STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
Meet the Chamber’s new president
BOROUGHWIDE
Three cheers for the new head of the
Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce!
Randy Peers will take the reigns of
the chamber on Sept. 9, bringing along
decades of experience as he helms the
business advocacy organization.
“Successful chambers do three
things well on behalf of our businesses
— promotion, support, and advocacy,”
he said. “We really need to make sure
that we’re present, working on behalf of
the business community in Brooklyn.”
Peers’ ascendancy as the top small
business booster in the borough marks
a homecoming for the native Brooklynite,
who previously served as the
chamber’s vice president
for economic
development and
chaired the local
Community Board
Seven before heading
out of town for
two-year stint as an
economic guru in
Berks County, Pa.
“Brooklyn’s in
my heart. I’m happy to be coming back,”
said Peers. “I learned some new things
while I was gone, and hopefully I’m
bringing back some creative ideas.”
Peers is hoping to use his wealth of
experience to build the chamber into a
heavy-weight powerhouse infl uencing
the future direction of the borough.
“The Brooklyn Chamber has always
had a wealth of technical assistance
programs to help small businesses —
whether on fi nancing, marketing, or
on business planning,” he said. “Where
the chamber needs to do some work,
though, is getting back at the table and
really be involved in the high-level
discussions about economic development...
That’s the job of the chamber
president.”
Peers is fortunate enough to take
the reigns during a time of economic
growth, he said, praising two industries
he sees as the drivers of Brooklyn’s
recent economic success.
“Tech and real estate are our highest
growth industries. Those have
been big drivers of the transformation
in Brooklyn over the last couple of decades,”
he said. “I want to make sure
that we are doing well to support those
two growing industries.”
If the chamber can grow large
enough, Peers believes they can be successful
advocates for small businesses
which face similar hurdles across the
borough’s vibrant industrial sectors.
“A lot of those issues have to do with
regulation, or interacting with government
agencies. And, a lot of it has to do
with the high costs of doing business in
New York,” he said. “It’s our job to leverage
our infl uence and try and solve
COURIER L 38 IFE, AUG. 30-SEPT 5, 2019
some of those challenges.”
Peers replaces Samara Karasyk,
who has served as interim president of
the Chamber since June.
Standing O! congratulates Randy
Peers on the new role, and wishes him
luck in the future!
— Aidan Graham
BUSHWICK
They need more green!
Three cheers to members of
a Bushwick community garden
who launched a fundraising campaign
to improve their beloved
green space and create a better
experience for locals.
The green thumbs at The Good
Life Garden located on Goodwin
Place between Greene Avenue and
Grove Street created a GoFundMe
page to raise $40,000 for repairs
ahead of next year’s growing season,
according to the organization.
The space was formerly an
abandoned lot frequented by vagrants
and drug addicts, according
to the group, which labored
to transform the urban wasteland
into a verdant Kings County
paradise.
The money will fund critical repairs
to the garden and additional
programming curated to enrich
the lives of nearby residents.
They have currently raised
just more than $7,000, and locals
are invited to donate here .
The gardeners have used
their little slice of heaven to
grow healthy foods, reserving
space within the greenspace for a
group of about 30 local seniors to
grow their own produce and keep
active.
The garden is also used as
gathering space for local musicians
and performance artists,
and this summer hosted a community
arts festival with musicians,
poets, painters, and artists of all
stripes.
— Kevin Duggan
DOWNTOWN
A nonprofi t dedicated to promoting
development along Atlantic
Avenue will recognize the
leader of YWCA Brooklyn — an
organization that provides housing
and social services for local
women — for her contributions
to Downtown Brooklyn at this
year’s Atlantic Antic festival in
September.
“I’m completely honored and
humbled,” said Martha Kamber,
who has led YWCA Brooklyn
as president and CEO for 13
years.
The Atlantic Avenue Local
Development Corporation will
award Kamber with its eighth
annual “Amb
a s s a d o r
Award” at the
Atlantic Antic
festival on
Sept. 29, which
the nonprofi t
gives to locals
who contribute
to the avenue’s cultural and
economic development.
“Martha Kamber led the development
of the organization’s community
programs,” read a statement
the development group put
out announcing the award. “She
is also recognized for her leading
advocacy in the areas of racial
justice and gender equality.”
Under Kamber’s leadership,
the Downtown Brooklyn organization
has added more than
300 units of affordable homes for
low-income survivors of domestic
abuse to its 100,000 squarefoot
facility on Atlantic Avenue
and State Street. Kamber also
bolstered the YWCA’s immigrant
services and programs to support
victims of abuse, and has developed
the nonprofi t’s college access
program, which has helped
over 500 high school girls with
their college applications.
In 2010, YWCA Brooklyn
opened a Social Justice Community
Center on the bottom two
fl oors of its building, which has
served more than 100 civic groups,
non profi ts, and other local groups
— including the community
board, the police precinct, and a
host of after-school programs.
“With Downtown Brooklyn
gentrifying, there weren’t a lot
of places for the community to
gather that were free or subsidized,”
Kamber said.
Kamber now looks forward to
an exhibit at Brooklyn College
set to debut in September, which
will display thousands of neverbefore
seen archival documents
and photos tracing YWCA Brooklyn’s
history since its founding in
1888.
“I’m just thrilled,” Kamber
said about the exhibit.
— Rose Adams
Bushwick’s Good Life Garden is looking for fi nancial support for its upcoming growing
season and has started a GoFundMe page. The Good Life Garden
Bushwick gardeners launch
GoFundMe to promote growth
Some 30 seniors grow their own produce
at the garden. The Good Life Garden