Location: New York, NY
Website://www.milliontreesnyc.org
MillionTreesNYC, one of the 132 PlaNYC initiatives, is a citywide, public-private program with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest—our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land—by an astounding 20%, while achieving the many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees. The City of New York will plant 70% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 30% will come from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations.
Trees enrich and improve our environment and dramatically increase the overall quality of life in New York City. Our urban forest totals over 5 million trees and 168 species. It can be found throughout the city along streets, highways, in neighborhood playgrounds, backyards, community gardens, and even along commercial developments. There are 6,000 acres of woodlands in parks alone! The benefits provided by trees are numerous and diverse, making it important to quantify their value to our city and its residents. The primary benefits provided by New York City's urban forest come in three key areas:
Environmental Benefits, Slowing Global Climate Change: Urban trees help offset climate change by capturing atmospheric carbon dioxide in their tissue, reducing energy used by buildings, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel based power plants. Our City’s trees store about 1.35 million tons of carbon valued at $24.9 million. In addition, our trees remove over 42,000 tons of carbon each year. Recently, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development cited a study by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) which advocates planting trees and increasing topsoil as preferable methods of combating global climate change. Since soil and trees effectively store carbon dioxide and other pollutants, ecosystems have been proven to play an essential role in climate mitigation.
Water Quality Protection: Urban trees capture rainfall on their leaves and branches and take up water, acting as natural stormwater capture and retention devices. Street trees intercept 890.6 million gallons of stormwater annually, or 1,525 gallons per tree on average. The total value of this benefit to New York City is over $35 million each year.
Improved Air Quality: Trees remove dust and other pollutants from the air. In fact, one tree can remove 26 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually, the equivalent of 11,000 miles of car emissions. Our trees remove about 2,200 tons of air pollution per year, valued at $10 million annually.
Lower Summer Air Temperature: According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, urban forests reduce urban temperatures significantly by shading buildings and concrete and returning humidity to the air through evaporative cooling.
Natural Resource Conservation: By using trees to modify temperatures, the amount of fossil fuels used for cooling and heating by homeowners and businesses is reduced. Our City’s street trees provide $27 million a year in energy savings.
Wildlife Habitat: New York City’s urban forest provides habitat - including food and shelter for many species of birds, insects, and other wildlife, as well as environmental education resources for New Yorkers of all ages. A recent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times outlines many of the environmental benefits of trees, including the role of riparian tree planting in fertilizing plankton populations which in turn feeds the local fish population. The effect of such riparian plantings in Japan have been studied by a recipient of the United Nations Forest Heroes Award.
High Return of Investment: Over the years the City has invested millions in its urban forest. Trees provide $5.60 in benefits for every dollar spent on tree planting and care.
Increased Property Values: A significant link exists between the value of a property and its proximity to parks, greenbelts, and other green spaces. Smart Money magazine indicated that consumers value a landscaped home up to 11.3 percent higher than its base price. Street trees provide $52 million each year in increased property values. A recent article in the New York Observer illustrates an increase in property values for buildings in proximity to parks and large street tree species, especially the Callery Pear, Honeylocust, and Pin Oak.
Community and Business District Appeal: The greening of business districts increases community pride and positive perception of an area, drawing customers to the businesses.
Improved Health: There is growing evidence that trees help reduce air pollutants that can trigger asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Green spaces also encourage physical activity - a healthy habit for any New Yorker.
Crime Prevention: Tree canopy is associated with a decrease in neighborhood crime. Strategically planted trees as well as community stewardship of the urban forest correlated with lower crime rates according to several studies performed in Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, and other cities.
Showing posts with label New York City. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New York City. Show all posts
Friday, December 25, 2015
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development
Location: New York, NY
Website: anhd.org
The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD) works to build the strength of the community development movement in New York City. ANHD was founded in 1974 with the mission to help low-income communities thrive and to ensure that all New Yorkers can live in decent, affordable housing and neighborhoods.
Today ANHD leads a membership of 99 of the City’s leading community development and neighborhood-based not-for-profit affordable housing organizations. Our member groups use grassroots advocacy strength, bricks-and-mortar development skills, and focused neighborhood-level services to work for more decent, just and equitable communities. ANHD supports our member groups with a mix of training, capacity-building resources, strategic research, and high-impact public policy advocacy campaigns.
ANHD members groups have built over 100,000 affordable units in NYC in the past 25 years. ANHD’s policy activism has directly leveraged over $1.3 billion in new resources for affordable housing in the past 10 years alone, and our policy victories have resulted in the preservation of thousands of affordable units.
ANHD’s ACHIEVEMENTS
Over the past decade alone, ANHD’s training, policy research, advocacy, strategic communications, and leadership development for 100 grassroots groups and residents has resulted in leveraging over $1.3 billion for affordable housing, rescuing over 30,000 apartments and 160 buildings for low-income residents, and creating break-through policies for community development:
2012 – City Council passes Responsible Banking Act, developed with ANHD members.
Following ANHD’s reports on dramatic decreases in banks’ local reinvestments in the 2009 and 2011 “The State of Bank Reinvestment in NYC”, New York City Council passed the nation’s strongest RBA bill in May 2012, providing communities with lending data and a voice to ensure local reinvestments as requested by ANHD members.
Community Development Fellowship Program, matching Masters’ Degree students with community non-profits.
2009-present: 90% success in training and placing unemployed adults: ANHD’s Center for Neighborhood Leadership training and internships for unemployed adults has resulted in 90% of trainees graduating into full-time jobs and / or college.
