North Kingston Ave Cleanup Days - We need your help! July 22 and August 20

Greetings Neighbors,

We are planning two clean-up days this summer to show our love for Kingston Avenue, and we could use your help. 

The Dean & Revere Block Association (Dean between Kingston & Albany) received a small "Neighborhood Grant" from the Citizens Committee for New York City (CCNYC) for our plan for this event.

The dates are:

• July 22 (Saturday), 9-11am
• August 20 (Sunday), 9-11am (NOTE: This is a change from earlier postings.)

The main request is that you show up and help with the cleanup on either or both of those dates. The cleanup effort, focused on the northern stretch of Kingston from St. Marks Ave. to Atlantic Ave., will include mostly sweeping and bagging litter and debris and maybe light weeding, as well as socializing with neighbors and retailers. Grant money will go towards refreshments, limited cleaning supplies (feel free to bring your own broom), and a t-shirt for participants of the August event. (Also, a small stipend for neighborhood youths for a design for the t-shirt; please inquire with me privately, if you know an interested local kid.) 

You can also help us in these ways:

• Get the word out. Tell neighbors. Share on Facebook this FB page and link to this blog post.
• Help put up flyers
• Help solicit refreshment donations from retailers (water, coffee, bagels, etc.)
• Other advance coordination

Please fill out this volunteer form if you can help support us.

Block Party, June 3, St. Marks Avenue between Brooklyn and Kingston Aves.

Brea(d)th of America Open Mic @ Brower Park Shirley Chisholm Circle, Sun., May 21

The Brea(d)th of America Open Mic:

• Is an opportunity for our community to share their personal perspectives, experiences and understandings about the
• "American Dream:" To tell the American Story through the lens of your American story?
• Is an opportunity to experience and explore the rich human diversity, experiences, and perspectives that are the American experience.
• Is an opportunity to share the rich breadth of our dreams.
• Is an opportunity to engage in an open conversation that will help us safeguard the 18th century American Experiment "We the People" and expand its vision into the 21st Century.
• Is an opportunity to add your voice to the local, national, and global discussion.

See further details at Friends of Brower Park website.

Brower Park Library Bake Sale

One more event Saturday to complete your circuit of neighborhood fun, Friends of Brower Park is sponsoring a bake sale for the Brower Park Library, 10:30 to 3pm. Details here on Facebook.

Kingston Ave Festival

So much going on in the neighborhood this Saturday, what with GROW Brooklyn festival and Dance Africa at Weeksville, but not to be missed is the 7th Annual Kingston Ave Festival!

GROW Brooklyn Festival, this Saturday, May 20

For the second annual GROW Brooklyn Festival in Crown Heights, organizations in urban farming, culinary arts, and technology will come together for a fun-filled afternoon to bring greater awareness of Diversity Through Food.

Saturday, May 20th, at 11 AM - 4 PM

1251 Prospect Place, Crown Heights, Brooklyn New York

Text lifted from their Facebook event page:

Immigration changes the community's culinary landscape by contributing different global flavors to what it means to be American. GROW Brooklyn Festival will celebrate New York City's multiculturalism by inviting organizations to showcase activities that highlight their own culture, with the aim to encourage visitors to embrace the garden-to-kitchen movement, and promote cultural diversity through cuisine.

The Garden Row will teach attendees of all ages how to garden within their urban environment. Interactive demonstrations will include basil & lettuce seedlings give away and cultivation, red worm composting, retrofill water systems creation, beekeeping, honey tasting from the Five Boroughs, workshop on raising hens to lay eggs, pepper tasting from all over the world, and making of seed bombs. Participants include New York Restoration Project, Imani Garden, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, NYC Compost and UN Food Gardens, New York City’s only garden on international soil.

The Culinary Row will showcase the beauty and taste of home-grown food by offering rich, diverse and yet still simple culinary demonstrations. This year’s offerings will include organic baby and toddler food, Middle Eastern recipes, and delicious flavors from Afghanistan and Venezuela as cooked by asylum seekers, as well as onsite enrollment for food stamps and information on maximizing food stamp benefits. Participants include Communities for Healthy Food at NEBHDCo, Food Support Connection - SNAP Enrollment Program and RIF - Support for Asylum Seekers in NYC.

The Technology Row will bring to life how technology and creativity can enhance our appreciation of good food and healthy living. Interactive educational and creative activities will feature sustainability video games with fruits and vegetables connecting to Makey Makey devices, textile decorating with natural plant dyes, a drawing contest and games with the teachers and students of the Computer Resource Center at St. John’s, and the Computer School.

Live Music: Pop and R&B singer Usen Isong

Admission: Free

Website and More Information: www.growbrooklynfestival.org

Dance Africa celebrating its 40th year at Weeksville

Dance Africa is celebrating its 40th year and opening this monumental week with a libation ceremony to the ancestors on Weeksville's sacred grounds. Please join us on Saturday, May 20th at 10am as we pay homage through word and song to those who came before us.