Brooklyn’s United for Brownsville and Brownsville Partnership Unify to Offer Cradle-to-Career Support for Brownsville Families
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New UB Expands Commitments to Dismantling Systemic Racial Inequities in Brownsville Through Community-Driven, Data-Based Approach
October 9, 2024 (Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY) – Building on their individual successes serving the Brownsville, Brooklyn community, United for Brownsville (UB) and Brownsville Partnership (BP) have officially united under the UB banner to become one organization. The new UB will offer cradle-to-career support for residents through a mission that addresses systemic inequities across health care, education, and housing for Brownsville’s largely Black and brown families. The unification combines UB’s expertise and proven achievements in the early childhood space with BP’s experience in affordable, healthy housing—while continuing both organizations’ unique model of resident-driven governance.
The new UB, led by Co-Executive Directors Anita Luckett (former ED of BP) and David Harrington (UB), will celebrate and share information about the unification with community residents, social service organizations, and funders at UB’s annual “Hope Summit: Better Together” on Saturday, October 19, at Brownsville’s storied Greg Jackson Center.
“Our work has always been grounded in the voices of Brownsville residents. This new chapter strengthens that commitment and further amplifies the power of community voices to create meaningful, long-lasting change,” said Luckett. “By bringing together our collective strengths, we can create a holistic approach to housing, health care, and education—rooted in equity and driven by the community itself. Working alongside with community members and leaders, we can ensure that the future of Brownsville is one of opportunity and empowerment for all.”
“Brownsville families deserve the same opportunities and resources as those in New York City’s most affluent neighborhoods. By joining forces and combining our expertise and resources, we are stronger together: better equipped to address the interconnected challenges faced by our community,” Harrington said. “The union of our two organizations is about more than just solving problems—it’s about creating a future where every Brownsville family has the support they need to thrive, from early childhood through adulthood.”
Moving forward, UB will offer more comprehensive services and reach more families in the community, while also bringing local residents and providers in closer collaboration with one another, building new connections and opportunities beyond previously siloed areas of focus. UB’s Provider Action Team (PAT), made up of experts and professionals from more than 40 educational, health, and social-service organizations working with families in Brownsville, will expand in the newly united organization and will look for new ways to grow its partnership with UB’s Family Advisory Board, a coalition of residents and families that is a cornerstone of UB’s early childhood work. This successful model of community-led governance closed the gap in EI service interventions for Black children in Brownsville in just four years (2019–2022)—a previously unheard-of result and one still unmatched by any other underserved neighborhood in NYC.
UB’s vision is dedicated to achieving parity for Brownsville with the rest of NYC by 2029 in key areas such as housing, health care, and education. By 2034, the organization aims for Brownsville residents to enjoy the highest levels of access to these essential services in the city. Key initiatives will include:
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- Economic stability
- Healthy housing improvements
- Resident-driven governance
- Early childhood education and school readiness programs
- Routine healthcare access
- Short-term mobilization to secure critical family supports
The UB “Hope Summit: Better Together” on Saturday, October 19, 2024, will celebrate UB and BP’s shared beginnings as Community Solutions initiatives, their long history of collaboration in the community, and their official unification as United for Brownsville. UB’s co-executive directors, Anita Luckett and David Harrington, will share UB’s united strategy and vision, and also lead an activity with summit attendees to identify strengths and barriers across the cradle-to-career spectrum in Brownsville to inform current and future transformative projects impacting families. The summit will be attended by community leaders, including representatives from Community Solutions, the Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, RiseBoro, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, Excellence Baby Academy, and Brownsville residents. The summit is free and open to the public and also includes children’s activities for families who plan to attend together. For more information or to register, please visit THIS link.
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About United for Brownsville
United for Brownsville is a community-driven, Brooklyn nonprofit with proven success helping the predominantly Black and brown children and families of Brownsville flourish. We facilitate collaborations between families and the social services sector that build trust, reimagine systems, and create equitable, data-based, and responsive solutions to racial inequities. Notable achievements include eliminating disparities in Early Intervention services for Black children, increasing uptake of low-income ACS childcare vouchers, rapidly mobilizing during the COVID-19 pandemic to distribute vital resources and secure federal childcare tax credits for families at an increased rate of 1,200%, and creating the Early Intervention Ambassador program, which is now being scaled-up across several additional NYC communities.
As a legal entity, the organization is still incorporated and will remain as the Brownsville Partnership, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization located at the Gregory Jackson Center, 519 Rockaway Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11212. Previous to this rebranding and unification, United for Brownsville had been the name of a project sponsored by the Brownsville Partnership since 2022.
About Brownsville Partnership
In 2008, Brownsville community leader Gregory “Jocko” Jackson founded the Brownsville Partnership with homelessness-ending nonprofit Community Solutions to address conditions affecting neighborhood prosperity. BP harnessed the collective power of community stakeholders to advance the health, safety, and prosperity in the neighborhood. It spread knowledge on wealth-building, strengthened resident-driven governance, and created locally owned assets and enterprises. Today, while part of United for Brownsville, its programs continue BP’s mission of ensuring stable, healthy housing and supporting community governance to create a more equitable Brownsville. Important work includes the Community Action for Health Homes (CAHH) program which improves community health through rapid home repairs that enhance safety and reduce health risks; the Brownsville Community Land Trust; and developing or co-developing of two supportive housing developments, the Rise and 372 Livonia.
Learn more at unitedforbrownsville.org
For Media Inquiries, please contact:
Jessica Barist Cohen Chatham Strategies
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