2008-present – 1000s of units rescued from rent increases: ANHD’s activism achieved an important state regulatory reform, reducing a key rent increase pass-along by 1/3 for thousands of tenants.
2007-present – $750 million to save housing from the crisis of over-leveraging: ANHD won a commitment of $750 million in city funds to incentivize banks to sell to affordable housing developers rather than predatory speculators.
2007-present – 3,100 units for 60-year affordability, $145 million annual tax credits: a result of ANHD research and advocacy, NYC Council Speaker Quinn agreed to doubling affordability from 30 to 60 years on 3,100 housing units per year, leveraging $15 million in annual benefits from the tax credits.
2003-present – 6,900 new units via Inclusionary Zoning: ANHD’s member-group led advocacy established New York’s first inclusionary zoning, gaining 6,900 affordable units.
2002-present – $32 million savings on building costs: ANHD’s Affordable Housing Institute trains residents, developers and building managers in affordable housing maintenance, financing and green retro-fitting for a combined economic savings of over $32 million
1992 to present – Affordable Housing Institute helps housing developments save $32 million: the Affordable Housing Institutes on-going trainings – including green building management training – to affordable housing developers, managers, maintenance workers and low-income residents saves $32 million per year in operational costs.
2010 – Gains in permanently affordable housing: ANHD publishes, “A Permanent Problem Requires a Permanent Solution” to promote permanently affordable housing. In response, the city required permanent affordability in many key 2010 land-use decisions.
2007 – $7,250,000 Housing Preservation Initiative: ANHD secured $1.5 million in annual support for critical housing preservation advocacy in the city’s most disadvantaged areas of which $7.25 million has been realized to date.
2006-2008 – 9,736 fewer harassment cases: ANHD gained breakthrough legislation – the Tenant Protection Act – giving harassed tenants strong new legal rights, reducing the quantifiable instances of harassment in Housing Court by 9,736 documented cases.
2004-2007 – 1,100 Section 8 units rescued: ANHD outreach rescued eleven buildings containing over 1,100 units of housing from leaving the Section 8 affordability program.
2004-2005 – $530 million: ANHD held the City to a promise unfulfilled for 30 years to forge a new Battery Park City agreement that leveraged $130 millionfor 4,500 affordable units, and again in 2010, an additional $400 million for affordable housing.
2003-2005 – 7,200 apartments repaired per year: ANHD led the City to adopt the Targeted Cyclical Enforcement Program to enforce repairs.
Website: anhd.org
The Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD) works to build the strength of the community development movement in New York City. ANHD was founded in 1974 with the mission to help low-income communities thrive and to ensure that all New Yorkers can live in decent, affordable housing and neighborhoods.
Today ANHD leads a membership of 99 of the City’s leading community development and neighborhood-based not-for-profit affordable housing organizations. Our member groups use grassroots advocacy strength, bricks-and-mortar development skills, and focused neighborhood-level services to work for more decent, just and equitable communities. ANHD supports our member groups with a mix of training, capacity-building resources, strategic research, and high-impact public policy advocacy campaigns.
ANHD members groups have built over 100,000 affordable units in NYC in the past 25 years. ANHD’s policy activism has directly leveraged over $1.3 billion in new resources for affordable housing in the past 10 years alone, and our policy victories have resulted in the preservation of thousands of affordable units.
ANHD’s ACHIEVEMENTS
Over the past decade alone, ANHD’s training, policy research, advocacy, strategic communications, and leadership development for 100 grassroots groups and residents has resulted in leveraging over $1.3 billion for affordable housing, rescuing over 30,000 apartments and 160 buildings for low-income residents, and creating break-through policies for community development:
2012 – City Council passes Responsible Banking Act, developed with ANHD members.
Following ANHD’s reports on dramatic decreases in banks’ local reinvestments in the 2009 and 2011 “The State of Bank Reinvestment in NYC”, New York City Council passed the nation’s strongest RBA bill in May 2012, providing communities with lending data and a voice to ensure local reinvestments as requested by ANHD members.
Community Development Fellowship Program, matching Masters’ Degree students with community non-profits.
2009-present: 90% success in training and placing unemployed adults: ANHD’s Center for Neighborhood Leadership training and internships for unemployed adults has resulted in 90% of trainees graduating into full-time jobs and / or college.
2008-present – 1000s of units rescued from rent increases: ANHD’s activism achieved an important state regulatory reform, reducing a key rent increase pass-along by 1/3 for thousands of tenants.
2007-present – $750 million to save housing from the crisis of over-leveraging: ANHD won a commitment of $750 million in city funds to incentivize banks to sell to affordable housing developers rather than predatory speculators.
2007-present – 3,100 units for 60-year affordability, $145 million annual tax credits: a result of ANHD research and advocacy, NYC Council Speaker Quinn agreed to doubling affordability from 30 to 60 years on 3,100 housing units per year, leveraging $15 million in annual benefits from the tax credits.
2003-present – 6,900 new units via Inclusionary Zoning: ANHD’s member-group led advocacy established New York’s first inclusionary zoning, gaining 6,900 affordable units.
2002-present – $32 million savings on building costs: ANHD’s Affordable Housing Institute trains residents, developers and building managers in affordable housing maintenance, financing and green retro-fitting for a combined economic savings of over $32 million
1992 to present – Affordable Housing Institute helps housing developments save $32 million: the Affordable Housing Institutes on-going trainings – including green building management training – to affordable housing developers, managers, maintenance workers and low-income residents saves $32 million per year in operational costs.
