Creating a Creative Class in Flatbush

The Garden of Eden
Access to Prospect Park, Good schools, Access to water activities, communal identity

At a recently held workshop at the Assembly of God, the Citizens Committee of New York City conducted a workshop on the basics of community organizing. During a breakout session on community assets, the existence of local exchanges in Flatbush was discussed.

Organizations that support the local exchange of information already exist in the city. Skillshare provides real-world learning opportunities from real people. Their offerings include "Building mobile apps for Android devices" and "Create powerful portraits". And Brooklyn Brainery hosts "cheap classes about anything and everything", from knitting to running an effective meeting. Flatbush's diverse population, comprised of Caribbean, African, and Asian residents, makes it the ideal location for the exchange of skills.

The creation of a crowdsourced education system in the Flatbush community will expose residents to hard skills such as barbering and banking and soft ones, including photography and painting. It will enrich learning and teaching in the community; schools can consult with specific individuals to augment curriculum content and enlarge exposure. A crowdsourced education system will knit the various "communities" together to share, synthesize, and syncretize ideas. The culinary practices of one culture can embellish the dish of another culture.

Crowdsourced education can ultimately lead to the emergence of an indigenous creative collective of writers, artists, and professionals that can support the ongoing development of the Flatbush community.