A 15 minute drive from Manhattan’s towering financial district takes you into the heart of Brooklyn, to the neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant, better known as Bed-Stuy.

Located in Kings County, New York, Bed-Stuy was once called the largest ghetto in the nation. The area is gentrifying quickly, but as rental prices rise, poverty remains rampant in many neighborhoods.

In Bed-Stuy:

• 35% of individuals live below the poverty line, and the number of households with incomes below the poverty line is up 13% since the end of the recession.
• Gentrification has also brought greater income disparity to the area; the median income for new residents is $50,200, compared with $28,000 for long-term residents.

In Brooklyn overall:

• 30% of children under 18 live in food insecure households.
• Almost 22% of all residents live below the poverty line.

Bed-Stuy’s population is 62% African-American, 18% white and 14.5% Hispanic; the area is home to many recent immigrants to the United States.

Family-to-Family’s community partner here is the The Campaign Against Hunger (TCAH), a Super Pantry and social service agency that provides food and other vital assistance to more than 9,000 needy New Yorkers each month.

Community Contact:
Rev. Melony Samuels
The Campaign Against Hunger
2010 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, New York 11233

To learn more about the hardships facing the Bedford-Stuyvesant community:

• Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy experiences big economic turnaround, but poverty and crime remain a concern
• Despite Gentrification of Bed Stuy, Poverty Still on the Rise

Data Source: Snapshot of the Bedford-Stuyvesant Neighborhood Office of the NYS Comptroller; United States Census Bureau Poverty Estimates (2017)

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