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Problem Statement:

Brooklyn neighborhoods are gentrifying rapidly. Areas that use to house projects and lower income families are quickly seeing high rises, condominiums and townhouses appearing – and they see their rent and taxes growing as well. More often than not they sell their property to developers for significantly less than its actual value, and they have no idea they are being swindled out of their property.  Then they are forced to move into different areas that may have more crime and conflict then their original neighborhoods.

Idea:

We help provide free facts, resources, education and economic knowledge to the residents of Kings County, Brooklyn. We ask lawyers, real estate agents and accountantsto provide pro-bono work for our organization and help residents in gentrifying neighborhoods understand how much their property is really worth.

We are F (facts) R (resources) E (education) E (economic knowledge) Brooklyn.

Introduction:

Homelessness. Helplessness. Hardship.

Brooklyn is a borough of New York City with dozens of different neighborhoods. It has seen many different faces over the last 400 years and constantly been changing, each period has left behind its unique mark.

In the 1970s into the 1980s the borough of Manhattan was a scary place to be, filled with drugs, prostitutes and gangs causing residents to flee the city. Developers eyed this new trend and sought to capture the new markets. The old brownstones in Brooklyn, while decaying, became significantly more appealing. While Brooklyn had its own crime troubles, developers began slowly with one neighborhood at a time.

Before you knew it housing that was once cheap and easy to rent was attracting attention from the affluent Upper East and West sides and droves of people were moving down to southern New York City- just what real estate developers wanted.

But what happens to the people who were there before them? The people who didn’t make six figures a year and were happy with their local neighborhood; its mom and pop shops, local news papers and in some communities English wasn’t the first language.

The developing happened slowly, methodically and was well done by developers. Starting slowly in communities, flipping brownstones and offering in some areas the possibility of rent control on a newly renovated buildings was enough to keep residents happy.

But sometimes management gets turned over in a few years or the building becomes a co-op or “goes condo” and all of a sudden these long standing residents have no way of paying an extremely higher rent in a short amount of time.

Project Description:

 

What FREE Brooklyn wants to do is make sure that all residents of Brooklyn have access to real estate knowledge.  We want them to understand legally what is available to them, and what possible future actions could be taken against them. What their real estate rights are and what it means for the future of their family. We want to give them non-biased real estate information and help with their financial questions. And we hope to do this in whatever their first language may be.

We want the playing field to be fair. We want a FREE Brooklyn.

We want to assemble a Board of Directors from all different professions and neighborhoods from Brooklyn. They would be leaders in their respective fields and have a genuine understanding of what their community needs. They would lead the non-profit in the majority of its decision-making, and have varied opinions based on their experiences and what to move forward with next. The strength of the Board is also integral in helping find lawyers, accountants and real estate agents do pro-bono work for the initiative. We would rely on their previous involvement in their communities to form these connections. Finding a Board that we can rely on with this plan would be one of our first big hurdles.

The second biggest hurdle is funding. First there are obvious out of pocket expenses – travel time, getting the word out there, probably some various forms of printing (whether it be posters, flyers or small ads in local papers). Before you can even start with KickStarter people need to know you’re starting. This is where networking will play a huge role, our first members would start to become involved in other non-for-profits that are trying to help the people of Brooklyn:

Red Hook Initiative

Cobble Hill Tree Fund

Cobble Hill Life Care

Families First Brooklyn

Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation

Just to name a few. While there might be competition for resources, there is still more power in numbers. This would take some time to garner attention but necessary to gain a good reputation; then comes the KickStarter.

At this point we would have our volunteers also attending town hall and chamber of commerce meetings – trying to get to know various communities, their main merchants and their local politicians. We get to know them and they get to know us, mutual relationships begin to form and the word has the ability to spread organically. These relationships may also help us form the appropriate Board of Directors.

We also have a dynamic social media plan. We will highlight local businesses using by using hashtags and directly mentioning them in our FREEBrooklyn blog posts. We will have a presence on: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest and Google+. We will shop local, eat local and be local. By joining the community will establish ourselves more firmly.

 

And if we believe in our cause, speak from the heart and move in the right direction we may have a beginning of a project that could really help the community.

To invest in us in investing in a better Brooklyn and a better way of living for residents who haven’t had the access to the resources they need. Whether they lack in education or cannot speak English every resident of Brooklyn deserves a fair place to live and we want to help them achieve that.

 

Budget:

The biggest fiscal challenges are space, office supplies and marketing. The space needs to be accessible to the people we are trying help, 3-5 office staff members and a place for our board to have meetings.

We will spend a fair amount of time figuring out what neighborhood in Brooklyn we want to have our office in; we need 1300-1600 square feet and have to allocate at least $4,000-$10,000 a month in rent.

Office supplies range from $150-1,000 depending on the month with a yearly budget of $5,000; at the end of the fiscal year this would be reviewed incase we are under/over allocating in certain supply areas. There is a separate budget for outside printing of $3,000 a year; also to be reviewed in June.  Outside printing are for flyers, posters and possible advertising opportunities.

We want to hire an Office Manager, a Development Director (preferably who would have some background experience with Marketing and Advertising) and a Social Worker. When we gain the funds add one or two more Social Workers, a Finance Manager and a Public Relations Director. The additional staff will be directed by the Board of Directors.

The payment is range based on level of experience:

Office Manager: $30,000- $37,000 a year

Development: Director $65,00 – $75,000

Social Worker:  $45,000, $55,000

About:

My name is Alicia Strain, and I’m looking to help the community members of Brooklyn. I have been working for a non-for-profit Hospital in their Marketing and Public Affairs department for the last three years, and have developed a keen understanding of the non-for-profit world. I routinely work with our Finance department and have created yearly budgets for the purposes of advertising and development in the community. I also have experienced working directly with under-privileged families by volunteering my time at the Family and Children’s Association; this organization helps families gain access to education, avoid homelessness and helps both seniors and veterans. I have also devoted time to the Women’s Fund of Long Island in their development office, this non-for-profit helps promotes and gives access to education for the underserved female community on Long Island. I have also volunteered Sara Holbrook Community Center in Burlington, Vermont during my time there. I have been in the Brooklyn community for about a year now, and can already see the need for an organization to help promote education and awareness for families. And I want to get it started today.