friends of brooklyn community board 6
OUR MISSION
Friends of Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. was established in 2003 to support the work of Brooklyn's Community
Board 6 and improve the quality of life in the district. Friends provides planning, advocacy, research and administrative
resources to supplement the limited capacities and budget of the Community Board, thus enabling the Board properly to
carry out its City Charter-mandated task of evaluating the needs of and advocating on behalf of its communities. Through
this balance of public and private resources, Friends of Community Board 6 aims to drive the balanced growth of all the
communities it serves.
Friends of Brooklyn CB6, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Federal EIN 04-3780020).
Friends of Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. was established in 2003 to support the work of Brooklyn's Community
Board 6 and improve the quality of life in the district. Friends provides planning, advocacy, research and administrative
resources to supplement the limited capacities and budget of the Community Board, thus enabling the Board properly to
carry out its City Charter-mandated task of evaluating the needs of and advocating on behalf of its communities. Through
this balance of public and private resources, Friends of Community Board 6 aims to drive the balanced growth of all the
communities it serves.
Friends of Brooklyn CB6, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization (Federal EIN 04-3780020).
The Community, the issues
The Brooklyn Community Board 6 district includes the
neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble
Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red
Hook. Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope exemplify
typical “brownstone Brooklyn” communities. By contrast, in
the waterfront communities of Gowanus and Red Hook an
overwhelming portion of the population lives in public housing,
many of them below the poverty line.
The challenges facing the district are as varied as the
neighborhoods themselves; while all share the problem of
decaying and outdated infrastructure, each neighborhood has its
own distinctive set of land-use, planning and development
issues confronting efforts to achieve balanced growth. The
more prosperous neighborhoods contend with overcrowded
schools, inadequate public transportation, an overheated
housing market, and shifting demographics and needs as people
continue to flock to the areas. Red Hook struggles with
rebuilding its economy since the decline of the shipping
industry, a problem complicated by the neighborhood’s
“disconnection” from the rest of Brooklyn by the Gowanus
and Brooklyn-Queens Expressways. The Columbia Street
District, a former industrial area that is home to some of
Brooklyn’s once-bustling piers, is similarly isolated by the BQE
trench. Gowanus grapples with job creation and poverty, as
well as how to reclaim and redevelop its eponymous canal,
once infamous for being one of the dirtiest waterways in the
country.
The Brooklyn Community Board 6 district includes the
neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens/South Brooklyn, Cobble
Hill, Columbia Street District, Gowanus, Park Slope and Red
Hook. Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill and Park Slope exemplify
typical “brownstone Brooklyn” communities. By contrast, in
the waterfront communities of Gowanus and Red Hook an
overwhelming portion of the population lives in public housing,
many of them below the poverty line.
The challenges facing the district are as varied as the
neighborhoods themselves; while all share the problem of
decaying and outdated infrastructure, each neighborhood has its
own distinctive set of land-use, planning and development
issues confronting efforts to achieve balanced growth. The
more prosperous neighborhoods contend with overcrowded
schools, inadequate public transportation, an overheated
housing market, and shifting demographics and needs as people
continue to flock to the areas. Red Hook struggles with
rebuilding its economy since the decline of the shipping
industry, a problem complicated by the neighborhood’s
“disconnection” from the rest of Brooklyn by the Gowanus
and Brooklyn-Queens Expressways. The Columbia Street
District, a former industrial area that is home to some of
Brooklyn’s once-bustling piers, is similarly isolated by the BQE
trench. Gowanus grapples with job creation and poverty, as
well as how to reclaim and redevelop its eponymous canal,
once infamous for being one of the dirtiest waterways in the
country.
Why Friends?
Despite the responsibilities mandated to it by the
City Charter, under current levels of City funding
the Community Board's District Office simply
cannot keep up with the demands of the Board’s
work. Proactive planning and long-term thinking are
rare privileges for an organization that is charged
with advocacy for its neighborhoods' needs. The
Board is unable, for instance, to commission
independent studies to help it develop policy, or
adequately to assess policies proposed elsewhere by
City government. A separately funded auxiliary
organization is necessary to allow the Board to do its
job properly, given the number and complexity of
issues the Community Board faces. Friends of
Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. is that
organization.
To find out more about specific projects Friends of
Brooklyn CB6 has been involved in, click here.
To get involved, click here.
To donate to Friends, click here.
To contact us, click here.
To visit the Community Board 6 website, click here.
Despite the responsibilities mandated to it by the
City Charter, under current levels of City funding
the Community Board's District Office simply
cannot keep up with the demands of the Board’s
work. Proactive planning and long-term thinking are
rare privileges for an organization that is charged
with advocacy for its neighborhoods' needs. The
Board is unable, for instance, to commission
independent studies to help it develop policy, or
adequately to assess policies proposed elsewhere by
City government. A separately funded auxiliary
organization is necessary to allow the Board to do its
job properly, given the number and complexity of
issues the Community Board faces. Friends of
Brooklyn Community Board 6, Inc. is that
organization.
To find out more about specific projects Friends of
Brooklyn CB6 has been involved in, click here.
To get involved, click here.
To donate to Friends, click here.
To contact us, click here.
To visit the Community Board 6 website, click here.
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