Brooklyn Daily Eagle: Bold Leaders Pack Brooklyn College to Address New Solutions to Neglected, Underserved Communities

PUBLISHED IN: BROOKLYN DAILY EAGLE

Hundreds of Brooklyn locals gathered at a community forum, “Deciding Brooklyn’s Future,” to address some of Kings County’s most significant issues and challenges.

Hosted by community-driven philanthropic organization Brooklyn Org along with community partners, the event took place on Monday evening at Brooklyn College’s Ingersoll Hall. The forum featured a 90-minute conversation with local leaders, community advocates and elected officials. The panel discussed affordability, maternal health, transit infrastructure and more.

Panelists included Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assemblymember Latrice Walker, D-55, Tomorrow’s Leaders NYC founder Toyin Ayanfodun, the Women’s Empowerment Coalition of NYC CEO and founder Somia El-Rowmeim, the Flossy Org founder Jibreel Jalloh, the Opportunity Hub Executive Director Nanda Prabhakar, and Haven Midwifery Collective President and founder Trinisha Williams.

The forum was moderated by News12 Brooklyn anchor Edric Robinson, Brooklyn Org President and CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey and Center for the Study of Brooklyn at Brooklyn College’s Dr. Gregory Smithsimon.

Affordability and safety

El-Rowmeim spoke on behalf of the trials and tribulations of small Brooklyn businesses, specifically affordability and safety.

“Many small business owners we deal with are new immigrants, and several of them end up closing their businesses and selling their businesses because they can’t make ends meet due to the rising costs of rent,” said El-Rowmeim. “In the past few years, there have been a number of small business owners that were actually killed inside their businesses. That is something that cannot be ignored and must be addressed.”

Reynoso said that things must improve when it comes to helping out small businesses. “If Brooklyn Org is willing to sit and work with me, we can go to the South Brooklyn Yemeni community, gather some businesses together, find some accountants that do pro bono work and assist with affordability,” he said.

Food insecurity 

Walker, who serves Brownsville, Ocean Hill and portions of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and East New York, said “food deserts” are one of the big underlying issues she has seen in Central and Eastern Brooklyn.

“Solving the issue of food insecurity within the city is incredibly important,” said Walker. “Access to fresh food and vegetables is definitely a luxury that many people enjoy that we just don’t have.”

Rainey added, “Over 60% of New Yorkers are struggling around affordability. It’s not just those people in the lower social economic demographic.”

‘A great disparity in Brooklyn’

Williams spoke to the maternal health crisis in Brooklyn.

“We need to think broader about solutions that offer people community-based care, and that would mean the options of birth centers as well as home birth,” Williams said, adding that in other industrialized countries, “50% to 70% of those babies are born in the hands of midwives. Here in our city, we’re lucky if we get 3% to 10%. We need more midwives throughout our city.”

Reynoso added, “There is a great disparity that exists in Brooklyn in that it’s the most dangerous place for Black women to have babies in all of New York City.”

Addressing children and older adults

Prabhakar discussed the need for creating more spaces for young people to come together “and just be themselves.”

“We have ‘Teen Central,’ an afterschool program for 13 through 18 year olds that offers access to open gym time, a computer lab, structured activities like culinary lessons and basketball,”  said Prabhakar. “We also accommodate seniors with health and wellness programs such as group fitness classes, health screenings and walking groups. We would love to expand and have even more areas and activities for kids and older adults.”

‘A transit desert’  

Jalloh discussed the lack of efficient transportation, specifically in Canarsie, where the organization is based.

“We’ve been hoping and planning for a number of years to get a ferry in Canarsie,” said Jalloh. “The truth is, we live in a transit desert. We have only one train line and a couple of bus lines, and that is not sufficient.”

Jalloh pointed out that in 2017, under the de Blasio administration, the Canarsie Improvement Association collected more than 6,000 petition signatures supporting a ferry proposal, but it never came to fruition.

“Bill de Blasio sat on it and we didn’t get the ferry,” said Jalloh, adding that Mayor Eric Adams had a chance to deliver on the ferry proposal as well but didn’t.

“Williamsburg, who I have plenty of love for, has a north ferry stop and a south ferry stop,” said Jalloh. “In Canarsie we are starved for ways to get around. It seems investments are going to transit-rich neighborhoods as we continue to be left out in the cold time and time again.”

Reynoso said he unequivocally agrees that a ferry is needed in Canarsie. “We’re still fighting for that, but the EDC essentially told us ‘no’ two years ago, and they’ve been playing games ever since.”

Relationships, opportunities and experiences

Ayanfodun spoke to the importance of mental health support for young people in and out of school.

“The old way of thinking that you just go to school, do your work and a job is going to be there  for you after college is outdated,” said Ayanfodun. “The kids could be YouTubers or streamers, and there are so many different opportunities that don’t require college. I hear a lot of times with young people, ‘I want to do real estate. I want to learn how to be an entrepreneur. I want to start my own business.’ But as leaders, we have to be much more proactive in finding resources and finding ways to keep kids in school.”

According to Ayanfodun, there are three ways to keep children engaged in school:  relationships, opportunities and experiences. “The more you can guarantee those things, the better, and the more likely kids will show up and excel,” he said.