Brooklyn Org Names Professor Christina Greer as Inaugural Visiting Scholar

New annual program will bring leading Brooklyn-based thinkers into partnership with Brooklyn Org to inform policy, philanthropy, and civic life.

Brooklyn Org today announced political scientist, author, and commentator Christina Greer, Ph.D. as the inaugural Brooklyn Org Visiting Scholar, launching a new annual initiative that will bring nationally recognized, Brooklyn-based thought leaders into formal partnership with the organization.

The Visiting Scholar Program is designed to deepen Brooklyn Org’s role as a convener of ideas and catalyst for solutions to the most pressing issues facing Brooklyn. Visiting Scholars will provide strategic insight and thought leadership, engage Brooklyn Org’s donors and community partners, and produce research and public commentary that can help inform policy and philanthropy across the borough.

Greer’s appointment will run from September 2026 through June 2027. During that time, she will serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to Brooklyn Org, participate in public programs and donor convenings, and develop thought leadership focused on key challenges and opportunities affecting Brooklyn.

“Brooklyn Org has always believed that the people closest to our communities hold essential knowledge about what Brooklyn needs and where our borough can go next,” said Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, President and CEO of Brooklyn Org. “Christina brings the rare combination of rigorous scholarship, a deep understanding of New York politics and civic life, and an extraordinary ability to make complex issues accessible to the public. As our inaugural Visiting Scholar, she will help us ask sharper questions, listen more deeply to Brooklynites, and turn what we learn into ideas that can strengthen our communities and shape the future of our borough.”

A Professor of Political Science at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus, Greer’s research and teaching focus on American politics, Black ethnic politics, campaigns and elections, and public opinion. Her scholarship has examined race, immigration, democracy, representation, and the changing political landscape of Black America.

Her books include Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream (Oxford University Press), which examines how ethnicity and shared racial identity shape the experiences and political preferences of increasingly diverse Black populations in the United States; How to Build a Democracy: From Fannie Lou Hamer and Barbara Jordan to Stacey Abrams (Cambridge University Press); and the co-edited volume Black Politics in Transition, exploring the effects of gentrification, suburbanization, and immigration on Black communities in America.

“Brooklyn is an extraordinary place to study democracy in action — its possibilities, its tensions, and the ways people build power and community across difference,” said Christina Greer. “I’m excited to join Brooklyn Org as its inaugural Visiting Scholar and to bring my research and experience into conversation with the people, organizations, and leaders working every day to make this borough stronger. I’m especially looking forward to listening to Brooklynites, digging into what the data can tell us, and helping translate those insights into conversations and ideas that can have real impact.”

Beyond academia, Greer is a frequent political commentator, appearing primarily on MSNOW, WNYC, and NY1, and her analysis has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press. She co-hosts the New York-focused podcast FAQ NYC, contributes to the TED-Ed educational series, and writes a weekly column for The Amsterdam News.

Greer serves on the boards of the Tenement Museum, the Mark Twain House, Community Change, Fair Fight, and Souls Grown Deep, as well as on an advisory board at Tufts University. She is also a juror for the Gotham Book Prize and a member of the New York Editorial Board, which conducts and publicly shares interviews with political candidates and elected officials. Greer received her B.A. from Tufts University and her M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.