The Just Brooklyn Prize, presented by The Social Justice Fund in partnership with Brooklyn Org, is awarded to five changemakers annually who are dedicated to strengthening and building power within Brooklyn’s communities. Leaders are submitted for consideration through a public nomination process and chosen by a Selection Committee of distinguished Brooklynites. The $20,000 prize is awarded without restrictions, in honor of winners’ contributions to the borough in the pursuit of racial and social justice.
The 2025 Just Brooklyn Prize Recipients
Shneaqua Purvis
Founder, Both Sides of the Violence
Shneaqua is a Brooklyn native from Bedford-Stuyvesant who turned the tragic loss of her sister, Maisha “Pumpkin” Hubbard into a lifelong mission to end gun violence. She is the founder of Both Sides of the Violence, an organization committed to working with both victims and perpetrators of gun violence in Bed-Stuy. Both Sides of the Violence provides mentorship, safe community events, food and resource distribution, and workshops for those impacted by violence; in 2021, Shneaqua began mentoring the man who killed her sister. In her past work, she has served as a violence interrupter, outreach worker, and educator with various anti-violence groups in Brooklyn. She is a speaker at schools, churches, and correctional facilities and has a deep commitment to peace, healing, and a safer future for her community of Bed-Stuy.
Olaronke Akinmowo
Director and Founder, The Free Black Women’s Library
Olaronke is a library worker, community activist, interdisciplinary artist, and the creator and director of the Free Black Women’s library, a social art project and love letter to Black women writers, libraries, and the people of Brooklyn. What started in 2015 as a traveling library featuring books by Black women installed in museums, gardens, stoops, and public sites has turned into a community space in Bed Stuy with over 5,000 books by Black women and Black non-binary writers that seeks to amplify and preserve their works. The library offers workshops, reading groups, community space, and a free store to support the community; thousands of people from all over Brooklyn travel there every month to work, study, write, read, learn, craft, create, and connect.
Crystal Clarity
Founder, Medicine Walls
Crystal is a third-generation Puerto Rican artist and activist from Brooklyn, NYC, dedicated to using art as cultural sustenance for BIPOC communities and as a tool for social justice. She has led countless community mural projects addressing issues such as gun violence, climate justice, and water rights, while also creating frontline artwork for major mobilizations in New York and beyond. She is the founder of Medicine Walls, an organization and studio space that hosts community art builds and workshops for artists and activists. The studio provides production space and materials, and Crystal provides valuable guidance to ensure that local organizing groups have powerful visuals to support their campaigns.
Cathie Wright-Lewis
Founder & Executive Director, Power in the Pen
Cathie Wright-Lewis is a Brooklyn speculative fiction author, long-time educator, and activist from Brownsville. She has spent over 35 years teaching, mentoring, and training Brooklyn youth, adults, and teachers as a high school English teacher, UFT trainer, and adjunct professor. In 2016, she founded The Power in the Pen, an organization that fosters literacy, empowerment, and community transformation in Brownsville. Since its inception, she has conducted weekly writing workshops with an intergenerational group of writers who range from novices to published authors. The group has published six anthologies, a novel, a memoir, and two poetry books; she believes education is a birthright of every person, and writing is a powerful way for participants to change the trajectory of their lives.
Derrick Nkosi Cain
Founder, Touchdown NYC
Nkosi is a dedicated leader, advocate, and mentor with over 15 years of experience in organizational leadership, team building, and restorative justice. He co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Touchdown NYC, a digital platform designed to provide mentorship and support to formerly incarcerated individuals. Throughout his career, he has served as the Director of the Brooklyn Community Bail Fund—one of the nation’s largest bail funds—and led transformative work as the Director at Broadway Advocacy Coalition. He currently works as the director of re-entry at the God Squad, where he leads initiatives to support individuals transitioning from incarceration back into their communities. Nkosi’s work focuses on providing resources, mentorship, and advocacy to ensure returning citizens have the opportunities they need to rebuild their lives.
Selection Committee:
Sharon Daughtry, Executive Director, Downtown Brooklyn Neighborhood Alliance
Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson, President, Auburn Theological Seminary
C. Zawadi Morris, 2023 Just Brooklyn Prize Winner, Founder and Publisher, BK Reader
Randy Peers, President and CEO, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce
Antonio Reynoso, Brooklyn Borough President
Maya Wiley, President and CEO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
Angela Yee, Host, Way Up With Angela Yee
Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director, Asian American Federation