Trinity Grants: Neighborhood Support: Downtown Fund

Trinity Grants: Neighborhood Support: Downtown Fund

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Trinity Church Wall Street
Amount: US $500 - US $10,000
Last Updated: October 16, 2025

Summary

Trinity Grants: Neighborhood Support: Downtown Fund aims to enhance the emotional well-being of Lower Manhattan's communities. Launched in 2023, this program focuses on holistic support for families facing systemic challenges such as poverty and violence. By funding initiatives that promote education, health, and economic empowerment, the Downtown Fund seeks to alleviate toxic stress and foster resilience among children and families. Grants range from $500 to $10,000, supporting community-driven solutions.

Overview

About Us At Trinity Church, we believe that every person is created in the image of God and that our faith requires us to use our gifts to care for them. We help build neighborhoods, expand institutional capacity, and promote change-making legislation through strategic and interlocking efforts: direct services programming at Trinity Church, grantmaking and gifts, and advocacy. What We Fund Our grantmaking focuses on four strategic initiatives rooted in a love for New York City and a strong commitment to building an equitable society in which the allocation of resources, opportunities, and hardships are not determined by race. Housing & HomelessnessRacial JusticeMission Real Estate DevelopmentLeadership DevelopmentNeighborhood Support Neighborhood Support Our Vision: An Emotionally Well Community In 2023, Trinity's Neighborhood Support team launched a grants program to make deeper investments into the emotional well-being of our community. Marginalized and under-resourced communities face multiple, intersecting oppressions — from systemic racism and policing to poverty, underfunded public schools, and violence — that create toxic stress. We now have a well-established body of research demonstrating the significant and deteriorating impact of toxic stress on health and well-being, especially for children and families deprived of safety nets. This dynamic was exacerbated dramatically by the pandemic, and continues to worsen, with communities and families managing the consequences of toxic stress with minimal to no resources. Their struggle is compounded by the lack of recognition and funding for programs that support a holistic, multi-generational approach to mental health. Our goal with this new grants program is to help begin to fill this gap in funding, particularly for programs that take a well-rounded approach to emotional well-being with a focus on children. We seek to co-develop — alongside each neighborhood in Lower Manhattan — the necessary supports that help strengthen our communities and yield overall child, family, and community well being. Our Focus: The Emotionally Well Child The emotional well-being of children is directly tied to the functioning of their community, schools, caregivers, and the families with which they live. When relationships are reliably responsible and supportive, they can actually buffer children from the adverse effects of other stressors. Reducing stressors affecting children requires addressing the stresses on their families. When children are emotionally well, they’re better able to: Reach emotional milestonesReach developmental milestonesLearn healthy social skillsLearn how to cope when problems ariseHave a positive quality of lifeFunction at home and in school Our Strategy: Resourcing Whole-Family Models of Care With this special initiative, Trinity's Neighborhood Support team is maintaining our commitment to Lower Manhattan, specifically communities that lie south of 14th Street.  Our vision is an emotionally well community, with a strategic focus on the emotional well-being of children, from prenatal development through age 21. Our funding strategy was developed to lift up models of care that embrace whole families, delivered by organizations that know and work in the community and who center the community in finding solutions. The relationship between three factors — family income and resources, education, and employment — consistently emerged as a driver of family well-being. This causal loop is virtuous (i.e., the more resources you have right now, the more you will have in the future) to the families with enough resources, and vicious for families without adequate resources (i.e., the fewer resources you have right now, the less you and your children will have in the future). To truly thrive, families need to: Be able to navigate systems related to education, social services, and healthcareObtain affordable, quality childcare Have the space to build community and deepen relationships In partnership with the Neighborhood Council, Trinity determined that the strategic focus of its Neighborhood Support Grantmaking would be for holistic programs that support the emotional well-being of the whole family and focus on prevention and early intervention. Downtown Fund The Downtown Fund provides targeted support for nonprofit organizations serving the Lower Manhattan area, dedicated to advancing the well-being of children, families, and the community. Funding focuses on initiatives related to education, health, social capital, and economic empowerment. Gifts ranging from $500 to $10,000 are available.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. U.S. applicants are not required to have an existing affiliation with the Episcopal Church, but they must be registered as a 501 (c)(3) or 501 (c)(4) tax-exempt organization or have a fiscal sponsor.For this new grants program we prefer that your organization be both located in and serving communities and individuals who live below 14th Street in Manhattan.

Ineligibility

Trinity Church does not fund individuals or consider applications for scholarships from individuals.