2010 – Gains in permanently affordable housing: ANHD publishes, “A Permanent Problem Requires a Permanent Solution” to promote permanently affordable housing. In response, the city required permanent affordability in many key 2010 land-use decisions.
2007 – $7,250,000 Housing Preservation Initiative: ANHD secured $1.5 million in annual support for critical housing preservation advocacy in the city’s most disadvantaged areas of which $7.25 million has been realized to date.
2006-2008 – 9,736 fewer harassment cases: ANHD gained breakthrough legislation – the Tenant Protection Act – giving harassed tenants strong new legal rights, reducing the quantifiable instances of harassment in Housing Court by 9,736 documented cases.
2004-2007 – 1,100 Section 8 units rescued: ANHD outreach rescued eleven buildings containing over 1,100 units of housing from leaving the Section 8 affordability program.
2004-2005 – $530 million: ANHD held the City to a promise unfulfilled for 30 years to forge a new Battery Park City agreement that leveraged $130 millionfor 4,500 affordable units, and again in 2010, an additional $400 million for affordable housing.
2003-2005 – 7,200 apartments repaired per year: ANHD led the City to adopt the Targeted Cyclical Enforcement Program to enforce repairs.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Brooklyn Arts Council
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Website: brooklynartscoucil.org
Who We Are:
We are the arts council for the borough of Brooklyn. We bring leadership and energy to every part of Brooklyn’s arts scene, supporting and connecting it all. It doesn’t matter where you fit into the arts—artist, audience member, participant, venue, educator or supporter—we want you to create and experience the arts in every neighborhood of Brooklyn.
What drives us? Our impassioned belief in the intrinsic value of the arts and artists, as well as what they can do. Art has a unique ability to bridge cultures, inspiring positive transformation in individual lives and entire communities.
What We Do:
BAC gives grants, presents free and affordable arts events, trains artists and arts professionals, teaches students, incubates new projects and promotes artists and cultural groups across our borough. As Brooklyn’s cultural anchor since 1966, BAC has also been the catalyst helping the arts community grow. We continually evaluate and evolve what we do to meet the changing times, and keep our commitment to community engagement, diversity and inclusion when it comes to the arts in our borough.
Website: brooklynartscoucil.org
Who We Are:
We are the arts council for the borough of Brooklyn. We bring leadership and energy to every part of Brooklyn’s arts scene, supporting and connecting it all. It doesn’t matter where you fit into the arts—artist, audience member, participant, venue, educator or supporter—we want you to create and experience the arts in every neighborhood of Brooklyn.
What drives us? Our impassioned belief in the intrinsic value of the arts and artists, as well as what they can do. Art has a unique ability to bridge cultures, inspiring positive transformation in individual lives and entire communities.
What We Do:
BAC gives grants, presents free and affordable arts events, trains artists and arts professionals, teaches students, incubates new projects and promotes artists and cultural groups across our borough. As Brooklyn’s cultural anchor since 1966, BAC has also been the catalyst helping the arts community grow. We continually evaluate and evolve what we do to meet the changing times, and keep our commitment to community engagement, diversity and inclusion when it comes to the arts in our borough.
Monday, June 22, 2015
WHEDco
Location: Bronx, NY
Website: whedco.org
The Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve healthy, vibrant communities.
We build award-winning, sustainable, affordable homes but our work is not over when our buildings are complete. WHEDco believes that to be successful, affordable housing must be anchored in strong communities that residents can be proud of. WHEDco’s mission is to give the South Bronx access to all the resources that create thriving neighborhoods from high-quality early education and after-school programs, to fresh, healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunity.
Website: whedco.org
The Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve healthy, vibrant communities.
We build award-winning, sustainable, affordable homes but our work is not over when our buildings are complete. WHEDco believes that to be successful, affordable housing must be anchored in strong communities that residents can be proud of. WHEDco’s mission is to give the South Bronx access to all the resources that create thriving neighborhoods from high-quality early education and after-school programs, to fresh, healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunity.
Design Trust for Public Space
Location: New York, NY
Website: designtrust.org
The Design Trust for Public Space (DTPS) has improved the quality of public space and the dialogue around it in New York City for 17 years, championing new ideas and nascent projects. It has broadened the definition of public space by embracing a range of sites, issues and arenas. When DTPS was founded, it stood relatively alone in its field –though not without models and precedent –to provide think-tank-like planning services focused exclusively on public space.
Much has changed since DTPS’ inception. New York City has experienced the proliferation of organizations concerned with the quality of public space and design, many which have taken on similar issues and even adopted planning methodologies that follow DTPS’ successful fellow model.
DTPS itself is a much different organization today than it was 17 years ago, with paid professional staff, a professional leadership of stature, a growing Board, and and a track record that has set a standard for the quality of product delivered by each project. Yet DTPS’ impact and reputation are largely unknown beyond the design community.
Website: designtrust.org
The Design Trust for Public Space (DTPS) has improved the quality of public space and the dialogue around it in New York City for 17 years, championing new ideas and nascent projects. It has broadened the definition of public space by embracing a range of sites, issues and arenas. When DTPS was founded, it stood relatively alone in its field –though not without models and precedent –to provide think-tank-like planning services focused exclusively on public space.
Much has changed since DTPS’ inception. New York City has experienced the proliferation of organizations concerned with the quality of public space and design, many which have taken on similar issues and even adopted planning methodologies that follow DTPS’ successful fellow model.
