Brownsville Business Incubator and Cafe Opens to Tears and Cheers

Pictured: The Dream Big Innovation Center and Three Black Cats Cafe and Cakery. Photos by John V. Santore

BROWNSVILLE, BROOKLYN — On Saturday afternoon, Brownsville residents cheered the arrival of a new business incubator that is also home to the neighborhood's newest success story.

The newly opened Dream Big Innovation Center, located at 3 Belmont Ave., provides a space where entrepreneurs can pitch and develop business ideas alongside a team of volunteer mentors.

It's also hosting 3 Black Cats Cafe and Cakery, a dream come true for a group of Brownsville sisters who started their business out of a home kitchen.

Inside the Innovation Center

The Center is funded by the Dream Big Foundation, launched in 2001 by New York businessman Rob LoCascio.

"When I started my company, I slept on a couch for two years — I was broke," LoCascio, the founder of LivePerson, said Saturday to a room packed with supporters. "This journey is a very empowering thing."

LoCascio said he had long dreamed of promoting local entrepreneurship.

He met Pernell Brice, who had spent years focused on developing community businesses, through a mutual acquaintance, he said. Brice soon became the Innovation Center's executive director.

Together, they came to focus on Brownsville, a section of the city often associated with crime and persistent poverty.

Rob LoCacio, left, and Pernell Brice

The Innovation Center took about two years to build. It offers an events space downstairs that can be rented out for parties or other gatherings. Upstairs, entrepreneurs can use a free shared work space to discuss ideas with each other and with a group of volunteer mentors from across the business spectrum.

Anyone can use the Center, but Brownsville residents have an additional opportunity: those from the neighborhood who want to open a Brownsville business can apply to Dream Big for seed funding.

That's where the three black cats come in.

Brownsville sisters Diana, Melissa and Ionna Jimenez had already developed a local reputation for elaborate baked goods prepared in their homes.

LoCacio and Brice said that when they asked around for promising local entrepreneurs to work with, they were directed to the trio.

At the time, the Jimenez sisters were considering opening a shop in another neighborhood, but Dream Big convinced them to stay.

From left: mother JoAnn Jimenez, with daughters Diana, Melissa and Ionna

The Foundation invested in the group, and their new business, 3 Black Cats, now occupies half of the Innovation Center.

Pernell, who teared up during his remarks, said that while the ideal of the American dream is often associated with immigrants, it also applies to those already living in the United States.

"We have people in Brownsville, people who just need a little bit of support because they're brilliant and they're ready to go," he said.

The Foundation will own a stake of each business it invests in, LoCacio explained, though profits will be invested back into other entrepreneurs. Businesses will also have an option to buy back the Foundation's share of their company after several years.

On Saturday, 3 Black Cats was a hopeful example of what the Center aims to encourage.

"When you grow up in a tough neighborhood like Brownsville, the only thing you think about is leaving," Ionna Jimenez said. But as she grew older, she continued, her appreciation for her community grew.

"Brownsville needs us, and we need y'all," she said.

Jaydell Howard, a 22-year-old Brownsville resident who attended the Center's grand opening, said the cafe is the kind of amenity Brownsville needs.

"I'm hoping this encourages other people to open shops like this so we can all come together and innovate," he said.

Those interested in the Center's services, or those who want to volunteer as a mentor, can contact Pernell Brice directly by calling 646-241-1462.

A few of the muffins on order at 3 Black Cats