John,

A quick reminder! We are still in the formal “communications blackout” period - less than 90 days out from the June 2023 primary. To comply with election law, we are restricted with what we can discuss in mass communications from now until the primary is over. Please bear with us as we pare down and change our content to comply with election law.

Getting Involved With Participatory Budgeting! A Correction

Last week, we announced the six winners of Participatory Budgeting this cycle! If you haven’t checked them out, head over to our website and read through the winning project ideas. We’ll be holding a little celebration soon to thank all of the volunteers and PB participants who helped make this year so successful. If you’re looking to get more involved with PB, please email our PB email Hannah at [email protected] (this email was misspelled last week, so please only use this updated one).

Join Our Team

Many of you have interacted with our incredible constituent services director Faiza Azam since I took office over a year ago. From street safety concerns to SNAP assistance, she has been a huge help to our community with anything they need, and at the end of this month, she’ll be moving on! We’re sad to see her go but are looking forward to all of the amazing things we know she will achieve in the future. In her absence, we are searching for a new Constituent Services Director. Check out the job description on our website and send it around to anyone in your network who you think might be a good fit to serve the 39th District. We’re accepting applications on a rolling basis, so get your applications in to be considered.

Community Bulletin

● Celebrate Eid at City Hall! Join our office and several other Council Members on 4/25 to celebrate the end of Ramadan. RSVP for this free and open event to celebrate Eid with Muslim neighbors from all across the City.

● Join our Community Visioning Session with the Department of Transportation (DOT) for the 9th Street Corridor on 4/26 from 6:30- 8:30 PM to help us transform this dangerous stretch of road into a safer one for all. Information and RSVP link can be found here.

● Join me on 4/27 at BMCC for a screening of In Search Of Bengali Harlem. This urgent film tells the story of filmmaker and New York native Alaudin Ullah. The film retells his story of growing up on the streets of New York City, retracing his roots to small villages in Bangladesh, and finally grappling with his family's past and, ultimately, his place in the world. I’ll be on a panel after the screening, so get your tickets before they sell out!

● We’re working with our friends at Care Forward to hold a Care Worker Appreciation event on Friday, 4/28 at JJ Byrne Park from 10 AM - 12 PM. There will be refreshments, appreciation bags for care workers, as well as resources for both care workers employers, and care workers, themselves!

● Catching up on Spring Cleaning? Avoid fines when you recycle your e-waste instead of discarding electronics in the trash on Sunday 4/30 at Prospect Park Southwest between Ocean Parkway and Greenwood Avenue.

● GrowNYC’s free Stop ‘N’ Swap program is coming to Machete Circle in Prospect Park Sunday, 4/30, 12 PM - 3 PM. Stop 'N' Swaps are free community events where you can bring clean, reusable, portable items such as clothing, housewares, games, books, & toys that are no longer needed and take home something new for free! The Stop 'N' Swap initiative is integral to GrowNYC’s mission to reduce waste and promote reuse in NYC. Be sure to check them out!

● Mark your calendars because 5/6 is our Bike the Block event! Drop by Avenue C between East 2nd and 3rd Streets for free bike repairs, music, and performances, all sponsored by our office and DOT. More details to come!

○ Please note! For this event, there will be limited local access on Avenue C between McDonald Avenue and East 2nd Street and full closure of Avenue C between East 2nd Street and East 4th Street.

● Are you above 60? Then come get fit while having fun at the Park Slope Center for Successful Aging’s Latin Rhythms Dance Class! The Latin Rhythms Dance class includes seated warmups, fundamental steps and an introduction to different rhythmic styles like tango, salsa, bachata and cumbia. The class is offered every Wednesday from 11 AM - 12 PM through 6/28.

● Molière in the Park, a community organization dedicated to offering free theater to all Brooklynites, is presenting 21 free performances of Tartuffe or the Hypocrite. The story is an amazing tale of a bible-thumping slug who enters the home of a puritan bug - mixing in love, power, and fleshly fantasies by the hour! Get your tickets here.

● Heads up! The National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum is recruiting 10 young AAPI women, ages 19-24, to participate in a four-month online leadership training program starting in June with an $800 stipend for each participant. Interested people can email Lily Liang, [email protected], for more details.

● Looking for updates on the construction at 120 5th Avenue? Check out this link for schedules and progress!

In Solidarity,

Shahana