News

BSDC HOSTS FAMILY CAREGIVERS AWARENESS DAY

January 31, 2012

On November 5, 2011 at Boys and Girls High School, Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC), in recognition of National Family Caregivers Awareness Month, hosted our first Family Caregivers Awareness Day, a daylong event meant to thank, support, educate and empower the numerous, unsung family caregivers of Central Brooklyn. Family caregivers are people who provide for the physical and psychological well-being of older parents, chronically ill spouses, children with disabilities and other loved ones unable to fully care for themselves.

BSDC TEAMS WITH RESIDENTS TO BEAUTIFY BED-STUY

January 31, 2012

On a sunny Saturday morning last May, Bedford-Stuyvesant residents from young children to venerable elders took part in the ultimate spring cleaning – FlowerBed Stuy. Organized by Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and the Youth Education and Safety Taskforce (YES Taskforce), over fifty block and tenant associations took part in this first annual day of community pride and beautification.

FAMILY BUSINESS THRIVES WITH HELP FROM BSDC

January 31, 2012

On Tompkins Avenue near the corner of Hancock, pampered clients spend the afternoon receiving pedicures, facials, massages, haircuts, and more. Some also opt for the flea and tick dip. At The New Bed-Stuy Animal Spa, owner Joseph Foster has been beautifying Bed-Stuy’s beloved pets for more than 13 years and, with assistance from BSDC, his family business has thrived.

HOW BSDC HELPED KEEP ONE WOMAN'S DREAM ALIVE

January 31, 2012

In 2006, after saving every dollar she could from her earnings as a retail manager with a national department store, Sharon was finally able to make one of her life’s dreams come true by purchasing a two-family home. She delighted in being a homeowner—whether it was painting and redecorating, planting flowers, fixing a leaky sink, or otherwise making the house her own, she knew she was investing in her future and adding to the value of her home. She rented out the second unit in the house, the income from which covered about half of her monthly mortgage payments.

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS ON BSDC's LATEST AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROJECT

November 18, 2011

Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC), a mainstay of affordable housing in Central Brooklyn, recently broke ground on Noel Pointer Court, a new residential building at 790 Lafayette Avenue that will provide twenty-three apartments to low- and moderate-income families and individuals.

BSDC's JOSHUA COURT FEATURED IN THE NY DAILY NEWS

October 28, 2011

Bridge Street Development Corporation was featured in the NY Daily News in an article about our successful transformation of 300 Putnam Avenue from a neglected, crime-ridden apartment building into 300 Joshua Court, a clean, safe home with 52 units, solar paneling and eco-friendly building materials.

BSDC Unveils Bed-Stuy's First Solar-Paneled Residential Apartment Building

July 13, 2011

Brooklyn, NY – July 13, 2010 -- Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) has taken the first step in creating Bedford Stuyvesant’s sustainable future, with the unveiling of the newly renovated and rehabilitated 300 Putnam Avenue -- aka Joshua Court -- and its new solar-panel enhancements, it was announced by Rhonda A. Lewis, BSDC President & Chief Executive Officer, at a press conference and public reception during the grand opening of the six-story/52-unit residence, Tuesday, July 13, 2010 in Brooklyn, New York.

You've Got a Friend

December 3, 2010

Read the article at http://issuu.com/ThePositiveCommunty/docs/nov_2010b/24

300 Putnam Avenue

June 18, 2010

Bridge Street brings a dying building back to life

“Last summer, for the first time in 15 years, we finally got a permit to have our block party,” says Michelle Agins, co-president of the Putnam Avenue Block Association. The reason homeowners couldn’t agree to hold a block party sooner, she says, was fear of violent crime at 300 Putnam Avenue, a distressed, Section 8 property in the middle of the block. This six-story, 52-unit, partially occupied apartment complex was abandoned by its owner in 2005.