DTPS itself is a much different organization today than it was 17 years ago, with paid professional staff, a professional leadership of stature, a growing Board, and and a track record that has set a standard for the quality of product delivered by each project. Yet DTPS’ impact and reputation are largely unknown beyond the design community.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Change by Us
Location: New York, NY
Website: nyc.changeby.us
Change by Us NYC is a new website created by Local Projects and run by the City of New York. It's a place for New Yorkers to put their ideas into action by creating projects and building teams to make our city a better place to live. We're kicking things off by asking how we can make our city greener. Get started today!
Share Ideas:
New Yorkers have always been full of great ideas about what will improve their neighborhoods. Use Change by Us NYC to broadcast to others what you have in mind. No idea is too big. No idea is too small.
Join or Create Projects:
Look for projects in your neighborhood or around the city where you can help. Become a member and plug into a network of those who want what you want! You can also use Change by Us NYC to set up and lead your own project, and turn your idea into reality.
Build Teams:
Use Change by Us NYC to connect quickly with the people who will help your project from start to finish. Someone has the idea, someone has the plan, someone has the tools, and together you succeed.
Use Change by Us NYC to find and connect with public and non-profit programs that can help your project succeed. Whether you need to access a City service or find some local knowledge, there are resources ready to provide guidance. Help us spread the word about Change by Us NYC — and check back often to see the line-up of influential New Yorkers who have agreed to follow projects and connect with community members online.
If there are any features or resources that you think will make Change by Us NYC easier to use or more effective, please contact us.
Change by Us NYC is a new platform created by Local Projects — known for its innovative work on StoryCorps and the 9/11 Memorial Museum — and the urban think tank CEOs for Cities. It is funded with the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Case Foundation.
Change by Us NYC is run by New York City's Office of the Mayor. New York City is also proud to have the following partners working with us on the site: Citizens Committee for New York City, Pratt Center for Community Development, ioby and the United States Forest Service.
Website: nyc.changeby.us
Change by Us NYC is a new website created by Local Projects and run by the City of New York. It's a place for New Yorkers to put their ideas into action by creating projects and building teams to make our city a better place to live. We're kicking things off by asking how we can make our city greener. Get started today!
Share Ideas:
New Yorkers have always been full of great ideas about what will improve their neighborhoods. Use Change by Us NYC to broadcast to others what you have in mind. No idea is too big. No idea is too small.
Join or Create Projects:
Look for projects in your neighborhood or around the city where you can help. Become a member and plug into a network of those who want what you want! You can also use Change by Us NYC to set up and lead your own project, and turn your idea into reality.
Build Teams:
Use Change by Us NYC to connect quickly with the people who will help your project from start to finish. Someone has the idea, someone has the plan, someone has the tools, and together you succeed.
Use Change by Us NYC to find and connect with public and non-profit programs that can help your project succeed. Whether you need to access a City service or find some local knowledge, there are resources ready to provide guidance. Help us spread the word about Change by Us NYC — and check back often to see the line-up of influential New Yorkers who have agreed to follow projects and connect with community members online.
If there are any features or resources that you think will make Change by Us NYC easier to use or more effective, please contact us.
Change by Us NYC is a new platform created by Local Projects — known for its innovative work on StoryCorps and the 9/11 Memorial Museum — and the urban think tank CEOs for Cities. It is funded with the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Knight Foundation, and the Case Foundation.
Change by Us NYC is run by New York City's Office of the Mayor. New York City is also proud to have the following partners working with us on the site: Citizens Committee for New York City, Pratt Center for Community Development, ioby and the United States Forest Service.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Community Voices Heard
Location: New York City, NY
Website: cvhaction.org
Community Voices Heard (CVH) is a member-led multi-racial organization, principally women of color and low-income families in New York State that builds power to secure social, economic and racial justice for all. We accomplish this through grassroots organizing, leadership development, policy changes, and creating new models of direct democracy.
We are working towards building a society in which the systems that govern us foster racial, social and economic justice not exploitation – particularly for low-income people of color. We seek a society in which all people – regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender expression, sexual identity, citizen status, primary language, and ability – are treated with mutual respect and when privileges of one group do not exist. We seek a society in which all people are able to work with dignity, have access to a sustainable quality of life, and can obtain unconditional support in their time of need. We seek a society in which governmental structures are transparent and based on community needs.
We seek a society in which policies address the needs of all people and strengthen our communities. We believe in a society where “experts” do not have all the answers but rather a society in which the people most directly affected are the ones making the decisions.
Community Voices Heard (CVH) was founded in 1994 as a member-led organization by low-income people, predominantly women of color, many receiving public assistance and fighting the welfare reform policies that threatened their families. Leading members like Gail Aska worked to build power in New York City and State to improve the lives of our families and communities. From these early beginnings CVH has evolved into a multi-issue statewide organization of low-income people.
Community Voices Heard subscribes to the following principles as we move forward in implementing our strategic plan.
CVH believes that membership must have meaningful decision-making and control of the organization and the work we do.
CVH believes that base building is the foundation of what we do – we actively work to increase the numbers of low-income people and people of color involved in social change and leadership development of community leaders, particularly women and people of color, is core to our work and the empowerment of our membership.
CVH believes that the people whose lives are directly affected by enforced policies should lead the charge in defining these policies.
CVH is about organizing: we provide information and education and refer people to get their immediate needs met, but we remain focused on building collective power for systemic change.
