A reasonable walk to the subway. A neighborhood park in which your children can play. Healthy food at the nearby grocery store. Safe streets to walk your family home at the end of the day.
These are daily staples most New Yorkers take for granted. But for residents of Brownsville, these things are in short supply.
Citizens’ Committee for Children’s new report, From Strengths to Solutions: An Asset-Based Approach to Meeting Community Needs in Brownsville, highlights the high needs that plague the Brownsville community - more than half of children in Brownsville live in poverty; nearly 40 percent of households spend more than half their income on rent; fewer than half of working age residents are employed; and over a quarter of adult residents lack a high school diploma.
Our report shines a light on the stark lack of access to basic resources that are critical for every New York City community, but particularly for a neighborhood like Brownsville which struggles with one of profoundly poor child and family outcomes.
We found, for example, that over half of Brownsville residents work in jobs that often involve non-traditional hours, when train service is limited and unreliable. And nearly forty percent of Brownsville residents do not live within walking distance of a grocery store. For families with limited resources, who are already juggling work and child rearing, these challenges make basic things like providing healthy meals at the end of the day immensely burdensome.
While Brownsville is home to 5,000 children under age five who are income eligible for subsidized child care services, there are only 700 seats available in city-funded EarlyLearn centers in the community. Without formal child care options, many parents rely on the informal care that far too often doesn’t adequately prepare children for school and can be unreliable. Knowing this, it’s not hard to understand why education outcomes for Brownsville children are poor – only 18 percent of third through eighth graders in Brownsville public schools scored proficient in ELA tests, for example.
But the most striking aspect of our report isn’t the challenges children and families face. It’s the resolve of the people in the community to change their trajectory. Every person we interviewed expressed an unwavering commitment to Brownsville and a desire to help bring positive change to its residents.
But they can’t do it alone. They will need strategic investments from government and community partners to confront barriers to children’s well-being, build on programs that are in place but in too short supply, and expand opportunity for the entire community.
Governor Cuomo’s recently announced plan to invest $1.4 billion in Central Brooklyn could help Brownsville do just that. Our report offers recommendations that could help address some of the most pressing needs in Brownsville. For example, expanding adult education and skills training programs could help working adults move into better-paying jobs. Prioritizing subway alternatives in isolated areas, especially late at night when many Brownsville adults are working graveyard shifts, would promote job opportunities while making commute times more bearable and allowing families to spend more time together. Reaching out to residents to ensure they are taking advantage of available health and mental health care programs could vastly improve health outcomes and address an over reliance on emergency care.
One of the most urgent problems Brownsville residents struggled with was the fear of crime that shadows their daily lives. In 2015, the 73rd Precinct serving Brownsville experienced the third highest rate of violent felonies in New York City. The residents we spoke to cited fear of crime and violence as a key reason in which resources that do exist in the community – from parks to libraries to youth services – aren’t fully utilized. At the same time, many people we spoke to across age groups cited a lack of after-school and summer activities for older youth as a potential reason many youth were at greater risk of engaging in negative behaviors. Currently, only three out of the 11 after-school programs are specifically targeted to high-school age teens and young adults. Expanding those programs and giving teens a safe, structured place to be when they’re not in school is a smart approach to building off existing resources and reducing crime that could uplift the entire community.
When families are constantly worried about meeting their day-to-day needs, finding the strength and resources to invest in the future can be daunting if not impossible. Our report highlights the ways in which we as a city can ease the burden for Brownsville’s families by providing them with access to the basic resources they need and are willing to advocate for. These opportunities could be a game-changer for the community of Brownsville, and for the city as a whole. They deserve that chance, and it’s up to us to work with government leaders, community organizations, and philanthropic partners to make sure they get it.