Learning in East New York

On its fifth anniversary, the non-profit Groundwork Inc. held its inaugural fall benefit in the Time Warner Building on the Upper West Side. “I’ll keep this brief. It’s very dangerous to keep 400 people from an open bar,” said Richard Buery Jr., co-founder and executive director of Groundwork, to laughter from an audience that included Kevin Fraser, a correspondent for the television show Entertainment Tonight, and Silda Wall Spitzer, the wife of New York’s governor. Standing in front of a mammoth web of windows, Buery gestured toward the expansive view behind him: Columbus Circle lit by the bright glow of its fountain lights, the still trees of Central Park and the red taillights of cars cruising south on Broadway Street, the silhouette of the city’s skyscrapers against the clear night. Buery remarked on the beauty of Central Park and spoke about the reason why everyone had come together that night: less than 14 miles away was East New York, where 10 percent of the people go to college and the high school graduation rate is 40 percent. The crowd–a diverse group of men and women in suits and dresses that paid $300 or $1000 for a ticket–remained silent. Buery then pointed out Groundwork’s successes. The entire graduating class of the non-profit’s high school program–nine in 2006 and 14 in 2007–walked away with diplomas. Ninety-five percent of those students went to college, getting into such places as Cornell University, New York University, Virginia State University, and Kingsborough Community College. The audience applauded. The event and silent auction would raise over $545,000.

What began as a summer program in 2002 had grown into a do-everything after-school, counseling, and family services extravaganza that helps over 700 children from elementary to high school, all free of charge. Groundwork’s exponential growth–from an annual budget of $600,000 in 2002 to $5.3 million in 2007–came about in no small part because of the foundation that gave Groundwork its first dollars, Blue Ridge Foundation of New York. Blue Ridge engages in what is known as venture philanthropy, a form of giving that draws its name from the combination of venture capitalism and philanthropy. Foundations that employ this business-influenced model emphasize accountability and helping a non-profit to grow rather than to run its programs. How Groundwork grew from an idea to holding a gala at the Time Warner Center speaks to what venture philanthropy offers the non-profit field.

Groundwork Inc. begins with Buery. He is about 6′2″ and wide, a real boulder of a man who sometimes speaks with a lisp. Buery grew up in a house along the six-lane Linden Boulevard, between Vermont Street and Wyona Street, in East New York. The eastern Brooklyn community often only makes the news for its crime rate, leading the city in murders and robberies. Massive housing projects tower over many of the buildings around them. East New York has more than 173, 000 people, mostly black and Hispanic, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. More than a third of the families live under the poverty line, and over 40 percent of the people under 18 are poor. In 2006 East New York public high schools graduated slightly more than four out of 10 students, with the rate dipping to just over a quarter at certain schools.

When young, Buery thought his family was doing well. Unlike some of his friends, his family lived in a house and never wanted for food. He only realized that there were two New Yorks when he gained entrance to Manhattan’s prestigious Stuyvesant High School, which was an hour and a half commute from his home. “It makes it very visual the difference how people live in the city,” Buery said. “I think in high school it’s when you go to other friends’ houses, and meet their parents. I think it can be an extremely jarring experience. And it’s something you feel everyday.” But he continued to climb. Buery would graduate from Harvard in 1992 and receive a Rockefeller grant to spend the year abroad, first teaching at an orphanage in Zimbabwe then trekking through Europe like so many other college grads. Meanwhile, East New York would break New York City’s annual murder record in 1993, with 126. Not long after graduating from Yale Law in 1997, Buery returned to New York.

Buery said he had always been interested in bringing a youth program back to his old neighborhood, where his parents still live to this day. He had helped start a summer youth program while at Harvard, an experience he calls transformative for both the children and the college students who ran it. Groundwork was an attempt to take that model to Brooklyn. Buery once told some Groundwork students that he didn’t have this kind of program when he was young and had to struggle to make it. So with the non-profit, he wanted to make sure a $50 application fee wouldn’t get in their way of applying for a certain school. “What he wants for East New York,” said Darren Isom, who worked with Buery at Groundwork’s inception, “is what every middle class family wants for their children,” no small feat in the outlier community.

