LHBK Web
Non-Profit / Operations
Overview
Little Haiti BK is a Brooklyn-based non-profit preserving Haitian culture and supporting small businesses through a Business Improvement District. What started as a community website grew into the organization's operating platform — staff timesheets with Paychex payroll integration, a form builder for community programs, file management, and a Mapbox-driven CRM for the BID's commercial property roster.
Next.js 15 App Router, Better Auth for staff + community sign-in, Prisma + PostgreSQL, with Mapbox for property mapping and Paychex API integration for payroll.
Challenge
LHBK runs on tight non-profit margins — they couldn't afford a five-tool stack (HRIS + CRM + forms + maps + CMS). The goal was to consolidate operations into a single platform the team could maintain themselves, while keeping the public-facing community pages fast and accessible.
Tech Stack
Architecture
Single Next.js App Router platform replacing what would otherwise be five SaaS subscriptions. Better Auth handles staff sign-in (with role-based gates between staff and community-facing surfaces). Prisma schema unifies properties (BID), people (staff + members), forms (schema-driven), and time entries. Paychex's API integration runs on a server action that pre-validates timesheets against budget rules before submission, so payroll exceptions surface before anyone files them.
Key Features
BID Property CRM
Mapbox-driven map of Business Improvement District commercial properties — staff can browse, filter by status, and update property records inline. Replaces a spreadsheet-and-PDF workflow.
Timesheets + Paychex
Staff timesheet capture wired into Paychex's payroll API — submitted hours flow straight to payroll without re-keying. Cut administrative overhead for the small ops team.
Form Builder + Community Hub
Schema-driven form builder for community programs (event signups, BID applications, surveys) that staff can configure without developer involvement. Wraps the public-facing community pages.
What I Learned
- Non-profit ops is a different optimization target. The win wasn't building the slickest BID CRM — it was consolidating five tools into one the team can maintain themselves.
- Paychex's API is a 'submit and hope' integration. Building a validation layer in the platform before submission caught more errors than Paychex's own webhook responses.
- Schema-driven form builders save dev hours but cost UX hours. Worth it for an ops team; not worth it for a public-facing product.