Groundwork is based in East New York, an under-resourced community in eastern Brooklyn. Our goal is for the young people who grow up in the neighborhoods we serve to have the same chance of a good life as young people who did not grow up there. For us, a good life means that, as an adult, you can answer "yes" to the following questions:

• “Are you happy?”
• “Do you feel financially and physically secure?”
• “Have you been able to make real choices about the course of your life?”

We believe that education is the surest way to end the cycle of poverty for families. We designed a holistic set of services which provide critical support families need to shift their focus from everyday survival to that of providing a supportive, nurturing environment for their children to succeed academically and socially. Central to all of our programs are the values of being prepared; taking ownership of one’s actions and one’s community; approaching life with a sense of wonder--including openness to new ideas and tolerance of different cultures; the pursuit of excellence in all of one’s undertakings; and respect for self and others (P.O.W.E.R. Values).

This approach, we believe, helps build powerful youth for powerful communities.

History

Groundwork was co-founded in 2002 by Richard Buery, an East New York native and civil rights lawyer with a background in youth development and social entrepreneurship, and Andrea Schorr, a social entrepreneur with extensive experience leading and advising youth serving organizations. We received initial support from the Robin Hood Foundation and the Blue Ridge Foundation New York--the largest grants either institution had ever made to a start-up community based youth organization. Within nine weeks, the founders hired and trained Groundwork’s first staff members and launched a summer program serving 89 youth from the Unity Plaza housing developments. Seven years later, Groundwork is a $6 million organization serving over 3,500 families annually. Thanks to the generous support of Assemblymember Darryl Towns, Groundwork expanded services to the northern section of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the fall of 2009.

Our Neighborhoods

Children under the age of 18 account for 31% of East New York’s residents. Of the 55,666 young people in East New York, 51% are Black/African American and 39% are Latino, over 70% were born into poverty and only 41% read at grade level. Teens give birth at nearly twice the rate of teens across New York City.

Poverty can have a dramatic impact on literacy, with often devastating effects for children. In a 2003 report produced by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the average number of books in high poverty homes was less than one while middle class homes averaged 199 books. Middle class children enter kindergarten having been read to for over 1700 hours versus 25 hours for high poverty children.