LETTER FROM the ceo and board chair

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are proud of our accomplishments in FY21. Our staff and board collaborated to ensure that CRE continued to deliver its supportive, impactful services to nonprofits in New York City and beyond. Not only did we continue to meet the moment, but we innovated along the way. Our Leadership Caucus and professional development programs went 100% virtual in a matter of weeks–and they still delivered results. We facilitated complex engagements around DEIA, strategic planning, and team-building entirely over Zoom. We onboarded a new CEO! Started building out a new strategic plan for CRE! Most importantly, we implemented a fresh framework to guide our mission and vision: the upbuild. Upbuilding means that we're not going back to a status quo that does not serve us or the communities we serve. Instead, we're going to imagine anew how we engage in capacity building: We're going to center care–"care-pacity" building–and we're going to be courageous in what systems and processes we use to strengthen the internal workings of an organization. In so doing, we're committed to centering the shared humanity that is at the heart of all that we do. CRE 2021 was all of this and, looking forward, CRE is positioned to do so much more.

We want to acknowledge that at the time this annual report goes live, there are currently nations at war, we're experiencing another spate of violence against Asian Americans, and a new variant of Covid looms on the horizon. We are still living through the effects of pandemics, and economic, social, and political volatility. At CRE we hold space, offer grace, and extend support to our team and clients as a way to stand in solidarity together. We also celebrate and uplift the resilience of our communities. Remarkably, many new nonprofits were created during the pandemic! On our team, we celebrated two new babies, three marriages, new homes, milestone birthdays and anniversaries, and countless other moments. We hold tight to these moments of joy where hope and resilience endure. We hope that you too can pause and reflect on your resilience and hold it close as you navigate these turbulent times.

Warmly,

Tiloma Jayasinghe

President & CEO, Community Resource Exchange

Amer S. Ahmed

Chair, Board of Directors