The plan called for maintaining inpatient care, expanding primary and urgent care services, and establishing the Brooklyn Institute of Health Equity to address systemic health disparities—priorities that ultimately supported a $300 million capital investment in the university and hospital. To inform this vision, SUNY Downstate needed a public engagement partner capable of reaching a diverse cross-section of stakeholders—including government, healthcare, labor, academia, and the surrounding Brooklyn community—and translating their perspectives into actionable healthcare and academic priorities. Public Works led this engagement on an accelerated timeline from February through Spring 2024, creating a focused process for gathering authentic input and ensuring community priorities helped shape the institution’s path forward.
The plan called for maintaining inpatient care, expanding primary and urgent care services, and establishing the Brooklyn Institute of Health Equity to address systemic health disparities—priorities that ultimately supported a $300 million capital investment in the university and hospital. To inform this vision, SUNY Downstate needed a public engagement partner capable of reaching a diverse cross-section of stakeholders—including government, healthcare, labor, academia, and the surrounding Brooklyn community—and translating their perspectives into actionable healthcare and academic priorities. Public Works led this engagement on an accelerated timeline from February through Spring 2024, creating a focused process for gathering authentic input and ensuring community priorities helped shape the institution’s path forward.
With support from local nonprofit partners, the team deployed online and mail-in surveys to reach stakeholders broadly and identify shared priorities and challenges related to Downstate’s healthcare and academic services. Four community listening sessions complemented the surveys, using trauma-informed methods to explore lived experiences more deeply, test emerging findings, and collaboratively identify potential solutions. Together, these efforts engaged more than 36,000 individuals, capturing perspectives from patients, Central Brooklyn residents, nonprofit and faith-based leaders, and Downstate students, faculty, staff, and hospital employees. Public Works Partners synthesized this input into clear priorities and worked with the design team to translate community needs into conceptual plans for a new facility, including a student center and community health services. The team documented findings and recommendations in an initial brief and comprehensive final report, providing SUNY Downstate with an actionable foundation for its future planning and investment.
The process also helped build broader support for the initiative and contributed to the establishment of the Downstate Community Advisory Board, creating an ongoing structure for community participation in the institution’s capital and operational planning. What began as a $300 million capital commitment ultimately grew into a $1.1 billion investment to modernize the hospital, renovate existing facilities, and construct a new hospital annex. By embedding community perspectives into both the planning process and ongoing governance, the engagement moved beyond a one-time feedback exercise—helping institutionalize community voice as part of a transformative investment in Central Brooklyn’s healthcare future.
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