CVH welcomes and respects people of all races, ethnicities, religions, ages, gender expressions, sexual identities, citizen status, primary languages and abilities.
Website: cvhaction.org
Community Voices Heard (CVH) is a member-led multi-racial organization, principally women of color and low-income families in New York State that builds power to secure social, economic and racial justice for all. We accomplish this through grassroots organizing, leadership development, policy changes, and creating new models of direct democracy.
We are working towards building a society in which the systems that govern us foster racial, social and economic justice not exploitation – particularly for low-income people of color. We seek a society in which all people – regardless of their race, ethnicity, religion, age, gender expression, sexual identity, citizen status, primary language, and ability – are treated with mutual respect and when privileges of one group do not exist. We seek a society in which all people are able to work with dignity, have access to a sustainable quality of life, and can obtain unconditional support in their time of need. We seek a society in which governmental structures are transparent and based on community needs.
We seek a society in which policies address the needs of all people and strengthen our communities. We believe in a society where “experts” do not have all the answers but rather a society in which the people most directly affected are the ones making the decisions.
Community Voices Heard (CVH) was founded in 1994 as a member-led organization by low-income people, predominantly women of color, many receiving public assistance and fighting the welfare reform policies that threatened their families. Leading members like Gail Aska worked to build power in New York City and State to improve the lives of our families and communities. From these early beginnings CVH has evolved into a multi-issue statewide organization of low-income people.
Community Voices Heard subscribes to the following principles as we move forward in implementing our strategic plan.
CVH believes that membership must have meaningful decision-making and control of the organization and the work we do.
CVH believes that base building is the foundation of what we do – we actively work to increase the numbers of low-income people and people of color involved in social change and leadership development of community leaders, particularly women and people of color, is core to our work and the empowerment of our membership.
CVH believes that the people whose lives are directly affected by enforced policies should lead the charge in defining these policies.
CVH is about organizing: we provide information and education and refer people to get their immediate needs met, but we remain focused on building collective power for systemic change.
CVH welcomes and respects people of all races, ethnicities, religions, ages, gender expressions, sexual identities, citizen status, primary languages and abilities.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
The Museum of the City of New York
Location: New York, NY
Website:
The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation.
Founded as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City. It serves the people of New York and visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.
The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born writer with a vision for a populist approach to the city. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the future residence of the Mayor of New York. Hardinge Scholle succeeded Henry Brown in 1926 and began planning a new home for the Museum.
The City offered land on Fifth Avenue on 103rd-104th Streets and construction for Joseph H. Freedlander’s Georgian Colonial-Revival design for the building started in 1929 and was completed in 1932.
During the next few decades, the Museum amassed a considerable collection of exceptional items, including several of Eugene O’Neill’s handwritten manuscripts, a complete room of Duncan Phyfe furniture, 412 glass negatives taken by Jacob Riis and donated by his son, a man’s suit worn to George Washington’s Inaugural Ball, and the Carrie Walter Stettheimer dollhouse, which contains a miniature work by Marcel Duchamp.
Today the Museum’s collection contains approximately 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings, sculpture, toys, and theatrical memorabilia.
Website:
The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city, educating the public about its distinctive character, especially its heritage of diversity, opportunity, and perpetual transformation.
Founded as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum connects the past, present, and future of New York City. It serves the people of New York and visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.
The Museum of the City of New York was founded in 1923 by Henry Collins Brown, a Scottish-born writer with a vision for a populist approach to the city. The Museum was originally housed in Gracie Mansion, the future residence of the Mayor of New York. Hardinge Scholle succeeded Henry Brown in 1926 and began planning a new home for the Museum.
The City offered land on Fifth Avenue on 103rd-104th Streets and construction for Joseph H. Freedlander’s Georgian Colonial-Revival design for the building started in 1929 and was completed in 1932.
During the next few decades, the Museum amassed a considerable collection of exceptional items, including several of Eugene O’Neill’s handwritten manuscripts, a complete room of Duncan Phyfe furniture, 412 glass negatives taken by Jacob Riis and donated by his son, a man’s suit worn to George Washington’s Inaugural Ball, and the Carrie Walter Stettheimer dollhouse, which contains a miniature work by Marcel Duchamp.
Today the Museum’s collection contains approximately 750,000 objects, including prints, photographs, decorative arts, costumes, paintings, sculpture, toys, and theatrical memorabilia.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Straphangers Campaign
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.straphangers.org
The campaign was founded in 1979 by the New York Public Interest Research Group at a critical time for New York City transit: By the late 1970s, the city's subways had become unreliable and decrepit. Graffiti covered every car and station. Transit fires and derailments hit record levels.
Crime steadily worsened. Ridership plummeted to the lowest level in 80 years. Businesses cited poor transit as a leading reason for moving out of New York. The system had become a symbol of the decline of the city itself.
There's been great progress since then. Today, trains are nearly ten times more reliable. Ridership has bounced back. Transit crimes, fires, derailments—all have been greatly reduced in the last two decades.
In 1997, the transit system started offering free transfers between subways and buses. In 1998, riders received the first fare decrease in the history of the system in the form of unlimited-ride transit passes. As a result, ridership has soared. By 2007, ridership was at its highest level since 1952!, These improvements didn’t happen by accident.
The Straphangers Campaign played a leading role in building a consensus for scores of billions of dollars in new investments in metropolitan transit—through our rider organizing, coalition building, research, reports, and media savvy.
