DEMANDING BETTER ACCESSIBILITY: Subway stations need better accessibility for disabled passengers, say Senator Andrew Gounardes and dozens of transit, disability, and community advocacy groups, who held a rally at the Ave. D train station in southern Brooklyn on Wednesday morning. Sen. Gounardes also called for the expediting of congestion pricing so that the NYC transit system can receive the much-needed funding required for upgrades.

As public hearings on congestion pricing wrapped up today, Gounardes pointed out that often missing from the discussion is the need to improve accessibility so that people with disabilities, seniors, pregnant women, people with strollers, delivery people, and others can commute safely and without impediment.

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HOSPITALS CONVENE ON COVID UPDATES: Congress-member Yvette D. Clarke (NY-09) held a COVID-19 pandemic update roundtable earlier this week, in which public health professionals and representatives from local hospitals shared the latest, most relevant information on the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing impact within the communities they serve. She said, “In our district, our state, and our country, staying up-to-date on the latest news, practices, and regulations regarding COVID-19 and how to best protect yourself and your family has been beyond a challenge at times. With conflicting misinformation and disinformation in abundance, far too often, the resources necessary to accurately understand this pandemic are all but obscured from everyday Americans.”

Participating medical centers in this borough or with Brooklyn locations included The Brooklyn Hospital Center; New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital; the Greater New York Hospital Association; NYC Health + Hospitals/ Kings County; Community Healthcare Network and Community Health Care Association of New York State, and Mount Sinai Health System.

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KEEPING APARTMENT IN THE FAMILY: IMPACCT Brooklyn is holding a FREE Succession Rights Webinar next Tuesday to ensure that homeowners have a way to keep their families in the same home. Succession rights allow a remaining occupant, usually a family member, to be- come the tenant of record in an apartment, with the rights of the prior tenant of record, when that person permanently leaves by moving out or dying. The interactive webinar, scheduled for Tuesday, October 19th at 6 p.m., will cover minimum residency requirements, defining remaining family members, succession request letters and DHCR succession rights cases.

IMPACCT Brooklyn, also known as the Pratt Area Community Council, is a community development corporation com- mitted to helping residents build and sustain communities in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights.

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FOUR BROOKLYN STARTUPS AWARDED GRANTS: NYC and Google for Startups today hosted a breakfast at City Winery to recognize the New York City-area recipients from the 2020 and 2021 classes of the Black Founders Fund, a Google for Startups initiative that provides up to $100,000 non-dilutive cash grants and other resources to 126 startups founded by Black entrepreneurs across the country, including four from Brooklyn. These entrepreneurs are: Andrew Hill, of LiftEd, which helps close the achievement gap for individuals with learning disabilities; Abiodun Johnson of GeoCloud, a location intelligence company that aggregates geographically-tagged and relevant data to solve location-based problems; Ofo Ezeugwu of Whose Your Land- lord, that increases transparency and equity between residents and home providers; and SaLisa L. Berrien of COI Energy, whose mission is to make the world more energy-efficient by improving building energy performance and grid optimization.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams delivered remarks prais- ing the founders’ innovation and expressing support for the city’s growing tech sector. “Black entrepreneurs are often among the most innovative, inspirational, and integral leaders uplifting op- portunity in our communities. Empowering them with startup re- sources and mentorship raises their potential, which in turn helps create new jobs and possibilities for growth,” he said.