A Brooklyn-based community organization hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic has been awarded $75,000 to continue helping children of low-income areas.

Brooklyn Communities Collaborative is a not-for-profit group that addresses longstanding health inequities in the borough. The group was able to give the funding to Fan4Kids, which helps give kids access to fitness and education resources on nutrition.

Before the pandemic, Fan4Kids was helping to end the cycle of childhood obesity. The money allows the group to continue their programs through both remote and hybrid programming.

Fan4Kids board member James Stratford says he knows how important this organization is to these kids because he was one of them.

"I know what it's like to be hungry,” says Stratford. “I know what it's like to come home without a parent. My mom is a product of substance abuse. She is now clean and well, but my story is very similar to the students that we are now serving and I'm also proof of what's possible now sitting on a board of a nonprofit and an executive MPA candidate at NYU Wagner because of these resources and the reinvestment of programs like Fan4Kids.”

Fan4Kids is just one of more than 20 groups throughout the borough that has received funding from BCC.