Underfoot

We zoom out from one Brooklyn block to the entire city — tracing how decades of underfunding, housing instability, and broken policies pushed New York’s animal shelter system to the edge. Featuring advocates, rescuers, and city officials, this episode explores what happens when good intentions meet broken infrastructure — and what it would take to build a more humane, sustainable model for care.Featured Voices:* Mike Begej — Colony Caretaker* Maxwell Branch — Community Program Director, Flatbush

Every block has a story, and sometimes, it starts with a single cat.In our first episode of Underfoot, we explore how one block in Flatbush reveals a much larger problem facing New York City: a hidden cat crisis fueled by the larger affordability crisis, underfunded shelters, and limited access to veterinary care.Featuring stories of neighborhood colony caretakers and the cats they care for, this episode asks what happens when ordinary New Yorkers are left to solve a problem the system

Underfoot is a new podcast about the hidden cat crisis in NYC and what we can do to solve it. In this podcast, we go beyond rescue stories to reveal the systems that created this problem in the first place, and ask the question: What would it take to build a city where no cat is left behind? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit flatbushcats.substack.com