Center for the Study of Brooklyn History

The Center for the Study of Brooklyn was launched at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York in 2005 with seed funding from the Independence Community Foundation (now the Brooklyn Community Foundation).  The Center is the first and only academic research center devoted exclusively to the study of public affairs and policy issues in Brooklyn.  From February 2005 through August 2007, the Center was led in a part-time capacity by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Brooklyn College Professor of English, Paul Moses.  During Moses' tenure, the Center built a groundswell of support from relevant stakeholders both internal and external to Brooklyn College.  These individuals and groups participated in visioning sessions in order to craft the Center's mandate and prioritize the most critical issues impacting Brooklyn.  A diverse and influential Advisory Board was established to provide guidance to the Center regarding its mandate and research agenda, and so that the members could serve as ambassadors for the Center's work.  Conferences were convened and reports commissioned on topics ranging from caregiving to the aging, to gentrification and displacement.  (For more information on these events and publications, please visit the pre-2007 Archives page)

In August 2007, Brooklyn College invested in the first full-time director of the Center.  In fall 2007, Gretchen Maneval, as the Center's new director, engaged over 100 community leaders and Brooklyn College faculty, staff and students, as well as the Center's advisory board members, in interviews and surveys in order to draft a new strategic plan and prioritize the Center's research agenda.  In 2008, Maneval hired Center staff, continued to build networks in Brooklyn related to several prioritized areas of study, began to conduct research and started the construction of the Center's new website, which will serve as the hub of communication for the Center's work.  In 2009, the Center for the Study of Brooklyn began work on the first ever Brooklyn Trends Report, and continued efforts related to its HIV/AIDS initiative.