NEW YORK (PIX11) — Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood is known for being home to Biggie Smalls, Kings Theater, and one of the first free African American communities in the U.S.: Weeksville.

The city is now looking to keep the history of neighborhoods like Bed-Stuy alive through a new initiative called “Neighborhood Stories.” The initiative allows New Yorkers to share their tales of growing up in New York City in their own words.

Latonya Jones from the New York Archives, lifelong Brooklyn resident Mike Cetta and Arthur Aviles, founder of the Bronx Academy of Dance spoke with NEWS10’s sister station in New York to explain more about the initiative and how people can get involved.