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Brooklyn Level Up [ BKLVLUP ]

@bklvlup

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🌱rooted in east flatbush
🌍 enviro-tech + social action impact lab
🧱designing a just + sustainable future, block by block

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🌧️ NOR’EASTER UPDATE FOR THE FLATS Neighbors in East Flatbush, Flatbush & Flatlands: strong winds and rain are expected through the weekend, with heavier rain tonight into Sunday morning.�

Prepare now — and help someone else prepare.� 💚 Swipe ➡️ for the latest conditions, what to do during the storm, and resources for after the storm and flooding.� Check on older adults, neighbors living in basement apartments, and anyone who may need extra support.�

Share this post with your family, building, block and community networks.�

📲 Get localized NYC emergency alerts: Text NOTIFYNYC to 692-692 and reply with your ZIP code.�

Stay ready.� Stay connected.� Look out for each other.� — BKLVLUP + Flats Rising COAD #TheFlats #EastFlatbush #Flatbush #Flatlands #FlatsRisingCOAD by @bklvlup

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16 days ago

🗣️ THIS SATURDAY, AUGUST 29TH 📌

Did you know that communities can collectively own land? That means no single landlord, no displacement, no outside developer deciding what happens to your block.

That’s what The Flats Community Land Trust is building in East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Flatlands. And we meet every month so that the people who actually live here have a say in how it grows.

Come to the next meeting. Last Saturday of every month, 11am–12:30pm at Brooklyn Public Library, Clarendon Branch, 2035 Nostrand Ave.

No experience needed. Just show up.

Questions? Reach Bryan at bryan@bklvlup.org or 347.932.6070. by @bklvlup

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2 months ago

Brooklyn — we see you, we feel you, and we’re right here with you. 💧

After last week’s flooding, we wanted to pause and ground our work in care — not just content.
 This post is part of BKLVLUP’s community response: a real-time guide on what to do right now to protect yourself, your block, and your people. 
🏠 If you live in a basement or street-level apartment, go upstairs during heavy rain or flooding. 👵🏾 Check on your seniors — knock, call, text. 🤝 Look out for neighbors who may need help — especially elders, new immigrants, parents with young kids, differently-abled people, and folks without support.
📲 Share this post with your friends, neighbors, and group chats. Information saves lives.
💡 All flood support resources are in our Linktr.ee, including FloodChat’s Post-Recovery Help for renters, cleanup support, and multilingual guidance.

Brooklyn is strongest when we show up for each other —before the storm, during AND after it.

“When the water rises, so do we”…. So what are you going to do Brooklyn? Let us know in the comments below 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾

#BKLVLUP #ForBrooklynByBrooklyn #BrooklynStrong #FloodResilience #CommunityCare #FloodSafety #RainActivated #RainProofNYC #RebuildByDesign taken in Brooklyn, New York by @bklvlup

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a year ago

@nycmayor are you listening? Our EcoPower Interns have something to share 📢🌟💯🗽

Help us tag and invite @nycmayor in the comments to our Community Report Back happening tomorrow from 5-7pm at Women Building Up in downtown Brooklyn. The youth have ideas about a more resilient future, rooted in community. 🌱

RSVP link in bio!

Produced & edited by @mutuall_design taken in East Flatbush by @bklvlup

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a month ago

What does community resilience mean and look like to you? 🌱🌺

Brooklyn Level Up is building East Flatbush’s first Communith Resilience Hiub, for and by the community. Learn about what that means and the different initiatives we’re leading that are building towards our collective vision of resiliency and flourishing.

We’ll also showcase our Ecopower 26’ intern projects that bring to life sustainable solutions for the community tackling trash, food insecurity, artistic expression, recycling practices, and much more.

At this event, you’ll get to experience what community-centered, place-based work looks like, and join the movement from the ground up.

This is a free event happening @ Women Building Up in Brooklyn, 5-7pm. See you there. 📢🌟 taken in Flatbush, Brooklyn by @bklvlup

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a month ago

Tomorrow is the day! Join us for our Community Report Back ‘26 where we’ll be sharing youth led sustainability projects as well as our initiatives building towards community resiliency in The Flats, Brooklyn (East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Flatland). 🌱📢💞

Thursday 9/3 5-7pm @ Women Building Up 401 State St, Brooklyn. This event is free and open to all, RSVP in the bio!

The future is local, the power is collective. 🌈 #communitybuilding #brooklyn #communityevent taken in Brooklyn, New York by @bklvlup

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a month ago

When we built EcoPower, we were intentional about everything. Hybrid schedule. Real pay. Real projects. We wanted these young people to see what a life they could actually want looks like, before corporate tells them what it has to look like.

But our Operators had been working hard all summer. So we asked ourselves: do they actually know what balance feels like?

We decided to show them.

Prospect Park. A full day. Qi Wands (ancient Energy practice). Meditation. Books. Legos. Coloring. Games. No deliverables. Just nature doing what nature does, restoring people who forgot they needed it.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, I looked around and realized me and my team needed this too. We were out there in the grass right alongside them. Nobody planned that part. It just happened. And it was everything.

This is EcoPower ‘26. This is what we’re building.