At neighborhood forums, we ask whether people think the transit system has gotten better, worse, or stayed the same. The majority always respond "better." How many New Yorkers would say that about our other key institutions, from schools to health care?
Although much more remains to be done, the campaign is proud of our role in turning around transit. The campaign had many achievements in our advocacy for decent, safe, and affordable transit.
Website: www.straphangers.org
The campaign was founded in 1979 by the New York Public Interest Research Group at a critical time for New York City transit: By the late 1970s, the city's subways had become unreliable and decrepit. Graffiti covered every car and station. Transit fires and derailments hit record levels.
Crime steadily worsened. Ridership plummeted to the lowest level in 80 years. Businesses cited poor transit as a leading reason for moving out of New York. The system had become a symbol of the decline of the city itself.
There's been great progress since then. Today, trains are nearly ten times more reliable. Ridership has bounced back. Transit crimes, fires, derailments—all have been greatly reduced in the last two decades.
In 1997, the transit system started offering free transfers between subways and buses. In 1998, riders received the first fare decrease in the history of the system in the form of unlimited-ride transit passes. As a result, ridership has soared. By 2007, ridership was at its highest level since 1952!, These improvements didn’t happen by accident.
The Straphangers Campaign played a leading role in building a consensus for scores of billions of dollars in new investments in metropolitan transit—through our rider organizing, coalition building, research, reports, and media savvy.
At neighborhood forums, we ask whether people think the transit system has gotten better, worse, or stayed the same. The majority always respond "better." How many New Yorkers would say that about our other key institutions, from schools to health care?
Although much more remains to be done, the campaign is proud of our role in turning around transit. The campaign had many achievements in our advocacy for decent, safe, and affordable transit.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Mannahhata2409
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.mannahatta2409org
Mannahatta 2409, currently under development, will offer an online forum to enable the public to develop and share climate-resilient designs for Manhattan based on realistic model assessments of carbon, water, biodiversity, and population.
The project is scheduled for launch in late Fall 2013.
Because ecology has largely been ignored by past generations, New York City, like most modern cities, has inherited a series of interconnected problems of ecological performance: stormwater management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, brownfield remediation, and ecological restoration.
The first step in rectifying these problems is to think of the city as a vital ecological place, an ecosystem with attributes like a forest, a wetland, or a stream, but designed for people.
Mannahatta 2409 will be a map-based web application meant to inspire, inform, and generate new ideas about sustainable urban forms from the many diverse people who love New York City, Manhattan in particular.
We want to engage everyone, from city officials to schoolchildren, in the search for ecologically informed sustainability, as measured by ecological performance indicators related to carbon, water, biodiversity, and population.
Website: www.mannahatta2409org
Mannahatta 2409, currently under development, will offer an online forum to enable the public to develop and share climate-resilient designs for Manhattan based on realistic model assessments of carbon, water, biodiversity, and population.
The project is scheduled for launch in late Fall 2013.
Because ecology has largely been ignored by past generations, New York City, like most modern cities, has inherited a series of interconnected problems of ecological performance: stormwater management, climate change adaptation and mitigation, brownfield remediation, and ecological restoration.
The first step in rectifying these problems is to think of the city as a vital ecological place, an ecosystem with attributes like a forest, a wetland, or a stream, but designed for people.
Mannahatta 2409 will be a map-based web application meant to inspire, inform, and generate new ideas about sustainable urban forms from the many diverse people who love New York City, Manhattan in particular.
We want to engage everyone, from city officials to schoolchildren, in the search for ecologically informed sustainability, as measured by ecological performance indicators related to carbon, water, biodiversity, and population.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Talking Transition
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.talkingtransitionnyc.com
For the first time in 12 years, New Yorkers will have a new mayor. On January 1, 2014 the mayor-elect will be inaugurated to become the leader of the largest city in the United States. He will inherit a $70 billion budget, assume responsibility for administering city services and overseeing public agencies.
As the city's chief executive, he will manage 250,000 employees - including teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and sanitation workers - and enforce all city and state laws in the five boroughs.
Aside from these important administrative responsibilities, the new mayor will directly represent the 8.3 million people who call the city home. To do that effectively, he must listen to what they have to say.
Talking Transition seeks to give New Yorkers a voice during this transfer of power, creating a more transparent process. Whether it's in the tent, at the mobile “tents,”, or in public spaces across the city, this project invites New Yorkers to come together and re-imagine what the city can and will be in the future.
By joining the conversation, New Yorkers can share their ideas and concerns, inform the new mayor's agenda, and continue to move this city forward.
It’s time to start talking.
Want to organize a discussion in The Tent?
Talking Transition is offering small grants to organizations with 501c3 status to produce interactive and engaging events in the Talking Transition tent. Funds would support the staff capacity and/or production expenses involved in convening a multi-part, ninety minute or longer, interactive event. The convening organization would also need to demonstrate their capacity to mobilize at least 200 people for participation.
The foundations sponsoring Talking Transition will evaluate each proposal.
Website: www.talkingtransitionnyc.com
For the first time in 12 years, New Yorkers will have a new mayor. On January 1, 2014 the mayor-elect will be inaugurated to become the leader of the largest city in the United States. He will inherit a $70 billion budget, assume responsibility for administering city services and overseeing public agencies.
As the city's chief executive, he will manage 250,000 employees - including teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and sanitation workers - and enforce all city and state laws in the five boroughs.
Aside from these important administrative responsibilities, the new mayor will directly represent the 8.3 million people who call the city home. To do that effectively, he must listen to what they have to say.