Buery got his chance in 2001. A few years earlier Matthew Klein, a classmate at Yale Law, had become director of Blue Ridge Foundation and brought Buery in to start-up a youth mentoring organization. They would talk about bringing a youth program to Brooklyn, and soon Blue Ridge made an initial commitment of $440,000 to Buery and Groundwork’s other co-founder Andrea Schorr. The Robin Hood Foundation, the well-known venture philanthropy foundation founded by hedge fund giant Paul Tudor Jones, soon followed with a $150,000 grant.

The kind of support Blue Ridge gave Groundwork epitomizes much of what venture philanthropists do. Blue Ridge uses an “incubator model” where it requires the companies it funds to work out of its 5,000 square feet office in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The spacious office is lined with offices and cubicles along its sides, a conference room at its center, and in the back Klein’s office, where his dog Ella has her own wicker basket of toys. Not all venture philanthropists support startups or provide office space, but they all share certain principles from venture capitalism. They work closely with the organizations they give to for several years, and offer money plus their networks and expertise and resources. Documenting results is a priority, as is “capacity building”–essential to growing a non-profit. Some commentators have said none of these qualities are new to the non-profit game, but venture philanthropy stressed them.

So unlike most start-ups, Groundwork didn’t have to scramble for office space and supplies. It still had plenty left to do. To recruit students, a group of staff and volunteers, including Buery, went door-to-door in the Unity Plaza housing project in East New York, knocking and handing out pamphlets. They also manned a table at the housing project, and reached out to school principals. But there was a wide gap between East New York and the Brooklyn offices. Glossy Groundwork brochures that the Manhattan funders loved sat untouched in East New York churches, barbershops, and beauty salons. People didn’t feel comfortable taking them because they were too nice, recalled Isom, who was Groundwork’s director of development at the time. So Groundwork switched to photocopies of the brochures, which then did swift business. That summer Groundwork attracted 89 second to seventh graders. In addition to literacy and science classes, the children went swimming, camping and even on a trip to Washington D.C. For many of the children, it was their first time outside the neighborhood.

Groundwork continued to expand. Blue Ridge helped with planning strategy, program development, board recruitment, and providing connections to a broader network. Unlike many traditional foundations, who give money for program use only, venture philanthropists stress developing infrastructure, like building space or new equipment. Blue Ridge and Robin Hood Foundation helped pay for Groundwork’s East New York office and storefront. They paid for accounting and technology consultants, and an architect to redesign a former Catholic school for Groundwork’s college prep program.

The relationship with its venture philanthropy supporters wasn’t without its tensions. Buery describes Robin Hood as being “rigid” in the kinds of numbers it wants to see. Sadie Slootsky, Groundwork’s director of development, who prepares the reports for funders, says that New York-based foundation is open to dialogue but inevitably goes back to its own standards, which are generally based on established studies about what factors influence success in youth. “They are very focused on academic outcome,” Slootsky said. “So basically all they care about is your kids graduate high school. That’s one of our outcomes, but we’re also very interested in the behavioral outcomes of students, of building their social skills, of building their life skills like responsibility and time management and all those things. And those things we really want to track too and we would love to report those outcomes. Not interested. Not interested at all.” Yet Robin Hood has never lowered the amount it gives, which in the last few years has been $350,000 annually plus supplementary amounts for other expenses.

The organization now has an after-school and summer program for elementary and middle school children in four schools, offering literacy and math tutoring and fun activities like gym, drama and art clubs, plus occasion trips. The high school college prep program includes math and reading classes, SAT prep, free college tours, and a monthly stipend of $70 for freshmen to $100 for seniors. Groundwork even has free family services ranging from health and financial counseling to legal help with housing problems. Groundwork gives the children a place to go after school, and added attention in smaller groups. However, these programs and services don’t come cheap. The elementary and middle school program breaks down to about $4,700 per child each year, nearly a third of what the school spent per student in 2005. The high school college prep program costs $8,000 per student a year, though some of it is growth-related expense. The high cost has scared off some funders, said Mary Adams, director of the high school program.

