Brownsville Neighborhood

Made in Brownsville, a nonprofit based in Brooklyn, New York, conducted a rapid HIA to evaluate the health impacts of three proposed projects in the Brownsville neighborhood: a community culinary center, incubation lab, and entrepreneurship lab. The HIA explored potential effects that could result from changes to social cohesion, access to goods and services, and community safety. The team used community visioning, urban design workshops, and local community participatory mapping workshops to engage residents and civic leaders.

The HIA made several recommendations to strengthen the proposed projects and for use in future redevelopment decision-making. They included cultivating positive relationships among residents, developers, and law enforcement and other security personnel; filling knowledge gaps by documenting the neighborhood’s history since 1970; and recruiting and prioritizing businesses that will employ local residents.