Brooklyn NYCHA residents voting on what to do with $30K from city

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A Brooklyn neighborhood is getting tens of thousands of dollars for community improvements thanks to Mayor Eric Adams.

What would you do with $30,000 to help your neighborhood? Kenesha Traynham-Cooper is trying to get her neighbors to answer that question.

Traynham-Cooper is head of the mayor's action plan team on the ground at NYCHA's Ingersoll Houses. With ballots in hand, she is on a mission to make sure everybody’s voice will be heard.

It’s not just the Ingersoll Houses. The neighborhood stat resident stakeholder teams, known as NStat, started this grassroots effort to hear from 30 NYCHA developments across New York City and vote on how to improve safety and well-being in their neighborhood.

Traynham-Cooper said the money is the start of something great, from economic stability to youth development.

In 2018, PIX11 News was there when Ingersoll Houses tenant president Darold Burgess and residents fought for a new basketball court and made it happen. And in 2021, Traynham-Cooper fought and got the funding for a new mural.

Now, ideas are flowing in already for the next big project. Ideas range from more after-school programs to better lighting. Traynham-Cooper said the important part is that these ideas come from the people.