We are thrilled to announce the lineup for the BHA's upcoming annual Spring Into Service event on Saturday May 4th - a day filled with opportunities for all of us in the Brooklyn Heights community to come out and volunteer!  

Donate Books and Children's Gear 10am-2pm

As in years past, we are collecting books (appropriate for children and youth ages 0-18 years) and children's supplies (for babies through 5 years old) to support our partners Brooklyn Book Bodega and Little Essentials.  Please check our webpage for details on what we can and cannot accept.  All donations should be brought to Pierrepont Playground (outside the gates facing Pierrepont Place). Fresh Direct bags also welcome. 

Can you help us sort the donations as they come in?  Please email us!

Care for Our Trees  10am-12pm

Join CM Restler's team and Big Reuse to clean and mulch tree beds on 3-5 blocks of Brooklyn Heights. Volunteers will be weeding, cultivating the soil and sweeping to help our trees flourish. Sign up here

Build Furniture for Asylum Seekers 1pm-4pm

In partnership with The Service Collective, volunteers will build IKEA furniture to support Ruth's Refuge.  Help also needed to load and unload assembled furniture at their storage unit in Gowanus.  Sign up here (scroll down to May 4th)

Clean up our Dog Park 9am-1pm

Friends of Hillside Dog Park is organizing a cleanup including wood chip spreading and caring for the nearly 100 trees in the park.  No need to sign up, just show up!   Of course dogs are invited to help (or just play.)

Fill our Community Fridge - Team Leader needed!

We would love support our community fridge, located outside First Presbyterian Church, and are in need to someone to lead this effort. The project would involve cleaning out the fridge and setting up a sign-up genius to have it stocked with fresh produce and/or homemade goods.  Interested getting this started?  Please email us!

Support PS8 - Timing TBD

We are partnering with the PTA of PS8 for a project at the school.  Details and a sign-up link coming soon!

Can't be there on Saturday but want to help?

Little Essentials is in urgent need of diapers.  You can purchase them (and some other items) from their Amazon Wish List.

The Service Collective needs funding support to purchase the IKEA furniture.  You can donate directly to them here.

Thank you to our sponsor, DUMBO Moving and Storage!

We are so thankful to Dumbo Moving and Storage for supporting this day by providing free pick up, storage and delivery of our donation items.

Join the BHA and other community-based organizations and elected officials from neighborhoods stretching from Bay Ridge to Astoria to demand immediate action to transform the entire Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and address the hazardous environmental and public health crises it causes. 

Every community along the BQE corridor deserves clean air, safe streets, and a healthy environment. Join us in demanding a just future for us all! 

Meet at 11am tomorrow, April 10, at 3rd Avenue and 16th Street in Brooklyn. All are welcome! 

Don’t forget that the Queens bound BQE will be fully closed this weekend from Atlantic Avenue to Sands Street to facilitate repairs of the BQE triple cantilever. The closure goes from 2am on the morning of Saturday April 13th to 4am on Monday April 15. 

It is likely that traffic throughout much of Brooklyn will be unpleasant - please take public transportation if at all possible to get to your destination! 

See DOT diversion plans.

Hate the helicopter noise?  Here is your chance to describe your personal experiences with helicopter traffic and its negative impacts on your life.

The NYC Council will hold a public hearing at 10:00 a.m. Tuesday April 16th on a bill to ban nonessential helicopter traffic at city heliports. Please save the date so you can testify at the April 16 hearing at City Hall or remotely. We need you and your neighbors to testify! See below on how you can participate.

The hearing will feature testimony on bill Int. 26 – 2024. This legislation is the most consequential action the Council can take to reduce helicopter traffic in New York City.

If passed, it would ban all nonessential fossil fuel-based helicopters from the two City-owned heliports: Downtown Manhattan Heliport (DMH) and E. 34th Street Heliport. This would eliminate the 30,000 annual tourist helicopter flights that are based at DMH and all the commuter flights from E. 34th Street. (Note that NYC does not own or operate the W. 30th St Heliport, which is under the State's auspices.)

In addition to Int. 26-2024, the NYC Council will be hearing testimony regarding a recently introduced Council resolution supporting state legislation that would impose a noise tax on all nonessential helicopter flights from NYC.

Action Alert – Testify In Person or Zoom!

The BHA will plan to attend the hearing and testify but we hope many of you will support this effort with your own testimony.

Register now to testify in-person, online, or submit written testimony:

Instructions to Sign Up:
1) Sign Up At The NYC Council Website Here: https://council.nyc.gov/testify/
2) Provide your information.
3) Select the Tue, Apr 16 @ 10:00 AM – "Committee on Economic Development hearing".
4) Complete the registration and/or submit your written testimony.

Note: To register you do not have to have your testimony already written - you can do that later!!!!

Why Testify?
The more members of the public who testify at this crucial hearing, the more likely this bill will advance to the floor for a vote. We urge you to testify in person so we can have a full hearing room that day. You may also testify online via Zoom if you cannot be there in person. If neither option is available to you, please submit written testimony.

We are immensely grateful to Council Members Amanda Farías, Lincoln Restler, Gale Brewer, James Gennaro and others for their leadership on this issue.

You can learn more about NYC helicopter legislation at http://www.stopthechopnynj.org 

Knitting circle, writers exchange, Ask-a-Tech, arts & crafts, after school movies, ZUMBA!. 

Did you know all of these programs (and more) are offered at the Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library?  For free!  Check out their events page and discover all that you (and your family) can do right in our own local library!

Wednesday, April 10th 6pm - CB2 Full Board Meeting.  St. Francis College - 179 Livingston - between Gallatin & Hoyt.  Invitation details here.

Saturday, April 13th All Day - Brooklyn.org Volunteer Day.  Sign up for a project to support our borough!

Saturday, April 13th 10am-12pm - Atlantic Ave & Furman Street Clean Up: Join CM Rester's office for a Furman Street & Atlantic Avenue Community Clean Up RSVP here.

Saturday, April 13th 7:30pm - Voice in the Heights. Local music at its best! First Unitarian Congressional Society.  Purchase tickets

Tuesday, April 16th 7pm - 84th Precinct Community Council Meeting, Brooklyn Borough Hall @ 209 Joralemon Street.  Meet our Community Affairs officers and many other representations of the NYPD.  No RSVP needed.

Saturday, April 21st 10am-12pm - Mulchfest at Cadman Park.  Celebrate Earth Day at Cadman Park. Spreading mulch is a family-friendly event! Supplies and gardening gloves will be provided.  Sponsored by the Cadman Park Conservancy

Thursday, April 25th, 5pm - Virtual Community Rat Academy Training.  Register here

Tuesday, April 30th, 6-8pm - Decarbonizing Your Building. Brooklyn Heights Library. This event is intended for 1-4 unit building owners and co-op/condo board members.  Sign up here.