On the same day this week that Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a $1.4 billion initiative to “save” Central Brooklyn and Mayor Bill de Blasio had a Town Hall to talk about those less fortunate, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams gave Borough Hall out to an organization from the streets of Brownsville that believes in lifting the community up by its own bootstraps.
Brownsville-based Nehemiah Economic Development Inc. (NED), 1168 Lenox Road, which promotes social entrepreneurship via ownership, was allowed use of the public building to dole out its 2017 scholarships to four local public housing kids in a celebrity-filled party.
NED partnered in the event with the national non-profit ICONTALKS and Porsche Automobiles, which honored music artist and philanthropist Fabolous (John David Jackson) as part of the event.
“I am inspired to magnify educational opportunities throughout the Brownsville and East New York communities to empower our youth and equip them with the tools necessary to influence the next generation of leaders our communities,” said NED Executive Director Mawuli K. Hormeku. “Education is the foundation that will develop our youth’s economic-growth” mindset, which is necessary for self-sufficiency, ownership and overall sustainability.”
Hormeku draws inspiration from his father, Kofi Hormeku, who brought his young family from Ghana West Africa and raised them in Brownsville, where he was one of the original owners of a Nehemiah home, an early 1980s cooperative effort between local churches, community organizers and the city to build affordable single- and two-family brick townhouse homes in Brownsville, East New York and Spring Creek (the Starrett City area).
In 1994, the elder Hormeku founded NED with the goal of encouraging self sufficiency and economic growth in Brownsville after working for 25 years in international banking and as a case worker for the City’s Administration of Childrens Services (ACS).
It is this torch that is now being passed on to his son, Mawuli, who grew up in the Nehemiah homes and went on to graduate from Brooklyn Tech, and went on to get both a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Master’s of Education from Boston College, and a Masters in Educational Policy and Social Analysis from Columbia University.
He then traveled the world extensively to research and lecture on the topics of education and pedagogy before returning to Ocean Hill-Brownsville and East New York to continue his father’s life work and ensure the continual improvement of the Community.
As part of this effort, NED established The Kofi Hormeku Scholarship, a 10-year commitment of $50, 000 to the Fund for Public Housing via a collaboration with CUNY, students residing in NYCHA housing in Ocean Hill, Brownsville and East New York. The organization also awards $20, 000 to graduating high school seniors attending a 4 -year college in the fall who live in the areas of Ocean Hill, Brownsville and East New York.
Those awarded scholarships on Thursday were 12th graders Tyriek Watt, who attends Medgar Evers College Preparatory School; Danny Espinal-Alvarez, who attends the High School For Public Policy; and Rae-Anne Clarke, who attends Achievement First Brooklyn High School.
“I want to thank Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams for allowing us to have the event at Borough Hall and to see what my father is trying to do in Brownsville. It’s about social entrepreneurship as opposed to social engineering and preventing the brain drain of our youth in Brownsville and East New York,” said Mawuli K. Hormeku.
For more information about NED click here.
