Brooklyn’s own Sharonnie Perry is a long-time community activist, an efficacious leader and a staple in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant. She is a charismatic organizer who is capable of galvanizing some of the most politically influential leaders to effect positive change. Perry has been recognized and received countless honors and citations for her work in the community and her tireless work ethic through volunteerism. Her work in the community has been significant and most of it voluntary.
Most recently, as chair of the Interfaith Community Advisory Board, she contentiously worked to prevent the closing of popular Brooklyn Interfaith Hospital.
“I think it’s interesting that I’m no longer on the outside,” Perry says. “I’m on the inside. I’m now working at the hospital that I was born at and fought for on numerous occasions when they threatened to close. I had the ability to work with 1199, NYS Nurses Association, clergy, elected officials who stood long and strong, like Assemblywoman Annette Robinson.”
Perry co-chaired the first clergy breakfast sponsored by and held at Interfaith Hospital to introduce clergy to the new administrative management team, including the hospital president, CEO, CFO and COO, in an effort to introduce new initiatives and listen to the concerns of the community, established clergy and the advisory council to ensure that community needs are addressed. Perry declares that a collaborative effort to save the hospital was taken and “we were able to save a cornerstone institution. Collaboratively we will work to maintain this facility. We cannot operate without conjoined efforts. I’m working with a management team that is willing to listen and establish initiatives to address the needs of the community.”
The third of four children raised by parents who were business owners, who knew the importance of homeownership when they purchased their Bed-Stuy brownstone more than 85 years ago, Perry was brought up in an era of great levels of disparity among communities of different ethnic backgrounds. Community leaders back then were known as sacrificial lambs because many of their families sometimes suffered as a result of their commitment to religion, culture and community. Perry chose to walk down similar roads for justice and equality.
Inspired by several Black history classes taken in 1968, 14-year-old Perry joined some of her classmates in a protest led by Al Vann and Major Owens against the decentralization of public schools in Ocean Hill Brownsville. Advocating for racial equality, she recalls protesting outside of the then popular A&P Supermarket for fair hiring. She was also involved in community affairs with the Rev. Herbert Daughtry and the Brooklyn United Front. By age 15, she started attending Brooklyn’s Bethel Baptist Church every Saturday, under the directorship of the then 15-year-old Rev. Al Sharpton, participating in Operation Breadbasket, a program operated by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to promote diversity in the workplace.
Seasoned at an early age, Perry utilized her skills to get involved in street festivals, to advocate for change and to work with the homeless population. She fought for fair housing and was involved in other social program. She was not unaffected by the crime that permeated the neighborhood once known as “do-or-die Bed-Stuy.” She recalls the murder of her father in his own place of business in 1972. She was 18 and had decided to work on her first political campaign. Although she was devastated, he had understood the need for social reform and adequate political representation, so she worked even harder on the campaign. By 19, she had become quite familiar with the political circuit. Al Vann was running for office. She threw herself into his campaign, and the rest is history.
A true New Yorker, Perry has supported campaigns from congressional races to district leaderships. She recounts serving as chair of several community forums. “One of the greatest periods of serving the community was being the chair of Community Board 3,” she says. “First, serving as chair of the Housing and Land Use Committee, then serving as chair of the Planning Board. Being able to make decisions on policies that have taken place in our community is and was so rewarding.”
A true New Yorker, Perry worked to raise funds for a client living in the Arms Hotel suffering with HIV/AIDS at a time when few would bury those who died of AIDS. Drawing on her community ties, Perry identified a Brooklyn funeral parlor that was willing to provide a decent burial for those viewed as the unwanted.
A true New Yorker, Perry has fought for the economically disadvantaged. When a married couple living in the community, both working as bottle collectors, were out collecting when their faulty refrigerator caused a fire that killed all four of their children, and the couple was arrested, Perry reached out to the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and she solicited the community for funds to bury the children. The community rose to the occasion and the children had decent burials.
Recently, Perry has expressed some concern about gentrification and the impact it has had on many in the community, including herself. She watches as developments are built in the community and, in particular, on the block where her family has had ownership for more than 85 years. She will soon relinquish her right to the property.
She now echoes the needs and concerns of the community in an even more profound and personal way. Many are being displaced simply because they can no longer afford to live in the community they have been part of for so many year. Studio apartments rent for $2,900 a month; two bedrooms apartments rent for $3,500 a month. “These rates are not for people of this community; they are not affordable,” says Perry. “When I sat on Community Board 3, I did not support the gentrification in our community. People are being displaced at a rapid proportion.”
Although Perry supports beautification of a community and understands the needs for increase in value, she believes such improvements should not be at the expense of those who are less fortunate and do not have the best credit scores. She has committed a lifetime to volunteerism and has managed to live comfortably as a single mother raising two children and now her grandchild. When she relinquishes her family home, she will find herself going through the process of applying for what should be an affordable home. However, like many New Yorkers, her employment might prevent her from meeting the guidelines for affordable housing.
Despite her personal controversies at 60 years of age, Perry will continue providing for her 15-year-old grandson with special needs, a chronic asthmatic with Crohn’s disease.
Ironically, her grandson is the age at which she began her activism and started attending Bethel Baptist Church. It is with the same faith that she will continue to move forward to bring clergy, community-based organizations and other health care providers together at Interfaith Medical Center.
“I understand the dynamics of our community and the needs for adequate health care service,” she says. “My role at Interfaith Hospital is holistic in nature. I want to address the mind, body and soul of the community.”
This mother, grandmother, activist, leader and community facilitator is not only being recognized as the Black New Yorker of the Week by the Amsterdam News, but also the community is planning a campaign on her behalf.
