Columbia Community Service Celebrates Its 79th Annual Appeal

To celebrate the essential work of its grantees, Columbia Community Service (CCS) welcomed leaders from local nonprofits to the Lee C. Bollinger Forum on the Manhattanville campus. An annual tradition, the gathering provided a wonderful opportunity to welcome new grantees, network, and reflect on how these vital programs strengthen the local community.

During its 79th campaign, CCS distributed almost $250,000 in grants to 47 nonprofit organizations serving Harlem and Morningside Heights. These awards were made possible through the generosity of 450 faculty, staff, and retirees from Columbia, Barnard, and Teachers College. 

CCS is especially grateful to the Leo Rosner Foundation for its generous $20,000 gift in honor of Adam Chan (LAW’22).

Deeply embedded in our local neighborhood, CCS grantees combat hunger, provide crucial social services, champion arts and culture, and bridge educational gaps for local youth in STEM, literacy, and the arts. In addition to the financial support provided by CCS, our grantee organizations also rely on the broader Columbia community for volunteers, expertise in organizational development and management, and mentorship on leadership skills.

During the event, new grantees Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program and Uptown Lacrosse introduced their programs and discussed their work leveraging sports and wellness to inform educational enrichment activities that help students grow into collaborative, disciplined leaders who build stronger communities. 

“We are glad we were able to add two new grantees to the list this year,” said Joan Griffith-Lee, director of CCS. “It is exciting to learn about the collaborations that have been built over the last year between our grantees and our institutions. These partnerships define the work that we do at CCS.”

“As a grassroots organization that has spent 54 years providing low- to no-cost access for children to learn how to play tennis as the engine for our sports-based youth development program, Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program is thrilled to be included among the Columbia Community Service 2026 grantees,” said Lynda Hamilton, development director, Harlem Junior Tennis & Education Program.

Leaders representing Harlem Lacrosse, Lifeforce in Later Years, Reading Team, The Community Initiatives of New York (TCIONY), Columbia Women's Lacrosse, and the CCS Steering Committee were also on hand to speak about the power of community outreach. And attendees heard an informative presentation from BrandStories on "New Rules for Nonprofits: 7 Ways to Navigate from Chaos to Clarity (and Cash)."

CCS funding enables Harlem Lacrosse middle school girls to participate in study halls, tutoring sessions, and skill-building clinics with members of the Columbia Women’s Lacrosse team. 

“These partnerships also extend beyond just mentorship,” said Felicia Ganthier, executive director of Harlem Lacrosse. “Columbia Women’s Lacrosse student-athletes have supported initiatives, such as contributions to the Mott Hall II food pantry. This involved recently helping a family during a time of significant financial need, providing them with a full week of groceries.”

As is true of any great community partnership, the benefits go both ways. This year, the Civic Fellows Program at Teachers College launched a pilot designed to support literacy enrichment, youth programming, community engagement, and organizational capacity-building. The pilot’s success in working with CCS grantees will make it a model for the future.

“The [program] is a success because of the work we do with organizations such as the Reading Team and The Community Initiatives of NY,” said Jimmy McCue, administrative fellow, doctoral student, Teachers College.

In concluding our 79th year, CCS extends its congratulations to all of our grantees. We are deeply proud of the extraordinary impact they are making across Morningside Heights, Harlem, and Upper Manhattan. Their work reflects the very best of what can be achieved through partnership and shared purpose.

To explore the work of every grantee and learn more about them, please visit our grantee directory.

Your contributions make this vital work possible — you can donate to Columbia Community Service at any time.