Talking Transition seeks to give New Yorkers a voice during this transfer of power, creating a more transparent process. Whether it's in the tent, at the mobile “tents,”, or in public spaces across the city, this project invites New Yorkers to come together and re-imagine what the city can and will be in the future.
By joining the conversation, New Yorkers can share their ideas and concerns, inform the new mayor's agenda, and continue to move this city forward.
It’s time to start talking.
Want to organize a discussion in The Tent?
Talking Transition is offering small grants to organizations with 501c3 status to produce interactive and engaging events in the Talking Transition tent. Funds would support the staff capacity and/or production expenses involved in convening a multi-part, ninety minute or longer, interactive event. The convening organization would also need to demonstrate their capacity to mobilize at least 200 people for participation.
The foundations sponsoring Talking Transition will evaluate each proposal.
Friday, October 11, 2013
City Modern
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.citymodernnyc.com
CITY MODERN will showcase the best of New York's design scene with studio tours, panel discussions, cocktail parties, special installations and home tours.
Meet the brilliant minds behind the city's most innovative spaces and engage with topics including fashion and architecture, food and design, the city’s talented young designers, and so much more.
Join us and be inspired by the brilliant designers, architects, and artists that are helping to build, remodel, and preserve our beloved metropolis.
Co-hosted by New York magazine, the second annual CITY MODERN celebrates New York’s incredible modern design and architecture. The week-long festival, helmed by Dwell editor-in-chief Amanda Dameron.
New York design editor Wendy Goodman, brings together a vital design community—accomplished and emerging designers, students, design enthusiasts, and many others—to share their ideas, creativity, and innovations. Exclusive programming, from September 27 through October 4, will include daily panel discussions, compelling home tours, lively parties and receptions, and much more.
Website: www.citymodernnyc.com
CITY MODERN will showcase the best of New York's design scene with studio tours, panel discussions, cocktail parties, special installations and home tours.
Meet the brilliant minds behind the city's most innovative spaces and engage with topics including fashion and architecture, food and design, the city’s talented young designers, and so much more.
Join us and be inspired by the brilliant designers, architects, and artists that are helping to build, remodel, and preserve our beloved metropolis.
Co-hosted by New York magazine, the second annual CITY MODERN celebrates New York’s incredible modern design and architecture. The week-long festival, helmed by Dwell editor-in-chief Amanda Dameron.
New York design editor Wendy Goodman, brings together a vital design community—accomplished and emerging designers, students, design enthusiasts, and many others—to share their ideas, creativity, and innovations. Exclusive programming, from September 27 through October 4, will include daily panel discussions, compelling home tours, lively parties and receptions, and much more.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Transportation Alternatives
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.transalt.org
Transportation Alternatives is New York City's leading transportation advocacy organization, with a citywide network of 100,000 active supporters committed to reclaiming New York City’s streets for people by ensuring that every New Yorker has safe space to walk and bike and access to public transportation.
Every day, all over the city, we're working to make New York City’s neighborhoods safer and restore a vibrant culture of street life.
Transportation Alternatives is involved in every aspect of traveling around New York City. From bike routes and bus lanes to pedestrian crossings and play streets, we’re fighting for safer, smarter transportation and a healthier city.
Since our founding in 1973 T.A. has helped New York City’s bicycling population grow exponentially and worked to dramatically reduce the number of pedestrians killed each year by dangerous drivers.
In the early 2000s, T.A. introduced New York’s policymakers to the idea of bus-only lanes, laying the foundation for the swift new Select Bus Service in 2007. With the help of our network of tens of thousands of supporters, Transportation Alternatives has won improvements all over the city.
Website: www.transalt.org
Transportation Alternatives is New York City's leading transportation advocacy organization, with a citywide network of 100,000 active supporters committed to reclaiming New York City’s streets for people by ensuring that every New Yorker has safe space to walk and bike and access to public transportation.
Every day, all over the city, we're working to make New York City’s neighborhoods safer and restore a vibrant culture of street life.
Transportation Alternatives is involved in every aspect of traveling around New York City. From bike routes and bus lanes to pedestrian crossings and play streets, we’re fighting for safer, smarter transportation and a healthier city.
Since our founding in 1973 T.A. has helped New York City’s bicycling population grow exponentially and worked to dramatically reduce the number of pedestrians killed each year by dangerous drivers.
In the early 2000s, T.A. introduced New York’s policymakers to the idea of bus-only lanes, laying the foundation for the swift new Select Bus Service in 2007. With the help of our network of tens of thousands of supporters, Transportation Alternatives has won improvements all over the city.
Friday, August 30, 2013
Brooklyn Box
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Website: www.bkbxgallery.com
bkbx [Brooklyn Box] is an exhibition space located in the former National Packing Box Factory on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.
An independent Project-in-Residence at Proteus Gowanus, bkbx was founded by eleven artists who came together through their association with Proteus Gowanus.
bkbx artists come from a wide variety of stylistic and conceptual practices, but share a dedication to forming a meaningful alternative model to today’s art environment. In the community, creativity is experienced as a form of generosity.
A portion of all bkbx sales goes to support our non-profit “parent” organization "Proteus Gowanus".
Location: 543 Union Street,Brooklyn, NY 11215 - entry is around the corner via the Alleyway on Nevins Street.
Enter through Proteus Gowanus.
Hours: Thursday and Friday from 3 – 6, Saturday and Sunday from 12 – 6, or by appointment.
