Provident Bank Foundation announces 2025 Empowerment Grant Recipients

The Provident Bank Foundation’s (PBF) Board of Directors on Thursday announced it approved 41 multi-year recipients of its inaugural Empowerment Grant cycle.

Totaling $515,000 in funding annually, the grants support the missions of nonprofit organizations in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Empowerment Grants awarded this cycle range from $5,000 to $20,000 per grant and will be automatically renewed at the same level in 2026.

Projects funded by these grants align with PBF’s priority areas of Education, Human Services, and Workforce Development, and their corresponding areas of interest which include community colleges, vocational programs, special education services, housing assistance, food security, health care access for uninsured and underinsured individuals, youth mental health, job training, employment supports, and reentry programs.

“This is the first year of our Empowerment Grant program, which emerged from The Provident Bank Foundation’s recent strategic revisioning process focused on advancing equity and inclusion,” Samantha Plotino, vice president and executive director of The Provident Bank Foundation said. “We are proud to partner with organizations that are leading transformative work in their communities—particularly those addressing systemic barriers to opportunity—to help ensure that all individuals have the resources and support to thrive.”

The recipients of PBF’s 2025 Empowerment Grants are as follows:

Education

• Community Colleges

  • Northampton Community College Foundation (Bethlehem, PA)

• Vocational Programs

  • Servant’s Heart Ministry (Paterson, NJ)

• Special Education Services

  • Raising Hands Literacy Project (Hackettstown, NJ)

Human Services

• Housing Assistance

  • Center for Hope and Safety (Rochelle Park, NJ)

  • Family Promise of Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA)

  • Family Promise of the Jersey Shore (West Creek, NJ)

  • Garden State Community Development Corporation (Union City, NJ)

  • HABcore (Red Bank, NJ)

  • Ripple Community Inc. (Allentown, PA)

  • Roots & Wings (Denville, NJ)

  • Third Street Alliance for Women and Children (Easton, PA)

  • Women Aware (New Brunswick, NJ)

• Food Security

  • America’s Grow-a-Row (Pittstown, NJ)

  • Arm In Arm (Hamilton, NJ)

  • Flemington Area Food Pantry (Flemington, NJ)

  • Mercy Center (Asbury Park, NJ)

  • nourish.NJ (Morristown, NJ)

  • Rise (Hightstown, NJ)

  • Rolling Harvest Food Rescue (New Hope, PA)

  • Table to Table (Saddle Brook, NJ)

  • The Food Bank Network of Somerset County (Bound Brook, NJ)

  • United Community Corporation (Newark, NJ)

• Healthcare Access for Uninsured/Underinsured Individuals

  • Bergen Volunteer Medical Initiative (Hackensack, NJ)

  • Parker Family Health Center (Red Bank, NJ)

  • St. Joseph’s Health Foundation (Paterson, NJ)

  • TheraYouth Foundation (Elizabeth, NJ)

• Youth Mental Health

  • Hudson Pride Center (Jersey City, NJ)

  • Jewish Family Service and Children’s Center of Clifton-Passaic (Passaic, NJ)

  • Jewish Family Service of MetroWest New Jersey (Florham Park, NJ)

  • Ocean Partnership for Children (Toms River, NJ)

• Workforce Development

• Job Training

  • Hot Bread Kitchen (New York, NY)

  • Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Northern New Jersey (Teaneck, NJ)

  • Jewish Vocational Service of MetroWest (East Orange, NJ)

  • Propel America (Newark, NJ)

  • The Father Center of New Jersey (Trenton, NJ)

• Employment Supports

  • Cornerstone Family Programs (Morristown, NJ)

  • Laundry Workers Center (New York, NY)

  • NCJW/Essex (Livingston, NJ)

  • Shore House (Long Branch, NJ)

  • United Way of Central Jersey (Milltown, NJ)

• Reentry Programs

  • Urban League of Union County (Elizabeth, NJ)