Inspired by the Federal Writers’ Project, Voices of Lefferts provides a platform for residents to conduct oral histories, participate in free writing workshops, write their own stories, attend public readings and conversations about local history, culture, and common concerns, and publish their writing in Voices of Lefferts: The Flatbush-PLG Community Writing Journal.

With the support of two consecutive Humanities New York Action Grants (2017-2019), Voices of Lefferts took up residence at Grace Reformed Church in fall 2017 to offer free writing workshops, and partnered with Greenlight Bookstore for author readings and the Brooklyn Public Library’s Brooklyn Collection to archive the journal. In fall 2019, the project held its first oral history training workshop to give residents the tools to obtain local life histories. 

The project is entirely community-based and run by volunteers. Our main goal is to engage community members in documenting and preserving our own history in a time of rapid change, development, and displacement. We aim to build skills together to preserve the past, articulate the present, and collectively imagine the future of our neighborhood.