Jazmine Hayes Turns a $128M Brownsville Center Into a Statement of Care

A $128 million multi-service center opened in Brownsville, Brooklyn last month, and Jazmine Hayes put her mark on every door.

Three New York City agencies unveiled the building, which carries a four-part public art commission by Hayes, a local artist and community educator. The work, I Am Protected (2026), runs through the Department of Cultural Affairs' Percent for Art program (a city scheme that reserves a slice of construction budgets for art). Each entryway carries symbolically empowering designs drawn from the cultural history of Brownsville's residents.

Hayes framed the commission in terms of audience, not biography. "I genuinely want any child that walks through this door to be and feel protected," she told Hyperallergic. "I want them to have affirmations of care, support, and community."

Who is Jazmine Hayes?

Born and raised in East New York, the neighborhood next door, Hayes knew Brownsville well before the city called. She accepted the commission after finishing another public artwork nearby for the New York City Housing Authority's Brownsville Houses the year before. Two public commissions in adjacent neighborhoods, back to back. That's a trajectory, not a fluke.

What does the commission actually do?

I Am Protected does three things at once, according to the artist and program materials:

• Marks all four entryways of the center with symbolically empowering designs
• Channels the cultural history of Brownsville's residents
• Creates space for youth ambition and curiosity

The through-line is protection, a word doing heavy lifting in a neighborhood that has seen its share of displacement and resilience. Hayes's title reads less like a slogan than a claim on the building's purpose.

Why the unveiling matters

The Percent for Art pipeline tends to reward artists with patience; commissions take years and multiple agencies. This one arrived through the DCLA with the backing of three city bodies, and DCLA commissioner Diya Vij attended the unveiling alongside Sergio Pardo López, the program's director. When a commissioner shows up for a doorway commission in Brownsville, the city is signaling where it thinks its public art money should be seen.

The venue matters too. A multi-service center is not a museum. Its foot traffic is people seeking city services, often at stressful moments. Hayes's affirmations meet them at the threshold.

For a program often criticized for safe, forgettable lobby art, this commission argues for something more site-specific: work that treats a municipal entrance as a place where a child decides whether a building is for them. Hayes has now made that case twice within walking distance. The question for Percent for Art is whether it can keep finding artists who live close enough to know the difference.