UA3 INC
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Mission Statement
Founded in 2015, UA3 is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization driven to make a positive impact and lasting improvements in underserved aspects of our communities through youth empowerment, education, promotion of health and mental health awareness, supporting socio-economic opportunities, and channeling resources to those in need. UA3 strives to accomplish these goals through partnerships with public and private sectors, educational institutions, and community service organizations. UA3's "Community First" motto drives our efforts, and it can be seen in all that we have accomplished. Our work before COVID-19 addressed inequities in digital access to education, for example UA3 awarded tablets for underprivileged children including students at P.S. 130 in Chinatown. We have funded a scholarship program for high-achieving high school seniors with financial hardship. In addition to these educational efforts, UA3 co-sponsored a youth mental health and suicide awareness event, supported voter registration drives, and financially supported other non-profit social service and art & cultural organizations in the community. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we jumped into action in early April with our “Dare to Care" motto to establish the first food pantry in Chinatown. Our rapid response to address food insecurity has had a positive and lasting impact on underserved members of our Chinatown and Lower East Side communities, but our project has since rapidly grown to serving various racial and ethnic neighborhoods across the five boroughs in New York City. With our community partners, the Community First Food Pantry delivers and provides farm-fresh produce from the federal Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and Trader Joe's groceries to more than 5,000 individuals and families, social service organizations as well as other food pantries each week. We aim to serve those affected by COVID-19 and those most often overlooked, including racial minority groups, seniors, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, unemployed, and undocumented immigrants. UA3 seeks to not only combat food insecurity and hunger borne out of COVID-19, but also fight long-term food and health inequities.
About This Cause
When the need for emergency food relief became apparent in early April 2020, UA3 quickly responded by channeling resources to establish the first food pantry in Chinatown. Food insecurity has been a long-standing problem in NYC, with over 1.09 million New Yorkers facing hunger or lacking access to food prior to COVID-19. Since the pandemic, this number has doubled; this means that one in four combats food insecurity. The populations most affected are vulnerable and often overlooked, including racial minority groups, seniors, people with disabilities, domestic violence survivors, and undocumented immigrants who are ineligible for unemployment benefits or governmental assistance. This pantry, established with sponsorship from Councilmember Margaret Chin and Chung Pak Senior Housing, provided fresh groceries from Trader Joe’s to seniors, people with disabilities, and marginalized individuals and families of all ethnic groups in Chinatown and Lower East Side Manhattan. Recognizing that food insecurity would be a long-term problem faced by many, in partnership with Councilmember Chin, UA3 opened the Community First Food Pantry at its current permanent Grand Street location on June 11th. At this location, we package over 1,700 bags of food from the federal Coronavirus Food Assistance Program as well as Trader Joe's donations every week. A food package generally consists of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, eggs, milk, and cheese. These 30 pound parcels are sufficient to feed a family of four for one week. At the Community First Food Pantry, we expanded our area of service and now deliver packages to NYCHA residences, senior homes, and tenements in Manhattan, to local food pantries in Harlem and Brooklyn, and to shelters for domestic violence survivors, and to community members in various neighborhoods including Flushing, Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, Brownsville and Jamaica. At our pantry, we deliver not only food but also empathy, understanding, and recognition of differences. UA3 believes food security is a uniting force that brings people and communities of differing race, creed, gender, or sexual orientation together. Although COVID-19 affects us all, racial and ethnic minority groups suffer disproportionately. Unfortunately, many families are forced to make impossible choices, whether to pay for rent, utilities, medications, or food. We seek to lessen this worry, so New Yorkers can get back on their feet. Although our pantry was created to fight the effects of COVID-19, we plan to operate it for the foreseeable future to continue combating racial and socioeconomic inequities. Operating on the generosity of our donors and hard work of volunteers, board members, and three part- time staffers, UA3 has successfully increased the number of bagged food distributed from 1,200 initially to 2,000+ per week (an increase of over 42%) since April 2020. Over 6,000+ hours have been dedicated to our pantry since April. Although this is an amazing accomplishment, it is still insufficient to meet the increased food scarcity and insecurity in NYC. With additional funding support, UA3's long-term goal is to deliver to even more locations throughout the five boroughs. Therefore, we must scale up our operation and expand the food pantry's infrastructure. The key to our operation is to establish large scale capacity to store, handle, and deliver large amounts of products safely. In doing so, we will increase the number of operational days and cover more vulnerable communities in the City. One of our challenges is refrigeration of highly perishable products like meats, milk, and cheese. This would require access to refrigerated trucks and containers, a forklift, and full-time drivers. UA3 has plans to convert a vacant lot adjacent to the food pantry into a parking lot. A 4,000-sq. ft. parking facility for environmentally clean 240V AC reefer trucks on our premises will allow for safe storage and refrigeration of perishable food 24/7. These refrigerated trucks will enable us to deliver foods without spoilage to farther locations in NYC. With these improvements, the Community First Food Pantry can serve up to 5,000 to 10,000 people.