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Local Leaders and Electeds Discuss Top Issues For South Brooklyn At BKO Community Forum

Last night in partnership with Brooklyn College, Brooklyn Org hosted a community forum with local leaders and elected officials to discuss the most pressing issues facing Brooklynites today. Brooklyn Org’s President & CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey and Brooklyn College professor of sociology Dr. Gregory C. Smithsimon moderated the panel, and Flatbush Nostrand Junction BID Executive Director Kenneth Mbonu and News12 Brooklyn Anchor Edric Robinson introduced the conversation, which covered the topics of  affordability, maternal health, climate, small businesses, and youth, and older adults.

A group of twelve adults stand posing and smiling for a photo indoors in front of a presentation screen and chairs.
Brooklyn Org Community Forum at Brooklyn College, October 20, 2025. Photo by Paul Frangipane.

Thank you to our community speakers Somia El-Rowmeim (Women’s Empowerment Coalition of NYC), Jibreel Jalloh (The Flossy Organization), Nanda Prabhakar (The Opportunity Hub), Trinisha Williams (Haven Midwifery Collective), and Oluwatoyin Ayanfodun, (Tomorrow’s Leaders NYC) and to Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso and New York State Assemblywomen Latrice Walker and Monique Chandler-Waterman for joining us to envision Brooklyn’s future.

Going Beyond The Conversation: Join Us To Back Brooklyn

Our discussion was a reminder that Brooklyn is a place of opportunity, compassion, and welcome — where neighbors support neighbors, and equity and justice are not only aspirations, but shared commitments. But it also underscored that while there is so much possibility in our borough, the needs across our communities are growing, and we all must do more.

Right now, Brooklyn Org is raising critical funds to support frontline nonprofits that are lifelines to our communities through our Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn campaign: addressing urgent needs, defending democracy, advancing racial justice, and ensuring no Brooklynite is left behind. We are meeting the moment with urgency, intention, and care. Your support helps power this movement—directly fueling grants, programs, and impact across the borough, showing what’s possible when Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Backs Brooklyn: Address Growing Needs In Our Communities

Join Us

Event Highlights

Five professionally dressed individuals standing together and smiling in front of a whiteboard in a conference or seminar setting.
A panel of speakers sits on stage during a community forum at Brooklyn College, with event details and a QR code displayed on large screens behind them.
People sit in blue auditorium seats, attentively watching or listening to something off-camera. Some take notes while others observe quietly.
Three people sit on a panel; the woman in front holds a microphone and smiles, while the man and another woman sit beside her, with the man clapping.
A group of twelve adults stand posing and smiling for a photo indoors in front of a presentation screen and chairs.
A man in a suit speaks into a microphone while seated on a panel with three other people, two women and one man, during an indoor event.
A man in a gray suit speaks and gestures during a panel discussion, with two women, one in a hijab, seated beside him and a microphone in the foreground.
Two women sit on a stage, each speaking into a microphone; one gestures with her hand while holding papers, the other listens attentively.
A man sits alone in a row of blue auditorium seats, reading a black program labeled "Brooklyn Books Brooklyn." Other people are seated in the background.
Two women sit indoors; one is speaking into a microphone while the other listens attentively, holding papers in her lap.
A man in a white jacket raises his hand while speaking at a podium with a microphone; a woman stands in the background near a wall-mounted phone.
A woman in a hijab speaks into a microphone during a panel discussion, with three other people seated beside her, all holding microphones.
A man in a gray suit speaks at a podium with a microphone, while a woman stands beside him in a wood-paneled room.
Two people sit on chairs in conversation, one gesturing with his hands while the other listens with arms crossed. Both wear business attire in an indoor setting.
A man in a white jacket raises his hand while speaking at a podium with a microphone; a woman stands in the background near a wall-mounted phone.
Three people sit on a panel; the woman in the center, wearing a pink suit, speaks into a microphone while the others listen.
A person wearing glasses and a light-colored jacket sits alone in a row of blue auditorium seats, with other people blurred in the background.
A panel of eight people sits onstage in an auditorium, speaking to an audience; the speaker's face is projected on screens behind them.
A man in a gray suit and a woman in a gray top and striped skirt sit on chairs, facing each other and talking, with microphones nearby.
Three people sit on a panel, with the man in the center holding a microphone and speaking, while the others listen attentively.

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Thank you to our community partners who helped spread the word about the event:
  • East Brooklyn Business Improvement District
  • Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC)
  • Homecrest Community Services, Inc.
  • I Am Caribbeing
  • Local Development Corp. of East New York (LDCENY)
  • Midwifery Collective
  • North Brooklyn YMCA
  • Prospect Park Alliance
  • Resilient Young Minds
  • Sesame Flyers International
  • Something Positive, Inc.
  • The Flatbush Nostrand Junction Bid
  • Trippinz Care Inc.
  • UPROSE
  • The Women’s Empowerment Coalition Of NYC

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