Arielle joined IMPACCT Brooklyn shortly after finishing her BA in Urban Development, Policy, and History at New York University this past May. Her studies focused on urban issues in New York City and included a hands-on fellowship with WHEDco surveying small businesses in the South Bronx – an experience that “opened my eyes to the ways affordable housing and economic development are inextricably linked,” she told me.
Having learned of IMPACCT Brooklyn’s emergence as one of the first community-based organizations to rise up after major shocks of the mid-twentieth century (including redlining and urban renewal), Arielle jumped at the opportunity to join an organization with such deep roots in housing and community development. Her work covers small business issues and merchant organizing, which is simultaneously “overwhelming and intensely rewarding.”
“Right now, our work is focused on growing the Parkside Empire Flatbush Avenue Merchants Association in Prospect Lefferts Gardens,” she started. “I’m in new, sometimes uncomfortable positions every day, whether it’s talking to merchants about their problems, coordinating logistics for a street festival, or discussing economic development with other organizations across the city.”
Her first big project was helping to plan the Summer Street Festival on August 10th, a collection of vendors, activities, games, and performances spanning the nine blocks from Parkside Avenue to Empire Boulevard on Flatbush Avenue. The event went off without a hitch, and seeing the reactions of several satisfied community members made all the stress worthwhile.
With the street festival safely behind her, Arielle dreams of growing the organizing work IMPACCT does into a larger advocacy and policy platform while continuing to foster relationships with community members and local merchants.
“There are really exciting developments around creating further protections for commercial tenants at the city-wide level, and I think those steps could be the beginning of a larger discussion around commercial displacement and its effects on changing neighborhoods,” she said. “However, the great benefit of the work I’m doing right now is working one-on-one with community members and merchants to build relationships. The deep knowledge of people and communities that comes from organizing work is so valuable because it informs all of the other work, and I’m excited to build that.”
IMPACCT Brooklyn’s inaugural eCommerce Academy, a comprehensive program to assist small businesses with setting up an online presence through a series of workshops and technical one-on-one assistance, is coming soon! After working with several Merchant Associations and Business Improvement Districts for many years, Director of Economic Development Dale Charles noticed that there are countless small businesses that do not have a web presences or sell online. The eCommerce Academy is intended to help these small business owners boost their sales to be able to afford the high cost of rent and other overhead to be sustainable. To learn more about the eCommerce Academy or the Small Business Workshop Series, contact Dale Charles & the IMPACCT Brooklyn Economic Development team and find out what we can do for you.
