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Just Brooklyn Prize Awards $100,000 To Five Brooklyn Racial Justice Champions

Seven women standing in a row, smiling, in front of a back drop with logos, at an awards ceremony
The 2023 Just Brooklyn Prize Winners with Social Justice Fund Founder Clara Wu Tsai (center) and Brooklyn Org President and CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey (far right)

In partnership with the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation’s Social Justice Fund, Brooklyn Org is thrilled to announce the winners of the inaugural Just Brooklyn Prize, which awards $100,000 to five outstanding BIPOC champions of racial justice in our borough. Each recipient will receive an unrestricted $20,000 grant in recognition of their contributions to the pursuit of racial and social justice in Brooklyn.

Selected by a committee of Brooklyn’s leaders – including The Brooklyn Circus Founder Ouigi Theodore, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights President & CEO Maya Wiley, and the host of Way Up With Angela Yee, Angela Yee – this year’s winners are: 

  • Debra Ack, Founding Member, East NY Community Land Trust
  • La’Shawn Allen-Muhammad, Executive Director, Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation
  • Samora Coles, Founder, Alex House Project
  • C. Zawadi Morris, Founder, BK Reader
  • Chanel Porchia-Albert, Founder, Ancient Song Doula Services

Each of these Black women leaders exemplify the best that Brooklyn has to offer. Spanning the fields of journalism, women’s healthcare, economic development, and community organizing, their work demonstrates our borough’s true potential when we bring racial justice to the fore.

“Sparking real change requires visionary leaders,” our President & CEO Dr. Jocelynne Rainey shared. “The five winners of the inaugural Just Brooklyn Prize have helped make our borough a beacon in the movement for racial justice and we are deeply grateful to them.”

“The Just Brooklyn Prize recipients are on the ground combating some of the most pressing social justice issues of our time, from every angle, right here in Brooklyn,” Clara Wu Tsai, the founder of the Social Justice Fund and owner of the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center, said. “They lead by example and we are pleased to support their work.”

The winners were honored with an award ceremony at Barclays Center on Monday, September 18th.

Nominations for the 2024 Just Brooklyn Prize will reopen on Wednesday, November 15th.