Bobkatz BikeRoll

Last Saturday, May 28th, 2011, Brownsville Partnership and the Brownsville Bobkatz put their bicycles in motion as they trekked around the Brownsville community for the Bobkatz BikeRoll. 30 kids from the Brownsville Bobkatz and other teams in the community, Brownsville Partnership, Brownsville Recreation Center Staff along with volunteers from local community organizations rode throughout the neighborhood. After the Bike ride, the kids had the chance to indulge in some healthy barbecue food.


Here are some pictures:

(The Bikers getting ready to ride throughout the Brownsville streets)

(Grilled Turkey Hot Dogs)

(Brownsville Partnership Staff: L to R- Alicka Ampry-Samuel, Brian Goldblatt (GrowNYC), Nupur Chaudhury & Greg "Jocko" Jackson)

For more photos from the Bobkatz BikeRoll check out the slideshow!

Terror in Brownsville: Survey finds Brooklyn neighborhood grappling with "serious issues" like guns

 (Courtesy of NY Daily News)

Brownsville resident James Kinard, 50, worries about crime in his neighborhood.

 

 Brownsville is a neighborhood filled with unique individuals. Our qualities and our characteristics genetically bonds us to become a rare breed in society. Center for Court Innovation volunteers last fall, conducted a survey about what are the "serious issues" in Brownsville. Jake Pearson and Al Barbarino complied the results into a great article. This is a must read!!!!

Guns. Gangs. Drug use. Drug selling. Assaults.

A whopping 80% of Brownsville residents say these are the biggest problems plaguing their community, according to a new survey.

Volunteers from the Center for Court Innovation spent weeks last fall asking more than 800 Brownsville residents questions about their neighborhood - and this month released the troubling results.

"This survey paints a portrait of a neighborhood with some serious problems," said Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation. "There are social problems and public safety problems...and it's a neighborhood grappling with some serious issues."

Brooklyn Salons get training, medical devices to help clients stay well

Read this article written by Jake Pearson for the New York Daily News. Jake Pearson goes into a Beauty Salon... but he comes out with something better than gossip!

Check this out!

(Courtesy of Robert Mecca)

Samantha Brown (c.), owner of Women's Hair Care Center in Crown Heights, works on hair of Raicine Terry as stylist Modestina Bell looks on.

For women, the hair salon has long been an intimate place for private conversations, gossip and advice between stylists and clients.



From neighborhood news to Arnold Schwarzenegger's secret family, no topic is off-limits - and in some Brooklyn neighborhoods, obesity, diabetes are now on the list of sacred topics.


Trained by public health experts last month, 16 salon owners in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights and East Flatbush have begun slipping health advice into conversation with their customers - suggesting healthy meals, exercise routines and doctor visits.


"No I don't need the scale, I've never used it," said city worker Alison Fulford, 43, after Crown Heights salon owner Samantha Brown mentioned there was a scale in the bathroom as Fulford got her hair pressed and dried last week.


The scale, a blood pressure machine, and DVDs with exercise routines, healthy food options and weight-loss tips have also been supplied to the salons.

Photo exhibit at Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal fosters hope for 50 beautiful kids looking for homes

(Courtesy of Mark Bonifacio of the New York Daily News)

Photographer Rayon Richards with foster child William, at 'Heart Gallery' exhibit now on at Atlantic Terminal.

Photographer Rayon Richards has a good heart! He help facilitate a photo shoot, along with HeartShare Human Services, for Foster Child who are looking to be placed in a home. The "Heart Gallery" is at Alantic Terminal in Downtown Brooklyn. Read this article written by Erin Durkin of the New York Daily News.

Check this out!

For the next month, commuters passing through downtown Brooklyn's busy Atlantic Terminal will be greeted by the smiling faces of 50 foster kids searching for permanent homes.



Life-sized portraits of the kids taken by renowned photographers were unveiled yesterday as part of a "Heart Gallery" on display in hopes of enticing potential parents.


Malik, 14, moved into his latest foster home in Canarsie a week ago - his sixth since he was taken away from his parents at age 6 after they left him home alone for weeks, he said.


"I never found the right place," said Malik, an eighth-grader who has had to change schools four times while being shifted among foster homes all over the city. "I don't feel like a normal teenager.

Brooklyn's dad fighting back after losing his son to gun violence

The gun violence in the Brownsville community is effecting the residents terribly. Some of our residents are scared to come outside in fear being accidental hit by a stray bullet. Read this article wriiten by Erin Durkin of the New York Daily News. Mike Tucker of Bedford Stuyvesant lost his Stephonne Crawford in 2005. He wants to share his story with the world now.

Check this out!

(Courtesy of New York Daily News)

Mike Tucker holds a photo of his son, Stephonne Crawford, who was shot in 2005

Bedford-Stuyvesant dad Mike Tucker's son was fatally shot by police nearly six years ago - and now he's dedicating his life to fighting Brooklyn's plague of gun violence.

Tucker's son, Stephonne Crawford, 21, was accidentally shot in East New York in a 2005 scuffle with cops who were trying to question him about a separate shooting. He was killed instantly when a detective's gun discharged, police said at the time.


"The gun accidentally went off and shot him in the back of the head," said Tucker, 45, adding that Stephonne, who had a 1-year-old son, had fallen in with the wrong crowd but was trying to turn his life around. "I was really shocked and devastated."

Teachers' Union Sues to Stop School Closings

P.S. 332, Charles H. Houston in our neighborhood of Brownsville, Brooklyn is one of the schools in New York City that is on the verge of being closed down. Check out this article on the New York Times website written by Fernanda Santos. Let's Save Our Schools!!!

(Courtesy of George M. Gutierrez for the New York Times)

John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx, one of the schools that a lawsuit filed Wednesday hopes to keep open.

The United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in an effort to halt two tools the city’s Education Department uses to change the school system: closing schools for poor performance and giving charter schools space in buildings occupied by traditional public schools. 

The litigation, filed in State Supreme Court, escalates the tensions in the fraying relationship between the city and the teachers’ union, whose members have worked without a contract for more than a year and now face the likelihood of 4,100 layoffs, which Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg proposed as a way to balance the budget.

It also threatens to upend the coming school year for the thousands of students who have secured a spot in charter schools whose locations are being challenged and in new high schools that are set to replace closing schools.

Six Miles Wasn't Enough!

On Sunday, May 15th, 2011, Brownsville Partnership Staff, Kyle Mushkin, Michelle Strong, Randy Millard, Shawn Brooks and his lovely Mrs. Brooks and lastly Kristen Woods participated in the 26th Annual AIDS Walk in Central Park.

The atmosphere was great! Brownsville Partnership Staff completed the Six Mile Walk! Despite the mud, the hard rain and bugs, the tough terrain in Central Park did not slow them down at all! 

Check out some of the pictures!

Good Job Guys!