Over the last several years, BPL has taken steps to dramatically increase its presence in the communities it serves by creating deposit collections in homeless shelters, senior centers, detention centers and jails and by conducting a variety of different kinds of programs in these locations. BKLYN Incubator builds on this work by empowering branch staff to take a more active role in their communities; they learn how to assess needs in their communities, build partnerships with outside groups, and design successful new programs and services. The Incubator also helps library administrators to identify, train, and retain future organizational leaders.

With a full time manager and support staff housed in BPL's strategy office, BKLYN Incubator consists of four component parts:

1. A workshop series covering project management, program development, and community engagement, among other topics
2. A mentorship program that matches participants with experts and leaders inside and outside the library;
3. A judged competition
4. Implementation support and documentation

With an annual innovation fund of $75,000, projects are eligible to win up to $10,000 as well as implementation support from outside specialists. All projects are required to have a neighborhood partner.

The goals of BKLYN Incubator are twofold:

• The first is to introduce new competencies and skills among BPL's more than 700 public service staff.
• The second is to identify promising new programs, services, and approaches to librarianship and test them in real-world conditions; successful innovations can then be replicated at other branches by other BPL employees.

Although still in its first year, BKLYN Incubator has already begun to create a community of innovators at the Library. Staff members have deepened relationships with their peers at other branches as well as outside organizations and leaders in our communities.