Extraordinary Neighbors
Linda Boyd, the winner of the 2020 Andrus Award for Community Service award. Courtesy of AARP.Linda Boyd, a Fort Greene resident for the past 25 years, spent much of her time during the COVID-19 pandemic volunteering to talk to strangers, making their days just a bit less lonely. Boyd’
Announcements
The recipients of the grant. (Alford, top left; Dr. Blackstock, bottom left; Dr. Johnson, middle; Kalam Id-Din II, top right; and Smith, bottom right)BARCLAYS CENTER – Five Black Brooklyn community leaders are the first recipients of the Joe and Clara Tsai Foundation Social Justice Fund, which aims to support social
Announcements
Dr. Ahmad Jaber. (Photo: Joey O’Loughlin, Center for Brooklyn History at Brooklyn Public Library.)BAY RIDGE – One of the most prominent Muslim and Arab leaders in Brooklyn, Dr. Ahmad Jaber, who founded a number of community-based organizations and masjids after surviving loss and poverty, and someone who was an
community
Whitney Hu at South Brooklyn Mutual Aid – Brooklyn Army Terminal – 11/28/20There is no typical week for South Brooklyn Mutual Aid [https://southbkmutualaid.com/] (SBKMA) founder Whitney Hu, but every week is chock full. Amid coordinating projects as diverse as a free toy store and a house cleaners’ collective,
Announcements
Syed Bukhari.MIDWOOD – Last year, Syed Bukhari, 37, got tired of driving a cab, something he had been doing for the last 15 years. The pay isn’t good, there are no benefits, and the business was declining. [/cabbie-coronavirus/] So, he applied for work at the MTA, but then the
Central Brooklyn
Bed-Stuy Strong volunteer Natalia Paez has been organizing neighborhood clean-ups since August. Photo by Zoe Grueskin/BklynerAs the coronavirus spread through New York this spring, shuttering schools and businesses, mutual aid groups of “neighbors helping neighbors” sprang up [/kensington-windsor-terrace-mutual-aid/] around the city [/solidarity-not-charity-flatbush-united-mutual-aid/]. More than eight months later, many mutual
Announcements
Sheikh Osman Adam outside Masjid At-Taqwa, where he spends most of his time. (Photo: Zainab Iqbal/Bklyner)BEDFORD STUYVESANT – On March 1, the Zam Zam Stop & Shop store on Fulton Street caught on fire in the middle of the night due to an electrical issue. It is a small
Bed Stuy
On a narrow sidewalk on the edge of Bushwick, Brooklyn, last Friday evening, a DJ was blasting techno music, his mixer set up on a foldable table. On the other side of the sidewalk, the smell of grilled hot dogs and hamburgers wafted from the grill, while a crowd was
Extraordinary Neighbors
When Alicia Morrison-Fagbemi found out Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed away, she cried for her and for her three daughters, Savannah, 12, Olivia, 10, and Leah, 4. The next day, she and her husband Mike took them to Ginsburg’s childhood home at 1584 E 9th Street in Midwood, Brooklyn.
brighton beach
Humayun Butt. (Photo via his family)BRIGHTON BEACH – Humayun Butt was a dad to four children. He was a grandpa to eight. And he was a father figure to many. He loved to laugh. He would make his wife chai for breakfast every morning. At the end of March, he
Big Story
Photo via Dominique Sindayiganza, @sindayiganza [https://www.instagram.com/sindayiganza/], with permission.BED STUY – Rubie Inez Williams believes in a strong community. She believes that the youth will excel if there a community to love and support them. She believes in investing in the Black youth, something she’s been
Announcements
Nowshin Ali at the Home Depot. (Photo via Rathkopf Photography [https://www.rathkopf.com/], with permission)FLATBUSH/KENSINGTON – There’s a vegan halal Indian restaurant that sits on Coney Island Avenue between Newkirk and Webster Avenues called Jalsa Grill & Gravy [https://jalsa-grill-gravy.business.site/?utm_source=gmb&utm_