The Challenge
At the time of the Brownsville Hub Cooperative’s first convening in 2019, community stakeholders highlighted the following challenges:
With the second highest incarceration rate in New York City, Brownsville was home to some of the highest prison admissions in Brooklyn. In addition, more than one-quarter of adults had not completed high school, and only 21% of residents aged 25 years and older had earned a bachelor’s degree.
40%
of Brownsville residents lived in poverty
26%
of young adults in Brownsville were out of school or out of work
25%
of Brownsville adults had not completed high school
21%
of Brownsville residents had earned a Bachelor’s degree or higher
Approach
JobsFirst NYC — in partnership with the Brownsville Justice Center, Made in Brownsville, Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corporations, and Community Board 16 and a diverse group of Brownsville stakeholders–developed the Brownsville Hub Cooperative to:
- Define economic mobility
- Determine existing barriers to mobility
- Identify possible solutions
This initiative uses intensive, deep community engagement to discover place-based solutions to economic mobility. The Brownsville Hub Cooperative is pursuing the following four-pronged strategy approach:
- Youth: Prioritize the needs and voices of young people.
- Access: Increase residents’ access to education, training, jobs, and financial resources.
- Ownership: Build community wealth by increasing residential and business ownership.
- Self-Sufficiency: Collectively build wealth by generating revenue as a community
Impact
Brownsville Hub Cooperative is a new partnership that launched in 2021 and is working through building the foundation to achieve its economic goals in Brownsville. The partnership is looking forward to presenting its model in its upcoming Innovations in the Field report.
$2.8M+
Funds Raised & Leveraged
306
Community Residents Completed Certificate Programs
2000+
Community Members Served
4
Partners Involved
Our Partners
