Get Involved: NYC COVID-19 Relief
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented communities across the world with unprecedented public health, financial, and socio-economic challenges. While our NYU community spans the globe, our anchor is and always has been New York City. As the pandemic continues to take a significant toll on our fellow New Yorkers, NYU experts have worked tirelessly to help address the crisis through medical care, research efforts to understand the virus, fabrication of supplies, and more. Below is information about how NYU community members can get directly involved in New York City COVID-19 relief efforts—both from home and on the front lines of the pandemic.
Share Products and Professional Expertise
New York State is calling on health care professionals, schools of public health or medicine, and PPE products providers and manufacturers to come forward to support the State’s response. Find out more on New York State’s how you can help page and contact government.affairs@nyu.edu if you are interested in lending your resources or expertise on behalf of NYU. Products and expertise you can provide include:
- Mental Health and Related Expertise
- Public Health, Nursing, and Medical Expertise
- Gloves, Masks, Gowns, and other Medical Supplies
- Ability to Manufacture Products
- Physical Space
Volunteer in NYC
Below is a list of local organizations that need volunteers, compiled with the help of NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and our local community partners. If you have a volunteer opportunity you would like to share, please email community.engagement@nyu.edu. For additional volunteer opportunities, please visit NYU Service's compilation of virtual volunteer opportunities.
All organizations accepting volunteers are strongly advised to follow the City of New York’s health guidelines for volunteers to ensure the volunteers and those being served stay safe.
- ACLU: Conduct virtual civil rights advocacy
- The Bowery Mission: Help feed vulnerable populations
- Brooklyn Community Services: Help review students' LinkedIn profiles & resumes
- Citymeals on Wheels: Grocery delivery for homebound seniors
- DOROT: Conduct caring calls to older adults in isolation
- God’s Love We Deliver: Meal prep and packaging
- GOLES: Wellness check-ins for older individuals
- Heights and Hills: Support for homebound seniors in Brooklyn
- Invisible Hands Delivery: Grocery and supply delivery for at-risk community members
- LES Ready!: Food deliveries, food pantry staffing, and calls to seniors
- Love for the Elderly: Send a handwritten letter to uplift an elder.
- NYC Food Bank: Distribution of food to low income individuals
- NYC Service: Wide variety of virtual volunteer opportunities
- The Petey Greene Program: Tutor incarcerated students
- New York Cares: Wide variety of projects city-wide
- New York Public Library: Volunteer with NYPL's Community Oral History Project.
- ServNY: Support for healthcare facilities (for State-certified healthcare workers)
- Share Ideas with Councilmember Brad Lander, District 39: Find and share online resources
Donate to Relief Funds
New York City’s economy has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some relief funds through which NYU community members can help alleviate the economic effects of coronavirus. If you have an organization you would like us to share, please email government.affairs@nyu.edu.
- Contribute to NYU’s Emergency Relief Fund for Students in Need.
- Provide financial assistance to NYU Langone’s COVID-19 Fund for frontline healthcare teams and researchers healthcare workers.
- Check out donateNYC for a network of nonprofit organizations in New York City that accept and distribute second-hand and surplus goods.
- Give to New York Community Trust’s NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund, which aids nonprofit service providers struggling with the health and economic effects of the coronavirus.
- Give blood with the New York Blood Center, which is seeking blood and platelet donations across the Tri-State area.
- Donate games and fun activities to help clients recovering from homelessness stay safe and in place with the Bowery Residents' Committee.
- Donate food, cleaning supplies, and bedding to the Bowery Mission to help meet the immediate needs of vulnerable New Yorkers.
Share Information and Resources
We have compiled information from trusted sources that you can help share with your community. The list includes NYC-specific resources to help small businesses and nonprofits access financial and technical support, tips from NYU experts on preventing coronavirus among community members and older adults, recommendations for safe social distancing activities, and more.