Fern Gillespie
In recognition of the New Year, Our Time Press reached out to Brooklyn’s influential leaders in healthcare, the arts, and advocacy to examine their programs’ impact on Black Brooklyn residents in 2025 and explore their goals for 2026.
Dr. Divinah “Dee” Bailey,
Founder, Watchful Eye
As a veteran healthcare advocate working with Brooklyn’s Black residents, what were some of the accomplishments of Watchful Eye in 2025?
In 2025, we did very well in terms of involving prominent leaders around HIV and AIDS. Putting HIV and aids on the agenda. There still is no cure. But we were also very successful in being able to bridge the gap between HIV and AIDS and regular healthcare. We really concentrated on the Black clergy. The clergy is the most respected leader in our community.
They helped us get the word out in terms of going to the doctor and getting the proper care. To not use the urgent care centers as your primary care physician. We partnered with health centers and doctors’ offices in 2025 bridging the gap of communication.
We did wonderful work with Brooklyn One Healthcare. They partnered with us and other healthcare providers in the community so that the hospital is the ultimate place that you go. It shouldn’t be where you just go when you don’t feel well.
Also, we worked well with the legislators like Congressman Jeffries on the government shut down, and how many people would be impacted with their healthcare, Medicare and Medicaid. In Brooklyn, we brought community leaders and people together and said our people are still dying.
They are not accessing care and continue to suffer in silence. I’m very pleased about the relationship we have with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and their new programs that support mental health care. Watchful Eye has been working hard in developing new community partners and bringing people on board.
What is the goal of Watchful Eye in 2026?
In 2026 we plan to do outreach and messages the way we used to years ago. With social media, we lost the personal approach. We are going back to holding community meetings, senior meetings and working with our legislators so that healthcare is on their agenda.
That’s meeting people and seeing that I’m reaching them and making sure they have your phone number so they can call. We are using the clergy even more. They are having health ministries in the churches. Watchful Eye wants to serve, knowing our accomplishments, and know that we are making a difference.
Rasu Jilani, Executive Director,
Brooklyn Arts Council
With a presidential administration that is anti-DEI, did Brooklyn Arts Council face challenges funding the arts in 2025?
Yes. 2025 was a particularly tight and uncertain funding year across the arts sector, and those pressures were felt well beyond public funding alone. Across Brooklyn and beyond, organizations and artists were forced to make difficult decisions—cutting budgets, scaling back programs, and in many cases reducing staff—to make it through the year.
We saw this at every level of the ecosystem, from large-scale museums and institutions to mid-size and small organizations. As a mid- to small-sized organization, Brooklyn Arts Council was somewhat more nimble. We were able to make targeted adjustments, manage expenses carefully, and stay responsive without losing sight of our mission. Still, the year required discipline, adaptability, and constant recalibration.
Toward the end of the year, however, sustained advocacy and collective action began to yield gains. Increased support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs strengthened both our organizational capacity and our regranting programs – meaning more direct funding flowing to artists. So, while 2025 was challenging and, at times, precarious, it ultimately reaffirmed the importance of arts councils as trusted intermediaries; organizations capable of holding complexity, stewarding resources responsibly, and advocating for artists during moments of uncertainty.
What is the mission for Brooklyn Arts Council in 2026?
In 2026, Brooklyn Arts Council’s mission is deeply shaped by BAC 60: our 60th anniversary. Also, by a forward-looking reimagining of what an arts council must be in the 21st century. BAC 60 is not simply a celebration of longevity; it is a recognition of 60 years of service to artists and communities. Our mission in 2026 is to reimagine the arts council as a facilitator of collaboration rather than a siloed entity to move from individual institutional awareness toward collective cultural awareness. This means prioritizing partnership over competition, participation over hierarchy, and ecosystem health over singular organizational growth.
As we enter our seventh decade, Brooklyn Arts Council is focused on helping shape a future where artists are supported not in isolation, but as part of a connected, resilient, and collective cultural landscape. That is the pathway forward and the promise of BAC 60.
Celeste Morris, President, Morris Allsop Public Affairs and Founder, Advocacy Academy
As an advocacy advisor, what did you see were the primary problems facing Brooklyn residents during 2025?
For 2025, Brooklyn’s affordability was the overwhelming concern. From my observation, housing and food are the primary culprits. Three aspects of housing raise red flags – rents, homeownership, and homelessness. Developers have found ways to circumvent the new laws the city council has adopted. Rents are higher than ever, particularly for rent-stabilized dwellings. Property taxes, deed theft, foreclosure, and Airbnb rules are concerning small homeowners.
Food insecurity is rampant. Longer food lines are evident. Wages and government benefits are not keeping up with the true cost of living. Suspension or changes in snap benefits have resulted in the need for more pantries and more donations. Nonprofits are struggling to keep their doors open and to meet increased demand.
In 2026, do you think there will be a rise in community activism during the upcoming NYC progressive mayor administration, and also dealing with the conservative presidential administration?
The challenge for 2026 is to find truly workable solutions. The recent municipal elections demonstrated the power of voting, civic engagement and group voices.
Increased activism and advocacy must be the goal, especially from those who have lived and invested here for decades. There has been a call for “backup” from some elected officials. Policymakers need to hear from constituents. This helps to support their fight for the people they represent. The power of calling, writing, and attending meetings of elected and government officials, community-based non-profit organizations, and tenant/block association groups is more critical than ever.
Crisis often brings wake-up calls. The Advocacy Academy that I lead at the Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College has recently graduated our largest class ever. I am hopeful that “woke” leads to unprecedented levels of activism.