COURIER L 16 IFE, JANUARY 8-14, 2021
LOOKS FUN, RIGHT?: Members of Community Board 2 at their last in-person meeting in
March. Meetings have gone virtual, but the application process is the same.
Photo by Kevin Duggan
Want to join your
community board?
Here’s how you can apply
BY BEN VERDE
Brooklyn’s community boards
saw unprecedented engagement as
the pandemic forced the civic panels
utilize online video conferencing
platforms, allowing locals to tune
in from the comfort of their homes
— but now, Brooklynites have the
chance to go one step further and apply
to serve the volunteer community
groups.
Membership applications for the
borough’s 18 geography-based community
boards are open until Feb.
12, and local elected offi cials are encouraging
fi rst-timers to apply.
“Now more than ever, we want to
urge all Brooklynites who are able
to apply for their community boards
and get involved to help our borough
recover from the devastation of
COVID-19,” said Borough President
Eric Adams in a statement.
Community boards are a hyperlocal
level of democracy, wherein
volunteer members weigh in on proposed
land-use projects in their districts,
make recommendations for
businesses seeking liquor licenses,
and help locals navigate the complex
maze of municipal government to address
quality-of-life issues.
Applicants are selected in part by
the borough president and the relevant
City Council member. To be
appointed to a board, prospective
members must reside in New York
City, and either live, work, or have
some relevant interest in the specifi c
board they wish to serve on.
As the pandemic has forced them
into the virtual realm, the panels
have seen a jump in participation,
spurred by the convenience of logging
into an online WebEx meeting
from home, rather than schlepping
off to a community gathering space
for an hours-long meeting on a weeknight.
“We saw community board meetings
go from what would normally
be, maybe, 100 people in a room, to
consistently a couple-hundred people
coming to full board meetings,”
said Noel Hidalgo, executive director
of BetaNYC, which supported a
number of city community boards in
their transition online. “There were
a few contentious community board
meetings where there were over
1,000 people in attendance.”
And, in an effort to give more
youth a voice in local affairs, Brooklyn’s
board standards have recently
been expanded to include applicants
as young as 16.
Community board applications
can be found at www.brooklyn-usa.
org/community-board-membershipapplication/.
For more hyper-local Brooklyn news on your computer, smartphone, or tablet,
visit BROOKLYNPAPER.COM.
Dr. John Kehoe Breast Center
A Full Service Breast Cancer Diagnosis Center
Dr. John Kehoe
3D Mammography/Sonography Breast Center
Genetic Testing
Trained Breast Cancer Surgeon &
ACR Accredited
Office Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
9AM - 3:45PM
718-921-3800 ext. 112
9711 3 Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11209
www.johnkehoemd.com
/www.brooklyn-usa
/www.johnkehoemd.com
/www.brooklyn-usa
/BROOKLYNPAPER.COM
/www.johnkehoemd.com