Exciting Day for Hello Neighbor
It’s an exciting day for Hello Neighbor! We have secured two dynamic foundation partners who believe in our mission and have come on board to financially support the current pilot program. I’d like to give a big and most sincere thank you The Heinz Endowments and USA for UNHCR!
Read the full funding announcement → Hello Neighbor Receives $130K in Funding From USA for UNHCR and the Heinz Endowments to Assist Refugees in Post-Resettlement.
Starting something from scratch is always challenging. The idea often isn’t the hard part. Sometimes even those first few steps is not overwhelming. For example, creating a website doesn’t have to cost a lot and getting the word out to gather people who are excited about your mission is in many cases feasible.
However being in a position to grow financially, that is harder. That means that people are doing more than liking you on Facebook or give you a high-five, they are taking a financial stake in your vision.
Hello Neighbor started with a bang this year, The New York Times twice quoted us (here and here) and highlighted our National Refugee and Immigration Assistance Database.
For the record, we is yes, mostly me, but also a lot of volunteers, helpers, allies and advocates. I prefer to write in first person plural because first this is much bigger than me and second I don’t deserve all the credit when so many people have helped us and continue to support us. Immigrants (We Get The Job Done).
We started small but mighty, a Valentine’s Day event supporting refugees and immigrants, the database, but the goal was always to vet if American families and refugee families would be willing to step into a bigger mentorship commitment to support each other.
I interviewed dozens of people, organizations, foundations and community leaders when I was creating the basis for Hello Neighbor. Those conversations helped guide the pilot program we’re in now. We have been live for one month and this funding announcement comes at a critical time for us. It’s more than the financial assistance, it’s the support in our mission and the guidance and feedback as we grow to help ensure we’re headed in the right direction.
If you’re interested in learning more about Hello Neighbor, first I encourage you to check out our current class of 50 families (25 refugee and 25 Pittsburgh families), and photos from our recent events here, here and here. Visit our website (and sign up for the newsletter) for more information on the program and upcoming community events including Hello Neighbor Night at the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 1st.
You can also follow us @helloneighborhq on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
We are currently being fiscally sponsored by New Sun Rising while we finalize our own nonprofit status. Donations can be accepted here. If you’d like to have a bigger conversation about funding from a corporate or foundation perspective, email me directly at sloane(at)helloneighbor.io.
The most common question I get is when the applications will open again for the next class in Pittsburgh. The answer is this fall, date TBD. The second most common question is can Hello Neighbor come to your city. The answer for that is anything is possible! We’re working through what it would like to expand and looking for advocates to raise their hand. If this is you be in touch.
Thank you everyone who has believed in us and our vision but most of all to the current mentors and mentees (The Class of 2017). They were willing to do something brand new and took the leap with me. I do this all for them and for all of the future classes that we, hopefully, have in our future.