Yet in its fifth year, Groundwork has made an impact on the community. Blue Ridge reports improvements in math and science scores for Groundwork’s elementary and middle school students, up 41 percent and 34 percent in 2006 from the previous year. The program holds on to 70 percent of its children. The college prep program has seen 23 students graduate with high school degrees, and all but one go to college.

Everett Hughes, principal at IS 292, Margaret S. Douglas Middle School, has more than 400 students in Groundwork’s after school program. Groundwork is one of the few organizations he allows to stay in my building from year to year. “You know you have a lot of programs come in and they tell you they’re going to do 101 things, and they do one,” Douglas said. “Groundwork virtually does exactly what they said they’re going to do.”

For Shakaya Slay, 18, Groundwork provided both academic support and access to resources. A freshmen at St. Francis College, a small private college in New York, she currently studies psychology and has an A minus grade point average, putting her in competition for a scholarship. In June Slay had graduated from East New York’s William H. Maxwell Career and Technical Education High School, a place where entrants pass through metal detectors, students can drop off their children at an on-site childcare center, and slightly more a third of the students graduate. Slay, a fast talker, likely would have graduated from high school with or without Groundwork but she was able to improve her test scores. The first time she took the SATs she scored a 380 in Math and 440 in Writing. Her third attempt would yield a 690 in Math and over 700 in writing. Groundwork not only had in-house SAT prep but also brought in an outside contractor for additional lessons. Slay received fee wavers for the test, and also for the multiple colleges she applied to, a privilege not available to her classmates. “The kids that I know that wasn’t a part of Groundwork in my school had to wait weeks and weeks and weeks just to get one fee waiver,” Slay said. “And that put a hold on them to apply to most of the schools they wanted to go to, and they only got accepted to schools they had to apply to.” She now works part-time at Groundwork as a tutor and teacher’s assistant.

As Groundwork grows and finds other sources of money, Blue Ridge is gradually reducing the amount it gives. To date Blue Ridge Foundation has invested over $1.7 million dollars into Groundwork, and that’s not counting the consulting services, office space and other services. For Blue Ridge, the focus has been on whether Groundwork has leveraged the foundation’s investment to attract more money from elsewhere. As of 2006 Groundwork had received $1,660,000 from Blue Ridge and against that raised an additional $10,150,000, according to Blue Ridge. Fifty-six foundations and donors have supported Groundwork, and only one has left because Groundwork didn’t meet their performance targets.

Klein believes that Groundwork’s success shows that Blue Ridge’s model of giving works, though not all funders should they be as hands on. Looking back, Buery insists that Groundwork could have existed without Blue Ridge and its kind of philanthropy, but the path would have been more difficult, the growth slower. Building another non-profit able to replicating Groundwork’s success in raising money may not be so easy for Blue Ridge. Instead of working toward a big payoff, venture philanthropists look to build institutions that others will eventually fund. However, critics of venture philanthropy, such as Mark R. Kramer, former head of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, note that while venture capitalists and the companies they nurture can tap into growing and dynamic capital markets to fund them, non-profits must fight for money in a more limited and stagnant pool.

As for Buery, aside from his work at Groundwork he has taught a class at New York’s Baruch College on starting a non-profit. His lesson is a practical one. Many people don’t really want to start a non-profit. They have a job in mind but don’t know where to find it. They should consider partnering with someone else or joining an existing non-profit. Then there are personal considerations. Buery would not have started Groundwork with his current life-a wife and two kids and a mortgage on a house. But just when Buery appears the voice of eternal pragmatism, and nothing like an idealistic social entrepreneur that would come back to a violent and poor neighborhood when he had all the means to escape it forever, he turns it around. “At the end of the day people do this stuff because they have to do it,” Buery said. “Because they tried everything, they couldn’t do anything else. This is what they had to do. They had to make this idea real.”