Empowerment Sunday

May 21, 2010

50 Brooklyn ministers preach the same message: take control of your financial future. read the article>

Bridge Street Development Corporation Holds Green Informational Workshop

May 19, 2010

Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and Brooklyn Botanic Garden are beautifying our community one block at a time. On March 18th, we gathered leaders of block tenant merchants in Bedford-Stuyvesant for a “Green Theme Workshop”. With a presentation by Karla Osorio of Greenbridge, the community environmental horticulture program of Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the event focused on “How to Make Brooklyn Beautiful”, and included caring for trees, plants and shrubs in our neighborhood.

Tax Lien Help Night

May 17, 2010

Tax Lien Help Night

Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and our community partners at “Know the Facts: Don’t Lose Your Home” hosted a Tax Lien Help Night on Thursday, April 22nd for Bedford-Stuyvesant residents, that have a lien on their property due to unpaid property taxes or water/sewer bills. Participants were able, to meet one-on-one with representatives of the City’s Department of Finance and Department of Environmental Protection to clear up these outstanding charges.

Bridge Street Development Corporation Brings 50 Congregations Together for Empowerment Sunday

April 18, 2010

April 18th was “Empowerment Sunday” for 50 congregations throughout our community who joined Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and our partners in the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) to combat foreclosure. The 50 congregations participated in “Empowerment Sunday” to combat this crisis and lead the way to financial restoration and wealth building.

The Phoenix of Putnam Avenue

March 30, 2010

“Here’s where we’ll have a planting garden for children. Over there is where the Japanese gazebo will go. And here, the benches and chess tables.”

On a chilly afternoon in early March 2010, Angela Stokes is standing in the backyard of 300 Putnam Avenue, a 52-unit, 6-story residential building on a block of neat brownstones in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

Clergy Breakfast to address the Foreclosure Crisis in Central Brooklyn

January 22, 2010

On January 22nd, Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) and other partnering members of the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford-Stuyvesant (CIBS) hosted over 50 clergy members from across Central Brooklyn to preserve individual and community assets through homeownership.

CIBS hosted the Clergy Breakfast at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation to discuss the foreclosure crisis as the first in a series of topics and to start a partnership with the over 500 churches in Central Brooklyn.

Bedford-Stuyvesant Economic Development Technical Assistance Program (BEDTAP) Launched

January 22, 2010

On Friday January 22nd, Bedford-Stuyvesant’s small business owners got a rare opportunity to meet with micro and specialty lenders who offered customized assistance for accessing capital as the first in a series of workshops presented by Bridge Street Development Corporation’s “Bedford Stuyvesant Economic Development Technical Assistance Program (BEDTAP)”.

If you have time you may want to listen!

January 8, 2010

Rhonda Lewis, President of Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC), was interviewed on WBGO Journal - Radio 88.3 FM. She highlighted the work of BSDC and the Coalition for the Improvement of Bedford- Stuyvesant and spoke to the recent accomplishments the group has made in bu...siness development and foreclosure prevention. The spot will air TONIGHT, Friday 1/8/2010 at 7:30pm. It's a 12 minutes spot.... You can also catch the interview on live web stream: http://www.wbgo.org/listennow/

Vote for BSDC and Make us One of the Charities in the Running to Receive $25,000

November 30, 2009

Help Bridge Street by voting in the Chase Community Giving and we could win a $25,000 or even a $100,000 grant! Please follow the steps below

In Bed-Stuy, stalled construction spurs rental market

October 30, 2009

While community groups wait for the city to move on stalled, recession-era construction projects, some are taking the housing crisis into their own hands.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood with unusually high foreclosure rates, before the recession dried up bank and construction loans the Bridge Street Development Corporation (BSDC) had plans for an affordable housing coop development at 790 Lafayette Avenue off Throop Avenue.

Amid a Citywide Slump, a Local Exception

September 26, 2009

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY

Through the building frenzy that transformed some of the city’s long-neglected patches into lustrous new neighborhoods, few frontiers struggled to reap the benefits of gentrification more than working-class Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

Prices of homes rose, but never as much as in Fort Greene. Its long-neglected brownstones attracted renovators from Manhattan, but often only after they were priced out of Park Slope. While cafes and boutiques opened, the pace never matched that of Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg.