Joshua Brown is the founder of Pushing Forward Realty, a Brooklyn-based real estate company committed to the economic advancement and financial education of Black and brown homeowners in New York City.
Brown believes that building more housing to address the city’s housing crisis is only part of the solution; the other is “access and affordability.” He emphasizes homeowners of color knowing their home’s worth, following housing trends, making a will, and learning about tax and water liens.
“Our company focuses on the education of the community through ongoing series workshops teaching estate planning as well as deed fraud to give homeowners the tools to protect themselves,” said Brown.
A Crown Heights native, Brown’s father is a retired pastor for Historic Stuyvesant Heights Christian Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and his mother is a retired teacher. He said he grew up watching his parents serve the community. The church owned his childhood home.
Out of college, about seven years ago, Brown decided to take the licensing test to become a real estate agent. He started out selling rental properties and homes and progressed into selling investment properties, commercial real estate, and churches last year. He said most of the real estate deals he has made have been with church members and others in the local community and also involve pooling money to purchase and renovate properties.
“In the Black community, a lot of people are house rich and cash poor, so that’s an instrument for people to withdraw money, equity, save them in times of crisis, if they need to get a loan, they use the house for collateral,” said Brown. “It means family, togetherness, and security.”
Brown serves as the vice chairperson of Community Board 4 in Bushwick, counseling the housing and land use committee. In this role, he loves to help facilitate street renamings of important figures in the community. “Our most recent naming was on Eldert and Knickerbocker Avenue here in Brooklyn for Ms. Mae Phillips,” he said.
At the moment, he’s working on a market rate $7 million project building with a focus on sustainable green infrastructure in Bed-Stuy.
Pushing Forward Realty is a proud sponsor of the Bushwick Film Festival every year, supporting local filmmakers.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.