Amid a lot fanfare, I AM Caribbeing and Little Caribbean NYC on Thursday launched the grand opening of their official headquarters on Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn.
A number of elected officers, together with Assemblywoman Monique Chandler-Waterman, and enterprise and neighborhood leaders, witnessed and took part within the launching ceremony at 1399 Nostrand Ave., between Martense Avenue and Linden Boulevard, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn.
“This can be a very long time coming,” Chandler-Waterman, consultant for the 58th Meeting District in Brooklyn, advised Caribbean Life throughout the ceremony.
“It’s superb for the Caribbean to be beneath one roof,” she added, stating that, “as a daughter of Caribbean immigrants from Barbados and Jamaica, I’ve the dignity of representing a neighborhood that’s nearly 90 p.c Caribbean immigrants positioned in Little Caribbean.
“I’m extraordinarily proud to witness the grand opening of Caribbeing led by Shelley Worrell,” Chandler-Waterman continued. “This location serves as a bodily illustration of a melting pot of Caribbean islands. “This celebration falls on the identical day because the Hon. Shirley Chisholm’s birthday and the independence of Barbados.
“It will be significant that we embrace our tradition, and we’re unified,” she mentioned. “It’s not an ‘I Factor’; it’s a ‘We Ting.’”
Neighborhood member Jelanie DeShong, the son of Grenadian immigrants, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, mentioned he was enthralled by the launch.
“This can be a nice invite to the Caribbean Diaspora – one thing to rejoice; to be a proud Caribbean,” he advised Caribbean Life.
“That is an incredible work,” he added. “I’m so comfortable to be a part of it.”
Worrell, founder and chief government officer of I AM Caribbeing and Little Caribbean NYC, mentioned she was “excited to be opening our flagship within the neighborhood, the place I used to be born and raised.
“It’s a vibe!” added the daughter of Trinidadian immigrants in a Caribbean Life interview.
Later, Worrell mentioned the ceremony was “very profitable, very effectively attended, and an amazing signal of what’s to return.”
She mentioned the official headquarters of I AM Caribbeing was “created as a tribute to the neighborhood the place we had been born and raised, Flatbush.
“Impressed by Caribpolitan way of life and heritage, we hope this area will assist us develop a fair deeper reference to the neighborhood that impressed it — a spot to lime, really feel at dwelling and be impressed,” Worrell mentioned.
“Step in the place you will see a thoughtfully curated number of on a regular basis ‘tings’ from again dwelling, aka (also referred to as) the Caribbean blue cleaning soap, enamel cups, in addition to merchandise from a few of native makers, classic wares, our best-selling sweatshirts and extra,” she added.
Worrell mentioned “the area @1399 may even function a gallery for rising artists, our work atelier and Mas Camp main as much as the West Indian Day Parade.”
Concurrently, she mentioned she was additionally “thrilled” to launch I AM Caribbeing’s seventh Annual Vacation Market Expertise, that includes 30-plus artisans from the Caribbean Diaspora, together with a “curated number of items from Jamaica, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Martinique and others.”
Amongst others, Worrell mentioned the market will host weekly “Meet the Makers,” e book studying and sugar scrub workshops.
Throughout Thursday’s launching ceremony, Worrell and Chandler-Waterman displayed an indication depicting Shirley Chisholm Means.
The late Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, née St. Hill, who was born on Nov. 30, 1924 and died on Jan. 1, 2005, was the daughter of Barbadian and Guyanese immigrants.
In 1968, Chisholm grew to become the primary Black girl to be elected to the US Congress, representing Brooklyn’s then twelfth Congressional District.
4 years later, she created extra historical past by turning into the primary Black candidate for a significant social gathering nomination for President of the US and, concurrently, the primary girl candidate to hunt the Democratic Get together’s presidential nomination.
“The signal is a part of our advocacy with Shirley Chisholm,” mentioned Worrell, noting that Thursday was Chisholm’s birthday.
“Now we have petitions with over 2,000 signatures for road renaming in Little Caribbean,” she added.
Established in 2017, Worrell mentioned Little Caribbean is “dwelling to the most important and most various Caribbean-American-LatinX neighborhood exterior of the West Indies, making up 20 p.c of New York Metropolis.”
She mentioned Little Caribbean can also be dwelling to a “thriving Caribbean neighborhood and focus of Caribbean/Black-owned companies that come collectively to share social and cultural histories and futures.”
Since 2010, Worrell mentioned Caribbeing has “amplified this thriving neighborhood, and can proceed to rejoice and commemorate the historical past of the Caribbean Diaspora in New York Metropolis.”
