Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center Awards $50,000 to Trickle Up to Help Brooklyn Microentrepreneurs

September 26, 2006

Brooklyn – Mildred Robbins Leet learned social responsibility and activism from her grandmother, Brooklyn-born Goldie Elowsky.  Eighty years ago, Ms. Elowsky helped found Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn by raising funds to purchase the land for the hospital’s first building.

Five decades later, Mildred Robbins Leet and her late husband Glen decided to start a movement to end poverty by helping people start businesses and founded a microenterprise organization called Trickle Up.

Now the activist drive of both women has come together.  Kingsbrook has awarded $50,000 to Trickle Up to start 70 small businesses in Brooklyn.  The Kingsbrook award will be distributed as seed capital grants to low-income individuals selected to participate in Trickle Up’s microbusiness development program. The initiative will be called the Mildred Robbins Leet Entrepreneurial Grant Program. 

“This is a wonderful testimony to my grandmother’s legacy and to the excellent work of Trickle Up,” stated Mrs. Leet.  “Kingsbrook continues to have a powerful presence in people’s lives in Brooklyn, and now will further assist individuals by providing tools necessary to lift them out of poverty.  Working with Trickle Up is a natural fit for Kingsbrook, and we are honored that they chose us.”

Trickle Up has been working in Brooklyn for over ten years to assist low-income individuals become financially independent and prosperous. Since 1994, Trickle Up’s U.S. program has supported 4,000 participants with business grants and training.

The award furthers Kingsbrook’s commitment to partner with culturally diverse communities. 
Trickle Up matched Kingsbrook’s grant and together they will assist 70 Brooklyn residents to become self-sufficient through starting a business.  

“We view our mission to advance the health of our culturally diverse community in holistic terms.
This investment in the economic future of individuals in our community is a vital part of our community’s health and wellness,” stated Dr. Linda Brady, President and CEO of Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center. “ A more solid economic foundation frees up resources and energy for people to be able to focus on their physical health and well-being. You cannot do this if you are unemployed and concerned about the everyday survival of you and your family.”

“Kingsbrook identifies needs in the Brooklyn community and address them with a spirit of collaboration and giving that is commendable,” said Bill Abrams, President of Trickle Up. “We are pleased to work with Kingsbrook and our local Brooklyn partners to help home-based daycare centers, caterers, street vendors and other small businesses to succeed.”

The Program will officially launch during a ceremony on September 26, 2006, at Kingsbrook. For more information please call Enid Dillard at 718.604.5201.

Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center is an 864-bed teaching Medical Center, dedicated to meeting the health needs of one of Brooklyn’s most culturally diverse communities. Kingsbrook continues to implement programs and services that respond to the vital health needs and concerns of the community at large. Centers of Excellence Include: Physical & Rehabilitative Medicine, including Brooklyn’s only New York State approved Traumatic Brain Injury & Coma Recovery Unit, Ophthalmology, an inpatient Geriatric Psychiatry Program, an outpatient Caribbean Community Mental Health Program, the Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Center, Orthopedic Surgery, an ADA Certified Diabetes Self-Management Center including a Comprehensive Health & Obesity Management Program, a Women’s Wellness Center featuring Minimally Invasive Gynecological Surgery and state of the art Digital Mammography. Other specialty areas include: Emergency Services, Ambulatory Surgery and a Certified Non-Invasive Vascular Laboratory and Surgery Program, as well as Rutland Nursing Home, a 538-bed Adult and Pediatric short and long term care facility and an Adult Day Health Program for medically challenged seniors. Kingsbrook and Rutland Nursing Home are JCAHO certified and not-for-profit members of the Greater New York Hospital Association and the Healthcare Association of New York State.