. Helping Hands reaches over 4,000 families each year, providing assistance with rent, utilities, medical expenses, and food.

Helping Hands Program Update: Q3 2021 Highlights

Our Helping Hands grantees continue to feel the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Throughout the year, we communicate with our partners informally and formally. They report data on program statistics that we compile to highlight larger trends. Based on third quarter reports, need for rental arrearages assistance remains high, with many clients facing a looming eviction crisis. Federal funding for rental assistance helped many, we join in the call for additional rental assistance funding to help families regain their stability.