Brooklyn’s Blueprint: Inside the 2025 State of the Borough and Reynoso’s Plan for Layered Justice

On April 10, 2025, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso delivered his State of the Borough Address with the energy of someone raised not just in Brooklyn—but by it. Held at Boys and Girls High School in Bed-Stuy, the event opened with the thunder of the Nelson Mandela Drumline and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by Mill Basin’s own Suleila Clarke. It felt less like a government address and more like a family reunion—a borough reminding itself who it is, and who it could be.

There was data. There were policy rollouts. But threaded through it all was something warmer: a tone, a rhythm, a code. As Reynoso spoke about equity, opportunity, and generational repair, you could hear the undercurrent of something deeper. A belief system. A cultural ethic. The idea that love—not just infrastructure—should anchor governance. He didn’t have to say it every time. Brooklyn already knew: spread love, it’s the Brooklyn way.

“We can’t fear or enforce our way to fairness.”

Reynoso opened with a story—his own. A child of Dominican immigrants who grew up in Section 8 housing and relied on food stamps, WIC, and public schools, he made clear that what some call luck, he calls policy. The same government that once invested in families like his has now abandoned too many neighborhoods, he said—not by accident, but by design.

His goal? To flip that design on its head.

The Index of Opportunity: Mapping Inequality Block by Block

Reynoso introduced Brooklyn’s new “Index of Opportunity,” a data tool that maps five key layers—jobs, health, education, transit, and the environment—to show which neighborhoods have been structurally invested in, and which have not.

Unsurprisingly, neighborhoods like Coney Island, Canarsie, and East New York scored lowest, while wealthier areas like Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights ranked high. But the takeaway wasn’t about shaming communities—it was about shifting resources.

"It’s not that Brooklyn is failing," Reynoso said. "It’s that government is still failing Brooklyn."

This index, he explained, will be used as a planning and accountability tool—to ensure the borough’s most neglected neighborhoods aren’t just remembered in times of crisis, but prioritized in times of planning.

Transportation as a Lifeline: The IBX

At the top of his list of infrastructure projects was the long-anticipated Interborough Express (IBX)—a light rail line connecting underserved Brooklyn and Queens neighborhoods using existing freight tracks. The IBX would finally connect transit deserts to hospitals, jobs, and schools.

Healthcare workers—the largest employment group in Brooklyn—are at the heart of this proposal. Many live far from the borough’s major hospitals and endure long, expensive commutes. The IBX is meant to shorten that distance.

"Access to opportunity starts with access to movement," Reynoso said.

Black Maternal Health: From Hospitals to Healing

One of the most powerful portions of the night came when Reynoso spoke about maternal health—specifically for Black and Brown women. Drawing from the birth experiences of his own wife, he called out the shameful fact that Black women in NYC are up to eight times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than their white counterparts.

To fight this, his administration has already invested $45 million into women’s health units across Woodhull, Kings County, and South Brooklyn Health hospitals.

Now, in its second phase, Brooklyn is launching New York State’s first credit-bearing perinatal mental health certification at Brooklyn College—training professionals to better support mothers during and after childbirth.

"Mental health is the leading cause of maternal death in NYC—and we’re done treating it like a footnote," Reynoso said.

Childcare and Early Ed: Fighting for the First Five Years

Reynoso also took aim at the city’s handling of childcare access—calling out the mayor’s office for political stall tactics that jeopardized local centers, including one Reynoso himself attended as a child.

His administration stepped in to fund community baby showers and expand access to baby boxes for families lacking support. And he warned that without real, long-term commitments to universal childcare, “we risk setting our equity goals back by decades.”

Housing: Lessons from Austin and Minneapolis

Reynoso didn’t hold back when addressing housing policy. He pointed to cities like Austin and Minneapolis, where smart zoning reforms and large-scale construction have driven down rents by as much as 22%—while New York continues to fall behind.

"Austin is 1/8 our size and outbuilding us," he said. "If we had kept pace, we’d have added over 400,000 units—we’ve only built 60,000."

He called for an end to performative celebrations over small housing wins and instead urged the city to build more, build faster, and build everywhere.

But he also drew a clear line around manufacturing zones, especially Brooklyn’s Red Hook waterfront. There, he argued, investment should double down on industrial job creation and the revival of water-based freight and green shipping infrastructure, not housing.

“There are plenty of places to build housing. Our last working waterfront isn’t one of them.”

Arts, Youth, and Culture: Investing in Joy and Voice

Reynoso’s love for Brooklyn’s creative spirit came through in his announcement of the KidSuper Arts Ambassador program, a new initiative that will bring mentorship and funding to emerging local artists. He also highlighted the $40,000 he and Brooklyn-born actor Anthony Ramos donated to revive a Bushwick high school theater program that helped launch Ramos’ own career.

His administration is bringing theater education back to public schools, launching a Youth Advisory Council, and funding after-school programming across the borough.

“The arts aren’t a luxury. They’re how our young people learn to dream—and fight back.”

Final Word: The Hustle Is Real—But So Is the Hope

Antonio Reynoso’s 2025 State of the Borough wasn’t just a policy address. It was a portrait of Brooklyn at its best—bold, grounded, and unapologetically communal. He called for a shift from reaction to vision. From enforcement to opportunity. From survival to sustainability.

“New Yorkers don’t take magic and make it real. We take inches and make them miles.”

And as the crowd swayed to the closing beat of the drumline and the borough’s many dreams left the auditorium alongside them, you could feel it—that thing that makes Brooklyn more than a borough. That ethic. That pulse. That quiet insistence that no matter how broken the system is, we still show up, we still build, we still spread love.

Because that's the Brooklyn way.