Rooted in Community, Rising Together: Highlights from the 2025 Community Grant Celebration

On July 10th, 2025, New Yorkers came together at the 2025 Community Project Grant Reception, hosted by the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and the NYC Commission on Human Rights. The event honored grassroots projects that confronted hate and built solidarity across diverse communities—through dialogue, creativity, and connection.

Among the many inspiring initiatives celebrated was a powerful collaboration in Richmond Hill, Queens, where Hindus for Human Rights (HfHR) partnered with the Sikh Coalition to organize a Hindu-Sikh Community Roundtable. This summer gathering brought together local community leaders, interfaith activists, youth, and elders from both traditions to reflect on shared histories, deepen mutual understanding, and build a united front against religious bigotry and discrimination.

For HfHR, this work is rooted in a simple yet profound idea: our liberation is bound together. By fostering honest conversation and affirming the pluralistic values at the heart of both traditions, the Richmond Hill roundtable helped sow seeds of unity in a neighborhood that has too often been politicized and divided by forces outside the community.

At the reception, we were proud to stand alongside fellow grantees who led transformative initiatives across the city. The room was full of joy and pride—a reminder that New York’s strength lies not just in its diversity, but in its people’s unwavering commitment to stand up for one another.

We’re deeply grateful to the NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes and the Commission on Human Rights for supporting this work—and to every person who showed up to make our city more compassionate, more inclusive, and more just.