Two Brooklyners received the David Prize. Established in 2000, this prize – awarding $200,000 to each winner – is a “celebration of individuals and ideas to create a better, brighter New York City.”
It was Dr. Suzette Brown – a pediatrician and COO at Strong
Children Wellness and Domingo Morales who learned about composting from his
work at Green City Force – both hailing from Brooklyn who received the grants. Brown has been working on ways to bolster the
healthcare system and Morales on sustainable composting in disadvantaged communities.
Brown’s organization has been implementing her healthcare system
approach of “reverse integration” which has resulted in
the provision of a “one stop shop for kids and families where not only can
they get their physical needs met and their primary health care needs met, but
they can also benefit from a range of social services.” She was inspired to do
this when she worked with a single homeless mom trying to escape her domestic
violent situation without any support. Trying to navigate the social services
system during such a challenging time is close to impossible and with the additional
coronavirus situation, things became even worse.
Morales has been through the system himself, having grown up in
foster care. He is seeking to increase sustainability
in Brooklyn and at the same time, help less advantaged communities. The grant
he receives will be put toward the establishment of composting sites, and the
creation of educational opportunities.
He explained:
“For the communities that don’t have the resources to pay, the idea is to just build them the best compost system that they can have and then figure out how we can work other forms of sustainability into that site.”
