About Make the Road New York
Make the Road New York builds the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice.
Focus Areas
Immigrant rightsLegal servicesHealth accessEducationHousingCivic engagementYouth developmentWorker rightsCommunity organizing
Who They Fund
immigrant communitieslow-wage and frontline workersurban youthadult learners (low-literacy adults)renters / housing-insecure residents
About Make the Road New York
Make the Road New York’s recent grantmaking shows a strong pattern of funding its own organizing infrastructure alongside legal, health, and workplace justice work. The largest grant in the latest list was $666,250 to Make The Road States Inc for immigration, followed by $410,500 to The Action Lab for workplace justice. Those two awards point to a funder that supports both direct advocacy and the organizations that help carry it out. The foundation also backed MRNY QALICB Inc with $349,893 for a capital campaign, indicating attention to long-term organizational capacity as part of its grantmaking. Its portfolio reaches immigrant communities, low-wage workers, renters, adult learners, and urban youth through groups working on immigration legal services, health access, education, housing, civic engagement, and community organizing. Recent awards also went to New York Legal Assistance Group, Unlocal Inc, and New York Legal, showing a substantial legal-services component. The mix of grants suggests a foundation focused on sustained support for community organizations rather than one-off project funding alone, with several grantees appearing more than once across the recent record.
What Make the Road New York Funds
Immigration and legal services are central to the foundation’s recent grants. It gave $264,008 to New York Legal Assistance Group for legal services, $244,141 to Unlocal Inc for legal immigration, and $238,208 to New York Legal for legal immigration. Workplace justice is another major thread. The foundation awarded $220,940 to Make the Road Action for workplace justice, $139,000 to National Day Laborer Organizing Network for workplace justice, and $116,500 to African Communities Together Inc for workplace justice. Health access also appears in the grant record. Make The Road States Inc received $294,000 for health services in 2024 and $290,000 for health services in 2025, while Caribbean Women’s Health Assoc Inc and Asian American Federation Inc each received $116,500 for health services in 2023. Education-related funding includes $125,000 to Bangladeshi American Community Development & Youth for adult literacy in 2024 and again in 2025.
How Make the Road New York Gives
Typical grants cluster around the middle of the range: the 25th percentile is $8,000, the median is $40,000, and the 75th percentile is $87,000. The recent record also includes several larger awards above that band, including multiple six-figure grants. Recipients appear across more than one year in several cases, including Make The Road States Inc, The Action Lab, MRNY QALICB Inc, Unlocal Inc, New York Legal, Make the Road Action, and Bangladeshi American Community Development & Youth. The foundation is a regular funder and does not fund individuals. The record shows local giving, with most grants going to recipients in New York.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$1.5M
Total Assets
$73M
Total Revenue
$29.7M
Total Expenses
$30M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $8K and $87K, with a median of $40K.
25th Percentile
$8K
Median
$40K
75th Percentile
$87K
Geographic Reach
Local3 states funded
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
Arlenis Morel
Accepts unsolicited proposals
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