BK Reader: Show Brooklyn Some Love at Brooklyn Org’s Summer Fest

Published in: BK Reader

Free art workshops and performances, including building a life-size Brooklyn Bridge from recycled materials, are planned for June 22.

Brooklyn Org’s newly launched social awareness campaign, “Show Brooklyn Some Love,” invites all Brooklynites to become active, engaged backers of grassroots organizations driving social change right in their own backyards.

Inspired by the new awareness campaign, Show Brooklyn Some Love Fest will feature the completion of a 24-foot Brooklyn Bridge constructed entirely from recyclable materials, along with hip hop workshops, music making, face painting, drum circles, spoken word, Tai Chi and more, according to a news release.

Brooklyn Org, Brooklyn Bridge Parents, Brooklyn Made, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and City Point will convene at the free “Show Brooklyn Some Love Fest” at City Point and Albee Square on Saturday, June 22, beginning at 11am.

The campaign is designed to inspire and engage a new wave of Brooklyn residents and a new generation of Brooklyn givers to champion local organizations working towards a more just and equitable borough. Despite being home to 30% of the city’s population and 30% of the city’s nonprofits, Brooklyn organizations receive just 7.6% of charitable funding.

Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, president and chief executive of Brooklyn Org, said, “Brooklyn Org gives everyone a seat at the table and a role to play in driving social change forward in our borough. But you can’t know you’ve got a seat unless you’ve been invited. This campaign is our invitation to every Brooklynite to join us, donate, and spark change.”

The campaign features five organizations that have recently won the Brooklyn Org Spark Prize, a unique honor that celebrates outstanding nonprofits advancing justice and equity in the borough:

• Mixteca, which serves the health, social, education, and legal needs of immigrant communities;
• Groundswell, which brings together youth and artists to create murals for social change;
• Workers Justice Project, a worker center that fights for better work conditions and social justice for low-wage, immigrant workers;
• Arab American Family Support Center, which empowers immigrants and refugees with the tools they need to acclimate to the world around them; and,
• Sure We Can, a recycling center, community hub, and sustainability center.