One project per track. All of it real work in The Flats.

The problem

Community voice was missing from the design process

BKLVLUP is building Brooklyn's first Community Resilience Hub on Utica Avenue — open year-round for emergency support, food, shelter, water, and programming. Most hub surveys are English-only, written by professionals for professionals, and never reach the people they claim to represent. Before construction, before programming, the community had to be heard.

The work

• Research foundation

  Grounded in the six-pillar resilience hub framework — programs and services, information and connectivity, built and natural spaces, power and backup, operations, accessibility and transportation — layered with Flats-specific data from the NYC Heat Vulnerability Index, DOH Heat Risk dashboards, and the NYS Disadvantaged Communities tool. One finding reset the whole project: heatstroke is the leading environmental cause of death for NYC seniors.

• Survey design and deployment

  BKLVLUP's first-ever Community Resilience Hub survey, built and tested in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole by Operators who speak them — designed for reading level and format accessibility, not just translation.

• Tech & AI

  Evaluated multilingual research platforms for ongoing data collection in The Flats, piloting Google Forms as a beta. Jayden Benn built Clean Blocks, a working mobile prototype surfacing community infrastructure data on a phone.

What we built

• First multilingual Community Resilience Hub survey — live in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole
• Research linking local heat vulnerability data to hub design priorities
• In-person feedback gathered at National Night Out, Shirley Chisholm Center
• Clean Blocks — mobile app prototype for community infrastructure data
• Multilingual platform evaluation for future BKLVLUP data collection

The problem

What isn't documented can't be defended

The Flats holds a 40-year-old Caribbean market, a playground with roots in the 1990s, substations serving thousands of residents, green spaces, and institutions people walk past every day without knowing what they are. When gentrification comes for a neighborhood, it comes first for the things nobody wrote down.

The work

• Mapping with Ground3D

  Using the Felt platform, Operators mapped energy infrastructure (National Grid and ConEd substations), local institutions, green spaces, historical sites, and community resources — working live and at the same time, multiple interns dropping points and writing annotations together in one shared map. Every point was annotated in full narrative sentences so someone could pull it up on a phone and get a story, not coordinates — a design decision drawn from Ground3D's Roots & Rhythms map.

• Street interviews

  The Community & Civic track ran street interviews near Brooklyn College. The script took rounds of practice — because, as Ground3D's Wil put it, you can't open with 'do you live here?' in New York City — and was built for youth, seniors, and longtime residents alike.

• Route fieldwork and community pact research

  The team walked the route on foot documenting shade cover, water access, and flood risk, and began identifying corridor businesses for a community pact — places that could serve as cooling, charging, water, and information sites during a blackout or storm. This feeds the Flats Rising Communication Strategy (BKLVLUP x Ground3D x OEM/COAD).

What we built

• Interactive GIS map of The Flats built collaboratively on Felt with Ground3D — live and phone-navigable
• Narrative annotations for every map point, written for a self-guided tour
• Street interview script and findings from the Brooklyn College corridor
• Walking route assessed on foot for accessibility, shade, water, and flood risk
• Community pact business list in development for the Flats Rising Communication Strategy
• Published interactive web map — The Green Book: Energy Resilience Edition — 11 stops across East Flatbush, Remsen Village & Canarsie, hosted by Ground3D

The problem

The communities hit hardest aren't always the ones who ignored the warning

Emergency messaging assumes one audience, one language, and one way of reading. The people most exposed to heat, flooding, and blackouts in The Flats often never receive the message in a form they can use.

The work

• The art of the pivot

  Carlisha framed the research around a finding: the same emergency message has to be translated across learning styles, generations, and accessibility needs — not only languages. A 70-year-old without a smartphone, a parent who doesn't speak English, and a teenager who won't read a pamphlet each need a different format for identical critical information. The team audited existing emergency communications through that lens and mapped the gaps.

• Green Book research

  Identified local businesses and institutions along The Flats corridors that could be designated community pact resources during a climate emergency — research feeding the Flats Rising Communication Strategy, the PACT outreach backbone built with OEM and COAD.

• Field canvassing preparation

  Built and tested community outreach scripts for the Community Resilience Hub survey, plus flood preparedness awareness materials designed for Flats residents.

What we built

• Communication audit through a multi-format, multi-generational, multi-language lens
• Green Book research — community pact business and institution identification (OEM/COAD partnership)
• Tested canvassing scripts for the Community Resilience Hub survey
• Flood preparedness awareness materials for Flats residents

The problem

Elders face the highest energy risk and the lowest access to resources

Heat vulnerability lands hardest on elder residents of East Flatbush, who are also least likely to hear about the programs and resources built to help them. Utility brochures don't reach them.

The work

• Energy clinic curriculum

  A neighborhood-specific clinic model covering heat vulnerability at home, brownout and blackout preparedness, and how to find heating and cooling centers nearby. The design principle was accessibility over technical accuracy — in person, practical, built for someone who may not use a smartphone and has no one explaining heat risk to them.

• Community activation plan

  A senior cooling event at Bethany Terrace houses in East Flatbush: cooling stations and energy education in the same room — immediate relief and long-term knowledge as a dual intervention. Planned and documented this summer, ready to run.

What we built

• Energy clinic model designed for elder residents of East Flatbush
• Curriculum on home heat vulnerability, blackout preparedness, and resource navigation
• Community activation plan for a Bethany Terrace senior cooling event — documented and ready to run
• Research on elder heat vulnerability and access gaps, grounded in NYC public health data