BKLYN Incubator supports innovative programs by leveraging the expertise and innovative ideas of staff throughout our 60+ locations. Staff utilize a variety of resources to develop new ideas to serve our communities and explore what it means to be a public library today. The Incubator program provides a curriculum, mentorship, and coaching through a 4-tiered competitive process and staff whose ideas are selected receive funding put their ideas into practice.
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The purpose of BKLYN Incubator is to ensure that our work is responsive to community needs by empowering staff to build public programs and services from the ground up. To support different levels of engagement, BKLYN Incubator now offers four tiers: Planning Labs (quick planning or discovery), Replication (reinvigorating past projects), Pilot Projects (exploring new ideas), and Innovation Fellowship (expansion to new levels/locations).
Round 12 Programs:
Below are the programs selected for funding in Round 12. These initiatives will run throughout 2026.
Round 12 Innovation Fellowship Tier:
Community Meet and Greet (Expansion of Macon’s Community Meet and Greet)
Providing systemwide trainings on how to facilitate and develop community connections throughout BPL.
The Community Meets and Greet initiative is designed as an opportunity for library staff, local organizations, and residents to connect in an open, welcoming setting. Its purpose is to strengthen relationships, share resources, and build collaborative pathways that support community needs. The event is aimed to foster trust, visibility, and meaningful engagement across the Brooklyn Public Library system and the communities we serve.
Round 12 Replication Tier:
Dice and Discovery (Continuation of Round 6 Board Game Library)
Monthly lectures on an interesting topic, followed by time to play a game related to that topic.
Dice and Discovery will serve as outreach to the gaming community in Brooklyn, both by making them aware of the library’s circulating game collection and by making explicit connections between games and other library holdings.
Fix it Flatbush (Adaptation of Round 8 Repair Hub and Sew Brooklyn)
Creating community connections and sustainable practices through crafting and mending.
Through Fix it Flatbush, our branch seeks to create opportunities for community learning and connection around sustainability, creativity and crafting. We plan to offer a series of free workshops and library resources focused on fixing, mending, and repairing with a focus on fiber arts and textiles.
Rekindling from Trauma (Adaptation of Round 6 Rekindling from Burnout)
Develop the tools staff need to identify and process trauma with movement specialists and institutional support.
Rekindling from Trauma seeks to strengthen staff resilience and safety through trauma-informed learning, movement practice, and peer connection. Over a seven-month period, library staff will participate in four movement-based sessions focused on de-escalation and body awareness during patron crises, workshops led by a trauma-informed social worker, and ongoing peer-support opportunities facilitated by the Library Worker Support Network.
Round 12 Pilot Tier:
Bklyn Beginnings
Baby’s First Library Kit: A warm welcome for Brooklyn’s newest readers.
Bklyn Beginnings: Baby’s First Library Kit welcomes Brooklyn’s youngest to reading, community, and the library, helping families start lifelong literacy connections from day one.
E.L.L.I.T. English Language Learning for Immigrant Teens
Connecting immigrant youth with BPL’s Young Adult Services across the Kings Highway region.
We offer English Language Learning for immigrant youth (Teens ages 13–18), connecting them to local libraries and services to support language development, strengthen school partnerships, and enhance teens’ academic and personal growth.
PowerUP Latino
El premio está en el proceso (The prize is in the process).
PowerUP Latino is a business plan competition that supports Latino entrepreneurs with workshops and an opportunity to win startup funds. With this competition, we hope to strengthen the cultural and economic impact of Latino communities in Brooklyn.
Sign Us Up ?
BPL staff learn ASL and Deaf culture to better include and celebrate Brooklyn’s Deaf community.
We plan on launching ASL classes, Deaf-led events, and accessibility upgrades to make BPL more inclusive. By expanding interpreter access and celebrating Deaf culture, we aim to ensure all patrons can fully engage with our programs and spaces.
Take a look at our previous Rounds and Cycles in Programs.
BKLYN Incubator is supported by generous funding provided by The Charles H. Revson Foundation. For more information, contact incubator@bklynlibrary.org.
Upcoming Events
Sewing Class Workshops: Basics of the Machine
Come learn to sew with us! We provide the machines. This Thursday will be the basics of a sewing machines for those that want to learn about the machine itself. Limit of 4 machines, but can share machines (12 people). First come, first served.
Free Sew is also available…
The Cycle Alliance's Period Pantry at Sunset Park!
Do you have a uterus or know somebody with one? Are you a teen who would like to learn more about or experiment with unfamiliar menstrual products? Stop by the Period Pantry at Sunset Park, and grab a care package, complete with a variety of menstrual hygiene products brought to you by community…
The Cycle Alliance's Period Pantry at Saratoga
Do you have a uterus or know somebody with one? Are you a teen who would like to learn more about or experiment with unfamiliar menstrual products? Stop by the Period Pantry at Saratoga, and grab a care package, complete with a variety of menstrual hygiene products brought to you by community…
Period and Personal Care Pantry at Clarendon
Clarendon has menstrual products for free in the teen zone at Clarendon whenever the library is open. All genders welcomed.
The pantry here runs on a donation basis. If you have items (packaged and unopened) to donate, please drop them off at the library. If you would like to…
The Cycle Alliance's Period Pantry at Mill Basin
Mill Basin's period pantry is available in the biography section of the library. It holds free pads and tampons that are available for whenever the library is open.
If you would like to donate unused and unopened hygiene products of any kind, please see staff at the front desk.
Period and Personal Care Pantry at McKinley Park
McKinley Park has menstrual products for free in the Teen Zone, whenever the library is open. All genders are welcome.
This pantry runs on a donation basis. If you have items (packaged and unopened) to donate, please drop them off at the library.
Sewing Class Workshops: How to Read Sewing Patterns and Assembly
Come learn to sew with us! We provide the machines. This Thursday will be how to read sewing patterns and how to assemble a pattern you can print from home. You will leave with a pattern to work on in the future if you would like to make it. You do not need to know how to use the sewing machine…
The Cycle Alliance's Period Pantry at Saratoga
Do you have a uterus or know somebody with one? Are you a teen who would like to learn more about or experiment with unfamiliar menstrual products? Stop by the Period Pantry at Saratoga, and grab a care package, complete with a variety of menstrual hygiene products brought to you by community…
The Cycle Alliance's Period Pantry at Sunset Park!
Do you have a uterus or know somebody with one? Are you a teen who would like to learn more about or experiment with unfamiliar menstrual products? Stop by the Period Pantry at Sunset Park, and grab a care package, complete with a variety of menstrual hygiene products brought to you by community…
