New Yorkers For New York Honoree Spotlight: Jibreel Jalloh: Building Community Power From The Block Up

Jibreel Jalloh isn’t just building an organization—he’s building a movement. A proud son of Canarsie and the Bronx, Jibreel has emerged as one of the most dynamic, thoughtful, and tech-savvy grassroots leaders in New York City. As the founder and executive director of The Flossy Organization, he’s spent the last few years taking on some of the most entrenched challenges in our city—gun violence, transit injustice, civic disengagement—and meeting them not with hand-wringing, but with power-building.

The Flossy Organization trains the next generation of advocates—young people, elders, and everyone in between—to step up, speak out, and organize for change. Their programs combine hard skills (organizing, campaigning, policy literacy) with deep experience: visits to government institutions, service projects, and the kind of community-based leadership training most people don’t get unless they run for office. With a laptop, a grant, and a lot of hustle, Jibreel has built what he calls an “advocacy academy”—but it’s just as much a launchpad for changemakers.

And this is where CitizensNYC enters the story.

When Jibreel first came to us, The Flossy Organization was just getting off the ground. Like so many community leaders we fund, he had a vision and a plan—but not yet the institutional support to scale. Our Community Leaders Grant helped him strengthen his infrastructure and expand his reach. “You all believed in Flossy when it was still an idea,” he told us recently. “That first check helped unlock everything else.”

Since then, Flossy has been on a rocket ship of growth. They’ve been selected for the Obama Foundation Scholars program. They’re piloting a CivicTech platform to bring grassroots advocacy into the digital age. They’ve launched campaigns for climate justice, transit equity, and anti-violence—all designed with the communities they serve, not for them.

And still, Jibreel keeps it local. He’s out at events, in the streets, listening to neighbors, meeting with students. His philosophy is simple but powerful: If your block is organized, your city is stronger.

That’s what makes our partnership with Jibreel and The Flossy Organization so special. At CitizensNYC, we don’t just write checks—we walk alongside. We connect emerging leaders to networks, coach them through growth, and help them scale without selling out. With support from us, Jibreel didn’t just keep doing what he was already doing—he leveled up. And now he’s modeling what a new kind of civic leadership can look like: tech-savvy, community-rooted, and unapologetically bold.

Jibreel Jalloh is a 2025 New Yorker for New York honoree, and he embodies everything that title is meant to celebrate: grit, generosity, innovation, and an unwavering belief in the power of people. From Canarsie to Columbia University to SXSW, he’s showing that advocacy isn’t just about speaking truth to power—it’s about teaching power how to listen.

And lucky for all of us, Jibreel is just getting started.