Watch Youth Design Center’s Program Director, Brittany Bellinger, Interview on Comcast Newsmakers

[BROOKLYN, New York] – August 19, 2022 - Comcast Newsmakers host, Tetiana Anderson, interviews 

Youth Design Center's Program Director, Brittany Bellinger, about how creativity is the key to success in business and entrepreneurship for young people. 

Anderson opened the interview by saying, "research shows that 50% of job opportunities cite creativity as a critical skill. The Brooklyn-based Youth Design Center believes tapping young people's creativity will help them go far." Since Brittany is a native New Yorker raised in Brooklyn, she emphasized that the work Youth Design Center is doing will change the narrative of East Brooklyn by using the power of creativity. 

Bellinger told Anderson, "I think that creativity usually has been linked to things that are just for fun or hobbies, but, at Youth Design Center, we think of creativity as a gateway to all kinds of opportunities to lucrative businesses, to entrepreneurship, to sometimes secondary education. It is a tool for problem-solving. It's a tool for innovation. So many companies are looking for people with creativity as a skill to help them move their businesses and outcomes forward."

Bellinger spoke about various projects Youth Design Center has done. These projects include our collaboration with Pitkin Avenue Business Improvement District, where one of our young people created, art-directed, shot, and edited an entire look-book for small businesses. Additional projects mentioned were mural collaborations at Osborn Plaza. There was footage of our project, Healing Sanctuary 2.0, contracted by BCJC's Youth Council (Next Generation Gems) to create a release and restore room. Finally, our VIBE Summer Program was contracted by the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice to complete a mural project rooted in community activism. 

Anderson shared her energy around what YDC has accomplished. She asked how Youth Design Center could be a model for other communities. Bellinger responded by saying, "I think that the model of being both a nonprofit, youth-led creative agency and an innovation hub is an important model to create in different neighborhoods that kind of mirror what is happening in East Brooklyn and Brownsville… But, I also think that taking our curriculum, our hands-on approach, our community-based project work, and transforming other communities that look like ours, whether Detroit or Oakland, could work differently." 

Brittany Bellinger's interview with Tetiana Anderson is part of our many initiatives to spread the word about the Youth Design Center and its positive impact on the Brownsville and East Brooklyn communities. Visit Comcast Newsmakers to watch the entire interview and learn more about what students learn from Youth Design Center to help them stand out in a competitive economy.