Sharing What We Learned on Our 2023 Listening Tour

Since 2022, we’ve visited ten neighborhoods a year to meet with community members and give them the space to talk about the issues that impact them the most.

Earlier this month, we hosted a webinar briefing on our 2023 Listening Tour to share everything we learned from our most recent round of conversations across Brooklyn, which took place in the following neighborhoods:

• Carroll Gardens / Gowanus
• Cypress Hills / City Line
• East Flatbush / Wingate
• Fort Greene / Clinton Hill
• Greenpoint / North Williamsburg
• Kensington / Ditmas Park / Windsor Terrace
• Midwood / Borough Park
• Prospect Lefferts Gardens / Crown Heights South
• Red Hook
• Weeksville / Crown Heights North

Video

Local Issues, Big Impact

Though the needs of these neighborhoods are as diverse as the people who call them home, we found that there are a number of issues impacting Brooklynites boroughwide. Across multiple listening sessions, participants repeatedly touched on the need to create solutions around the following issues:

• Capacity building and available space
• Support for older adults and aging
• Community development
• Food insecurity
• Youth programming

What’s Ahead

To ensure that we take our listening tour participants’ feedback to heart, we’re moving forward with a number of exciting, actionable next steps.

1. New Funding Process: Our new, rolling funding model will provide general operating support to nonprofits and place careful consideration on issues raised throughout our Listening Tours.
2. Neighborhood Collective Impact Project: We’re opening an RFP exclusively for Listening Tour attendees that will provide $25,000 in funding to three pairs of participants who plan to collaborate on issues impacting their neighborhoods.
3. BKO Policy Agenda: Following the completion of our first 3-year Listening Tour cycle, we will identify key issues & policies to guide our future work.

We may be winding down from last year’s tour, but we’re excited to keep the momentum going. We hope to see some of you at our 2024 Listening Tour, which will make stops in the following neighborhoods:

• Bensonhurst / Mapleton
• Downtown Brooklyn
• Flatlands
• Industrial Business Zones
• Dyker Heights / Ft. Hamilton
• Mill Basin / Marine Park / Bergen Beach
• New Lots
• Park Slope
• Sheepshead Bay / Gerritsen Beach
• South Williamsburg / Broadway Triangle