Clockwise from top left: Members of Gowanus Mutual Aid pose with The
Sharing Corner; Purity Diner in Park Slope fi lled their windows with kind
messages for healthcare workers; Artist Danielle Mastrion brightened
up barren storefronts in Surf Avenue with exciting murals; Locals left
kinds messages outside of Maimonides Hospital; Michele Levin and her
children helped deliver meals to hospital workers.
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 5-11, 2021 5
For Brooklyn Chamber of
Commerce President Randy
Peers, the pandemic dealt a
blow to the borough’s small
businesses he never could have
seen coming.
“I never in my lifetime
would have thought that I
would have seen something
that deep in terms of a real economic
crisis for our small business
community,” said Peers.
At the start of the city’s fi rst
phase of reopenings in June
— three months into the pandemic
— the Chamber’s Bring
Back Brooklyn Fund, which
has raised more than $730,000
to-date, began doling out grants
for PPE and deep cleanings as
mom-and-pops navigated complicated
and often-evolving
guidelines.
The chamber has also
awarded 16 interest-free loans
of up to $10,000 and purchased
100 electric heaters and 100
propane heaters for restaurants
to conduct outdoor dining
throughout the chillier
months.
Loan programs like the
chamber’s helped fi ll support
gaps for smaller businesses
who have been left out of federal
relief programs, Peers
said. “Not every business was
able to get federal support, not
every business qualifi ed for a
PPP loan, or an IDA loan, so every
little bit counts,” he said.
The business-boosting
group is still working to distribute
money from the Bring
Back Brooklyn Fund, which
Peers said is still accepting
donations, while also connecting
business owners with the
Small Business Resource Network
for other types of assistance.
Still, a recent chamber survey
shows that 80 percent of
small businesses in Brooklyn
reported a drop in revenue
from the year before, with
half of those businesses saying
they raked in less than half of
the profi ts they would usually
make in 12 months.
While Peers acknowledges
that pandemic’s damage done
to the business community
runs deep, he says the ways
business owners have adapted
amid the pandemic and the
ramping-up of vaccine distribution
have been causes for optimism.
“I actually am optimistic,”
he said. “If we can get through
these next couple of months
and we can keep on track with
the aid, with the vaccinations,
and if the governor continues
to open up more parts of our
economy and increase opening
capacity, I think by the
summertime we can be getting
back to some sense of normalcy.”
The past year has seen the
proliferation of mutual aid
networks across the borough
and city, spurred by an exacerbated
hunger crisis and a
drive to make sure the homebound
and vulnerable have
what they need to stay safe indoors.
Groups like Gowanus Mutual
Aid have sprouted up
thanks to resources from
larger volunteer networks like
Mutual Aid New York City.
The Gowanus group, which
began organizing in November,
has worked to fulfi ll 200
requests for groceries and
other essentials, collaborating
with the tenant associations
at the Gowanus and Wyckoff
Houses.
The collective also launched
one of the only “free stores”
in New York City, dubbed the
“sharing corner” at Bond and
Douglass streets. The open-air
community cabinet has been
a space for locals to donate
things like clothing, diapers,
and non-perishable food, as
well as pick up whatever they
need.
“There’s this really beautiful
exchange of free resources,
and a hub for community members
to share goods, share experiences,
share information,
in a really open-ended caring
way,” said Ava Cotlowitz, an
organizer with Gowanus Mutual
Aid. “A lot of folks who are
coming by the store are kind of
in awe that something like this
exists, especially during this
time of immense crisis.”
Cotlowitz says the group
hopes to build on its mutual
aid work far beyond the pandemic
and continue to generate
a sense of community
through the work.
“We’ve seen so many people
of different races, different
socio-economic classes, different
interests, different goals,
different skills, learn to work
together and move in a way
that can create some change
and some progress,” she said.
“I think that that is so powerful
and something to continue
building.”
❱Help for small businesses
❱Mutual aid groups emerge
Brooklyn Cares Gowanus Mutual Aid
Photo by Todd Maisel
Photo by Ben Verde Photo by Todd Maisel