Executive Director, CCDI
Warm wishes as we continue to usher in 2026 and Happy Black History Month!
This year marks 10 years since the founding of Canarsie Community Development Inc. (CCDI). To honor this milestone, we are proud to announce our first fundraising event, to be held at the Paerdegat Yacht Club in Canarsie on May 22, 2026.
In 2017, Citizens United awarded CCDI its very first grant of $1,000. After receiving countless rejection letters, the joy that Debbie Tiam Fook, Rabbi Yossi, and I felt at that moment is something I will never forget. That early support helped lay the foundation for the work we continue today.
Over the past decade, CCDI has achieved many meaningful accomplishments. This past year, three moments stood out in particular:
For the past 10 years, CCDI has continued to give back to the community we serve. Now, we are asking you to reciprocate by attending and supporting this fundraiser, so that we can expand our programming and continue serving Canarsie in a meaningful way that benefits us all.
We look forward to celebrating this milestone with you.
Tickets for the fundraiser will be available in March.
Donations can be made by Zelle at ccdi.canarsie@gmail.com or Check: CCDI
4809 Avenue N Suite 149 Brooklyn, NY 11234
For more than 15 years, we have advocated for the theater on Avenue L to be purchased by the City of New York for a Canarsie Community Center. We have since learned that the site is slated to become a religious institution. While this is disappointing, progress toward a community center is still moving forward—encouraged by the development of the new Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center in East Flatbush. Last year, Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse secured $500,000 to fund a formal study to
assess the need for a Community Center in Canarsie—an essential step in the City’s planning and approval process.
This funding was signed by Mayor Adams last summer, and residents have been assured that the community will have a voice when the study begins this year.
Councilwoman Narcisse and her team have also identified a potential location: a portion of the playground behind Bildersee Middle School (IS 68). While the site may raise questions at first, there are clear reasons it was selected:
Councilwoman Narcisse has also expressed a willingness to consider other Parks-owned sites if viable alternatives are identified.
The proposed plan calls for a four-story, world-class facility. If the recently opened Canarsie Library is any indication of what’s possible, the community has reason to be hopeful.
For more than 15 years, efforts to bring a community center to Canarsie have faced resistance from special-interest groups—despite surrounding neighborhoods benefiting from free programs for their youth. As residents, it is now critical that we stay engaged and advocate for a facility that includes the amenities our young people truly need.
As our Senator Roxanne Persaud often reminds us: “We, Canarsie, deserve to be served.”
In 2018, CCDI co-led a multiyear community-led climate-resilient planning project with the Science and Resiliency Institute at Jamaica Bay (SRIJB) and Public Agenda that brought financial resources and technical expertise from scientists. Civic engagement experts and policy makers from their network Canarsie through the Cycles of Resilience Project. Cycles is a community engagement initiative that helps residents identify issues and use science to refine ideas for action.
In 2019, CCDI started a yearly plant giveaway program at the Canarsie Community Garden to residents who desired to form block associations and to beautify their blocks. In that year, we contributed $2,500 worth of plants, followed by an additional donation of $6,000 in 2025. As a result of this beautification program, we have seen an approximate seventy percent reduction in flooding of our homes and an approximate sixty percent reduction in the dumping on the streets.
In 2020, CCDI started a free notary service for residents at the Canarsie and Jamaica Bay libraries in Canarsie six days a week. This is the only free notary service in the Brooklyn Public Library system. We have seen people come from all boroughs and New Jersey. This service continues to this day.
In 2021, a member of the Brookdale Hospital Advisory Board, CCDI arranged more than 500 COVID tests for residents of Canarsie at Brookdale Hospital.
In 2022, CCDI received funding from the NY Foundation Grant to develop an emergency plan for Canarsie in case another Hurricane Sandy occurs. In 2024, CCDI developed an Emergency Plan for Canarsie based on scientific principles and nuclear emergency preparedness experience led by Harold Jones, a former engineer. The plan was assigned a Provisional Patent Number.
In 2022, CCDI launched The Canarsien Newsletter issued nine months a year to inform the residents of Canarsie of the happenings in Canarsie.
In 2022, Brooklyn Public Library, Hester Street in coordination with the architect had community engagement sessions after City Councilwoman Mercedes Narcisse secured $21M to construct the Canarsie Library. CCDI urged the community to join the sessions and push for a redesign that included key features wanted in a community center.
In 2023, CCDI reconstituted the Canarsie Jamaica Bay Library Friends Group to raise funds to bring community programs to the library. We were successful in bringing in a weekly Craft lessons (needle point, crochet, knitting, armigurumi and cross stitch) and Line and Step dancing.
In 2024, CCDI joined the Community Flood Watch Project sponsored by Sea Grant, a federal-university partnership under NOAA that connects scientists with communities to address coastal issues through research,
education, and outreach focusing on healthy ecosystems and resilient communities. The project put coastal communities together to report flooding issues in our communities. Harold Jones qualified as a FloodNet Fellow in 2025, and CCDI was able to secure six sensors to monitor flooding in Canarsie.
In 2025, volunteers rebuilt the garden for elderly, disabled, and school-aged youth. CCDI agreed to provide the funding and expanded the construction to include the repair of the gazebo, construction of a stage for performances and a greenhouse. CCDI also aims to bring adults and youth together for planting, conversation, and dementia awareness in Canarsie, and hosts weekly jazz and spoken word events to feature local talent.
In 2025, CCD contracted with six beautification businesses all members of Canarsie Merchants Association for fifty boys and fifty girls at a reduced price. They were then offered free to these hundred children of Canarsie.
In 2025, infrastructure projects affected homes in southeast Canarsie in 2025. CCD partnered with the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), an organization with university partners including Columbia University, Boston University, Drexel University, Hunter College, Rutgers University, and Stephens Institute, to develop a survey to gather information about flooding and land sinking (subsidence) issues in Canarsie, the type of damages that occur, possible actions to remedy the issues, and satisfaction with the repair results. The survey concluded in late November, and CCRUN is currently reviewing the findings. The findings are set to be shared at a Town Hall planned for Spring 2026.