— signed EcoPower Program Director, Zalyia ( @ohsoluckee )

#EcoPower26 #BrooklynLevelUp #BKLVLUP #TheFlats YouthWellness MindfulnessMatters EnvironmentalJustice SelfCare RechargeDay BlackYouthMatter CommunityPower WellnessJourney NatureHeals BrooklynYouth YoungAndThriving RestIsProductive MindBodyConnection ClimateJustice BrooklynNonprofit EcoPower taken in Prospect Park by @bklvlup

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a month ago

Let’s talk about environmental justice.

Because sometimes it looks a lot less complicated than we make it sound.

Environmental justice is about making sure every community has a fair shot at being healthy, safe, and prepared, regardless of race, income, or zip code. It’s also about making sure the people who actually live in a neighborhood have a say in the decisions that shape it.

So yes, environmental justice is climate change.

But it’s also the bus stop with no shade in July.

The elder with nowhere to sit.

The drain that floods every time it rains.

The neighborhood full of fast food but short on fresh food.

The block getting redesigned without anyone asking the people who live there what they need.

This summer, @ground3d.xyz helped our EcoPower Operators put language to what a lot of us already feel.

They didn’t just learn a definition. They learned how to actually see it. They walked Flatbush Junction with intention, slowed down, and started asking neighbors directly what they notice and what they need.

Because data isn’t just numbers. It’s the cracked sidewalk nobody fixed. The corner with no shade. The community that keeps getting less and is expected to be fine with it.

Once they started looking, they couldn’t stop asking.

Where’s the shade? Where can our elders sit? Who decided what this block gets?

Those aren’t small questions. They’re environmental justice questions.

And our Operators aren’t just learning to ask them. They went out and asked you.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

#EcoPower26 #BrooklynLevelUp #TheFlats #FlatbushJunction #EnvironmentalJustice ClimateJustice BrooklynYouth CommunityPower YouthLeadership Ground3d taken in Flatbush Junction Brooklyn New York by @bklvlup

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a month ago

Some rooms are hard to get into. That doesn’t mean our Operators shouldn’t be in them.

This summer, EcoPower ’26 took a trip to NJIT in Newark for “New Jersey: Making Places from Forgotten Spaces”
— a full day with planners, environmental practitioners, and community builders asking one question: what do we do with the spaces people have left behind?

Look around that room and you would not usually see teenagers or young adults. That was the point.

Because when one of our operators, Adiba, asked “what it looks like to recycle a place?”, when Krissa said “it’s interesting that vacant lots are viewed with historical context instead of just an inconvenience”, when Jayden (who was unable to be physically present but learned from his cohort) connected the whole conversation to his own side project about community space in Canarsie and Flatlands — those weren’t small moments. Those were the exact voices that belong in those rooms.

Biggest takeaway: The people who grow up in a neighborhood should have a say in what gets built there. Period.

We are grateful to NJIT TAB @njit_ccs_tab for opening that door. For letting our Operators sit with powerful speakers, see who exactly is making these decisions, and learn the real process behind placemaking, brownfields, and what it looks like when a city actually gets it right.

Newark showed them it’s possible. The Flats is next.

#EcoPower26 #BrooklynLevelUp #BKLVLUP #TheFlats #Placemaking ForgottenNoMore EnvironmentalJustice BrooklynYouth YouthLeadership CommunityPower Brownfields UrbanPlanning ClimateJustice NextGeneration BlackYouthMatter TheFlatsBuilds NJITTab CivicPower YouthInternship EcoPower taken in NJIT - New Jersey Institute of Technology by @bklvlup

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a month ago

🎨 Open Call: Visioning Sustainable Futures Competition

“Art doesn’t just reflect a community. It protects it.”

Hi, I’m Victoria, an Operator with Brooklyn Level Up’s EcoPower ‘26 internship. This is my Side Quest, and I need your help.

In two weeks, BKLVLUP is hosting the annual Community Report Back, where our EcoPower cohort shows the work we built this summer. I’m bringing artists into that moment.

Calling all artists, architects, and creatives across NYC. Submit a piece around the theme of “Visioning Sustainable Futures”, judged on three pillars:

🌱 Cultivate — How does your art reflect sustainable values within growth?
🤝 Collective — What communities shaped you, and how does your piece show that?
💪 Resilience — How does your work fight for ecological longevity?

Prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. All pieces will be showcased September 3rd, 2026 and installed in BKLVLUP’s Community Resilience Hub. The community votes on the winner that day.

📌 Submissions due September 1st. 📌

🔗 Link in bio: “Artist Submission: Visioning Sustainable Futures” — fill out the form and we’ll be in touch.

Please share this — especially with artists and creatives in The Flats: East Flatbush, Flatbush, and Flatlands.This one is for and by this community. 🌱

#callforartists #brooklynartist #bklvlup #sustainableart #artistopportunity by @bklvlup

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2 months ago

10 young people from NYC spent 8 weeks in the Flats building real projects, asking hard questions, and doing work that actually matters . On September 3rd, they’re bringing it back to the community.

Come see what happens when youth lead the room.

📍 Women Building Up, 401 State St, Brooklyn
🗓 September 3rd, 5–7pm
🎟 RSVP link in bio

🗣️ tell a friend to tell a friend
#BrooklynLevelUp #EcoPower26 #CommunityReportBack #TheFlats #EastFlatbush EnvironmentalJustice YouthLed BrooklynMade taken in Brooklyn, New York by @bklvlup

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2 months ago