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BROOKLYN AIDS
TASK FORCE
“People Helping People”
CHAIRPERSON
Dr. Benny J. Primm
FOUNDING CHAIR
Victor Ayala, Ph.D.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Elaine Greeley
502 BERGEN STREET
BROOKLYN, NY
11217
718-622-2910
FAX: 718-623-1158
1921-25 FULTON STREET
BROOKLYN, NY
11233
718-771-4997
FAX: 718-771-4374
260
BROADWAY
BROOKLYN,
NY 11211
718-388-0028 X 0
FAX: 718-388-0896
25 CHAPEL STREET
BROOKLYN, NY 11201
718-596-3635
FAX: 718-596-3539
WWW
.BATF.NET
January 2006
2006 Central Brooklyn Profile including Bedford-
Stuyvesant, Brownsville, & North Crown Heights
Created to provide community-based organizations (CBOs) with need statements for grant
applications & advocates with ammunition to fight for Brooklyn!
Central Brooklyn is not only ground zero for the HIV/AIDS epidemic
in Brooklyn, but also for African-Americans with HIV/AIDS in the
United States, and for women, adolescents and children with HIV/AIDS
in New York City (NYC)!
Central Brooklyn has the largest African
American community on the continent of North America, and with
3,684 people living with AIDS (PLWA¹) more than any other
neighborhood² in NYC, and 27 states. [1 Table 3.8.3, 2, 4]
HIV/AIDS statistics
for Central Brooklyn have historically been reported as
“Bedford-Stuyvesant” or “Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights”
which has
confused targeting HIV/AIDS outreach and
services especially for Brownsville
which is also within this area. With this Profile we hope to explain both how these
communities fit together and the differences among these communities.
HISTORY Bedford-Stuyvesant
is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn; its
name derived from two middle-class nineteenth-century communities – Bedford (to
the west) and Stuyvesant Heights (to the east) often abbreviated as “Bed-Stuy.”
Seventeenth century Bedford was a farming hamlet inhabited by Dutch families and
African slaves. As early as 1790 more than a quarter of the residents were Black.
Carrsville was built on land bought in 1832 by a free Black, William Thomas.
These transactions and others affected the ethnic composition of Bedford. By 1873
its population reached 14,000 and also included Irish, Germans, Jews, and Scots. [3]
The opening of the elevated railway and the Brooklyn Bridge linked the area more
closely with Manhattan and spurred the construction of brownstones. At the turn of
the century, Bed-Stuy attracted residents from the middle and upper classes,
including the retailing entrepreneurs F.W. Woolworth and Abraham Strauss. As the
population continued to grow, brownstones that had formerly housed one family
were sub-divided into several units. The neighborhood attracted large numbers of
eastern European Jews, Italians, and later Blacks from the South and the Caribbean
– many of whom settled in the western section. [3]
As the population rose, the communities of Bedford and Stuyvesant became one
large area of Black settlement. By 1940 it had more than 65,000 Black residents and
Prepared by Randi Baker, Community Resources Coordinator for the Brooklyn AIDS Task Force, Inc. (BATF)
718-388-0028 X122/Fax718-388-0896/ rbaker@batf.net. The most recent copies of our publications can be
found at www.taclearinghouse.org (Click on “Educational Resources” then “Epidemic in NY” then scroll to
“Borough Fact Sheets” or “Community Profiles” (presented by borough). They are also on the New York
AIDS Coalition (NYAC) website www.nyaidscoalition.org (Click on “News” then “[archived news]” for older
publications. For information about BATF’s services, call 718-622-2910 or go to www.batf.net.
1
To save space we use these acronyms. PWA are all people who have been diagnosed with AIDS. In NYC it is
estimated in 2004 that 41.2% of these individuals are not known to be dead or people ‘living’ with AIDS – PLWA.
Since 2000, HIV cases have been reportable in NYC. When the “H” is added, it means that the HIV numbers are also
included as in “PLWHA.”
2
UHF (United Hospital Fund) Neighborhood described on page 3.