March 2020

March 2020

March 2020

December 2019

​

April 06, 2017

The Belmont Revitalization Project is an initiative of the Brownsville Community Justice Center. The Revitalization Project seeks to support the Belmont Avenue Business District in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The project uses an approach known as place-making, which forges strong connections between individuals and their environments and capitalizes on existing resources to create public spaces that foster well-being. Place-making engages and collaborates with communities to harness neighborhood assets, with the ultimate aim of resident-led economic development. 

Located at 40 Belmont Ave, Made in Brownsville is a youth creative agency and innovation hub providing a gateway for young people to learn marketable hard skills in STEAM, access postsecondary education, achieve economic mobility, and engage in placed-based community revitalization.

Located at 3 Belmont Ave, the 3 Black Cats, a cafe with purpose, is demonstrating ethical community development. "I think there can be an equal balance: The residents can remain here and we can still have high-quality things in the community," says Ionna Jimenez, a community organizer who now runs the Three Black Cats Café in Brownsville with sisters Diana and Melissa. The key, she says, is "making sure that the community is involved in the conversation, and that what's brought here is actually needed and wanted by the residents."

Peter LoCascio, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, was a dynamic serial entrepreneur, starting six distinctive companies. His ventures ranged from plastics to Italian cookware, and served as the inspiration for entrepreneurs from inside and outside his family, including his son, Robert LoCascio, the founder of LivePerson, Inc. and the Dream Big Foundation.

The Peter LoCascio Entrepreneurship Award honor’s Peter’s legacy and will be awarded annually to a Brownsville, Brooklyn entrepreneur who possesses a keen entrepreneurial spirit and a strong commitment to their community.