Interview with Brooklyn Steam Center
By: Johanna Contreras
We interviewed Erika Bramwell, Project Manager of Career Pathways at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Nathan Exantus, Teacher’s Assistant in Construction Technology at the Brooklyn STEAM Center to hear about their recent 5-week summer project with Brooklyn Book Bodega. It was a true pleasure to speak with these two inspiring professionals about their work and how it connects to Brooklyn Book Bodega.
Can you describe your roles and how the Brooklyn STEAM Center initially got connected to Brooklyn Book Bodega?
Erika: My role is Project Manager for Career Pathways at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. For context, the STEAM Center started as a joint partnership between the Navy Yard and the Department of Education. Essentially, it was built on the model that when you put a high school in a place of work, you’re able to create more tangible pathways to work from school. So my role is helping facilitate that pathway, whether it’s through summer programming, internships, apprenticeships, and other ad hoc projects.
How we got connected to the Brooklyn Book Bodega—I met with Seema earlier in the year because I had heard about the nonprofit, and I was very interested in the model. BNY is a huge place with so many tenants, but it’s very easy to not know everything that’s going on. Our Director of Programs and Exhibits had mentioned Brooklyn Book Bodega, and I was interested because we love work-based learning projects—projects that help not just with the technical skills but also have a volunteerism aspect and are about giving back to the community. So I got in touch with Seema, and we had a lot of conversations about the needs of Brooklyn Book Bodega that the STEAM Center could fill so that we’re both benefiting from the partnership. Our relationship is relatively new since the project was in the summer.
Nathan: I’m a Brooklyn STEAM Center Alumni, very proudly graduated from the Construction and Technology Pathway. I met Seema through our Design Proposal Phase. This was essentially an interview to see the tangible need and hash out what sort of project we’re looking for, what time frame, and all the details to get the project underway. We got to hear all the things Seema was looking for, the history of the Brooklyn Book Bodega, how the organization functions, and get insight into how we could incorporate their model, beliefs, and values into the design process so that our project would reflect the core values that the Brooklyn Book Bodega has. We were very fascinated by the mission—to increase the number of households with 100+ books. I think that really speaks to having an initiative and a goal. My partner, Mr. Eduardo, and I got to instill that initiative into the scholars who worked on designing this project. So, I had an amazing time working with them. As Erika said, our relationship is still new, but we look forward to continuing that relationship, to completing a small portion of the project that we weren’t able to complete in the time frame, and perhaps even do more projects in the future.
Erika: Brooklyn Book Bodega’s mission really directly speaks to a huge quantity of our scholars, who are actually socio-economically marginalized, who don’t necessarily have access to reading or books, or who don’t have a consistent relationship with reading. So there’s definitely a lot of avenues, inroads, and collaboration possibilities between both of our organizations.
Can you say a bit more about the summer project and the goals?
Erika: Brooklyn Book Bodega originally had a giant plastic bin for book collection in the lobby of Building 77. It worked fine, but there were issues—some people thought it was a garbage can, aesthetically it didn’t fit Brooklyn Book Bodega or Building 77’s brand, and it wasn’t something Seema was able to easily work with. For example, if the freight elevator wasn’t working, they couldn’t carry the books up. So we sat together and designed a great project in which we had scholars build out collection bins for Building 77. We had our Construction Technology students start from the design stage all the way to the building stage. Given this year and COVID, we were working with students who didn’t necessarily have the technical acumen that they would have had in a year where they could come into the STEAM Center and build all the time. So Nathan really did an excellent job of helping them get up to speed to complete this kind of project at this level.
Nathan: The project served a dual purpose of getting the scholars the technical skills to build and the professional skills of building with a client. We went back and forth with Seema and Brooklyn Book Bodega in order to make sure that their values were represented in the project—everything from the branding, the colors on the outside, the lettering, making sure all of those things are taken into consideration. It really was amazing that even during COVID those students were able to get those technical skills and put them in action. It was really a good experience for them to see what it’s like in the real world. You have to have the owner of the project, in this case, the Brooklyn Book Bodega, play a really important role in the design and construction process. We didn’t want to just up and build bins and present them to you and say, Ok, do you like it or not? It’s more so that at every critical step in the project, we get that feedback—so we can say, these are colors you have on your logo, we should utilize some of those colors on the bins, instead of us choosing a totally different color that wouldn’t be representative. Those decisions play a big role in catching the eye of someone who may be able to donate books and get the word out there. That was very difficult for them to do with the plastic bins. So these bins were our way of saying, “Hey, this is a better way of pushing your model forward.” And we had a fun time doing that.
What do you think is special about Brooklyn Book Bodega? Why did you choose to work with them out of many organizations that you could be working with?
Nathan: For me, I was excited for the project being that we’re actually neighbors on the same floor. The Brooklyn STEAM Center is literally adjacent to the Brooklyn Book Bodega. Additionally, their enthusiasm. There’s such a great level of focus and enthusiasm from Seema and the organization to make sure that their model is a reality and is continuing to grow throughout the Brooklyn and New York area. I’ve seen certain partners of theirs while going downtown and I’ve seen Brooklyn Book Bodega signs. I like to see that growth in general being that when I was younger, my friends and I didn’t read. None of us had books at home, maybe a few kids’ books. So I feel like getting that habit of reading instilled in these households would be truly beneficial in numerous ways for the community.
That’s where it ties into the goals that STEAM has, which is to present opportunities to children in order to instill discipline and provide opportunities for them to grow in the future. We connect intrinsically in regards to the value of providing; it’s all about providing. I was very excited to hear when Seema was breaking down their model, breaking down their color scheme—everything has a purpose, and everything is particularly built in order to get that message out. That really ties into what STEAM’s model and branding is, so that’s exciting.
Do you have any advice for Brooklyn Book Bodega as they continue to grow and serve the community?
All the advice I can give they are already doing. They’re getting young people involved, they’re asking volunteers. Our young folks who are getting involved are well suited to go tell their friends, and then friends tell their friends, and it goes like that. So the only thing I would say is to continue making connections around the Navy Yard, and not to be biased, but continue making connections with STEAM! That’ll help push the envelope to getting those books out. In general, I just love the enthusiasm and their ability to get people feeling what they’re feeling, to be able to spread that message naturally, by word of mouth.