The MAY 2014
Red Hook StarªRevue FREE
SOUTH BROOKLYN’S COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER
The Red Hook Coalition - non profits working for the community
T
he roots of the Red Hook Coalition may be said to lie at the ornate Atlantic Avenue building that today houses Trader Joes. For many years that building was the home of the main branch of the Brooklyn’s Independence Savings Bank.
A bank moves to Red Hook Back in 1997, a local committee spearheaded by activist Wally Bazemore, was successful in getting Independence to open a Red Hook branch. Prior to that, the closest bank was the Chase at 79 Hamilton Avenue - a long walk for most Red Hookers. The Daily News wrote: “Bazemore expressed the hope that the arrival of the Independence branch would spark a commercial rebirth to Red Hook, a waterfront community dominated by a sprawling, crime-plagued housing project and isolated from surrounding neighborhoods by the elevated Gowanus Expressway.” Things didn’t work out at first. Four years later, the Times wrote: “...the economic rebirth of Red Hook never completely happened. Residents have been slow to patronize the bank, preferring instead to use a local check-cashing company or go to banks in neighborhoods near their jobs. Two years ago, bank officials estimated that the branch
by George Fiala
was losing $250,000 a year and talked of permanently closing it.” Pushed by local politicians, NY State Comptroller H. Carl McCall invested $10 million in state pension money with that branch, ensuring its profitablity. Indendence, orginally called South Brooklyn Savings Bank, was chartered as a non profit bank, and had a history of community giving. In 1998, CEO Charles Hamm decided to split off the bank’s charitable work into a separate arm. Christened the Independence Community Foundation (ICF), it was armed with both a $50 million endowment from the bank, and the services of Marilyn Gelber. Gelber, began her career as a NY City Planner specializing in low-income neighborhoods. She was Brooklyn Borough President Charles Hamm’s chief of staff for ten years. In 1994 she became the NYC Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEC). As DEC head she oversaw a landmark deal with upstate communities ensuring a long term supply of clean drinking water for the city. Gelber, a lifelong New Yorker, lives in Boerum Hill. In her new position as Executive Director of the Community Foundation, she was able to fund non profits throughout the borough - includ-
The shock of Red Hook under water spurred a host of disaster recovery and preparation activities throughout the neighborhood. (Star-Revue file photo)
ing Red Hook.
Familiar with neighborhood Gelber was familiar with Red Hook, dating back to her work as a city planner. In the 1970’s she worked on the city’s unsuccessful plan to turn a large part of Red Hook into a container port. Quoted in a 1981 NY Times article, she said ‘’Red Hook is one of the best examples I know of a neighborhood that has seen both the positive and the negative effects of government.’’ In a 2010 Brooklyn Daily Eagle piece titled “Doing Good Right Here - ReImagining Red Hook,” Gelber wrote of her experience as a grant giver.
The Red Hook Volunteers sprung up out of necessity, as volunteers who flocked to Red Hook to help after the storm needed direction. The Volunteers continue on today at 360 Van Brunt Street, as many Red Hook homeowners are still suffering.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
“Turning patches of concrete into parcels of farmland; converting a business need into an employment opportunity; encouraging low income community residents to become philanthropists; creating a second chance high school; building affordable homes for public housing residents — impossible dreams? No, real changes wrought by smart nonprofits with investments in Red Hook and supported by the Brooklyn Community Foundation.” A few years after the 2006 sale of Inde-
pendence to Sovereign Bank, the Foundation repurposed and renamed itself. It became a non-profit, so in addition to being a grant giver, it could increase the endowment by grant receiving. Renamed the Brooklyn Community Fund (BCF), Gelber remained at the helm. She finally retired in June, 2013. Local ICF grant recipients have included Added Value, Red Hook Initiative, Dance Theatre Etcetera, Cora Dance, Kentler, BWAC, Good Shepherd Services, Southwest Brooklyn IDC (SBIDC) and Falconworks.
Game changer Sandy was a disaster of epic proportions. Brooklyn is surrounded on three sides by water. Many communities were devastated. The Brooklyn Community Foundation stepped right up and created the Brooklyn Recovery Fund. Partnering with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the Borough President Marty Markowitz, $1.5 million was raised in the first month after the storm. Among their initial, immediate disbursements were: (continued on page 3)