Website: www.bkbxgallery.com
bkbx [Brooklyn Box] is an exhibition space located in the former National Packing Box Factory on the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, NY.
An independent Project-in-Residence at Proteus Gowanus, bkbx was founded by eleven artists who came together through their association with Proteus Gowanus.
bkbx artists come from a wide variety of stylistic and conceptual practices, but share a dedication to forming a meaningful alternative model to today’s art environment. In the community, creativity is experienced as a form of generosity.
A portion of all bkbx sales goes to support our non-profit “parent” organization "Proteus Gowanus".
Location: 543 Union Street,Brooklyn, NY 11215 - entry is around the corner via the Alleyway on Nevins Street.
Enter through Proteus Gowanus.
Hours: Thursday and Friday from 3 – 6, Saturday and Sunday from 12 – 6, or by appointment.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
West Side Rag
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.westsiderag.com
First of all, Welcome to the Rag! Thanks for coming by, and I hope you stay awhile and check out what we have to offer. The Rag is an online newspaper/blog that covers the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and it’s written by Upper West Siders. We cover real estate, crime, store openings and closings, the parks and many other topics, and we publish colorful columns about the neighborhood.
As far as geography goes, the Upper West Side stretches roughly from 59th to 110th Streets and from Central Park to the Hudson River. But we’re flexible: if something is going on at St. John the Divine on 112th, we’ll cover it. If Keanu Reeves strips down to his underwear on 58th Street and 10th Avenue and starts to dance, we won’t let geographic boundaries get in our way. Oh yes, we will tell that story.
The Rag started publishing in 2011 and in its first year was named one of the four best neighborhood blogs in the city by the Village Voice.
Life Style Weekly called the site “The best insider source about Manhattan’s Upper West Side.”>br>
BrickUnderground said the Rag is “wry, addictive, up-to-the-minute.”
Much of what you’ll find on the web is rehashed and repackaged news, or some version of the “official story”. What do top officials have to say about this or that official event? We care what those officials say, but what we’re really after is the unofficial stories, the ones we haven’t heard before.
What food do Upper West Siders buy when natural disasters approach? Why is crime up in the 24th precinct? Are new real estate developments making the neighborhood more appealing or simply more unaffordable?
Who is the local Sticker Bandit? What’s really “lobster salad”?
In short, what is it like to live on the Upper West Side today? What gets people excited, what gets them angry, what makes them laugh?
We will not be afraid to write about the big issues, but we also won’t shy away from totally trivial topics. In our morning bulletin, we also aggregate news and opinion about the neighborhood from other outlets so you can know what’s going on. And every week, we let you know about the best events in the neighborhood.
But what we really love is to hear from people who live here (there are more than 200,000 of you and we have a very large inbox). That’s where we get our best stories and ideas.
Please, please, please send us tips, gripes, stories, and ideas. If you witness a crime or a crash let us know. If you see a new store opening or an old store closing, send us a picture. If you had an awful/wonderful experience at a store/park/restaurant… you get the picture. Some people have already signed on as columnists and they’re the best in the city, if not the world!), and we would like to add new columnists. If you become a columnist, you can write or take pictures or make videos about whatever you want, so long as they are about the neighborhood. If you’re interested, send an email to: info at westsiderag dot com. Also, be sure to follow us on twitter and facebook.>br>
And sign up for our email newsletter (just send an email to us at news at westsiderag dot com with your email address).
Website: www.westsiderag.com
First of all, Welcome to the Rag! Thanks for coming by, and I hope you stay awhile and check out what we have to offer. The Rag is an online newspaper/blog that covers the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and it’s written by Upper West Siders. We cover real estate, crime, store openings and closings, the parks and many other topics, and we publish colorful columns about the neighborhood.
As far as geography goes, the Upper West Side stretches roughly from 59th to 110th Streets and from Central Park to the Hudson River. But we’re flexible: if something is going on at St. John the Divine on 112th, we’ll cover it. If Keanu Reeves strips down to his underwear on 58th Street and 10th Avenue and starts to dance, we won’t let geographic boundaries get in our way. Oh yes, we will tell that story.
The Rag started publishing in 2011 and in its first year was named one of the four best neighborhood blogs in the city by the Village Voice.
Life Style Weekly called the site “The best insider source about Manhattan’s Upper West Side.”>br>
BrickUnderground said the Rag is “wry, addictive, up-to-the-minute.”
Much of what you’ll find on the web is rehashed and repackaged news, or some version of the “official story”. What do top officials have to say about this or that official event? We care what those officials say, but what we’re really after is the unofficial stories, the ones we haven’t heard before.
What food do Upper West Siders buy when natural disasters approach? Why is crime up in the 24th precinct? Are new real estate developments making the neighborhood more appealing or simply more unaffordable?
Who is the local Sticker Bandit? What’s really “lobster salad”?
In short, what is it like to live on the Upper West Side today? What gets people excited, what gets them angry, what makes them laugh?
We will not be afraid to write about the big issues, but we also won’t shy away from totally trivial topics. In our morning bulletin, we also aggregate news and opinion about the neighborhood from other outlets so you can know what’s going on. And every week, we let you know about the best events in the neighborhood.
But what we really love is to hear from people who live here (there are more than 200,000 of you and we have a very large inbox). That’s where we get our best stories and ideas.
Please, please, please send us tips, gripes, stories, and ideas. If you witness a crime or a crash let us know. If you see a new store opening or an old store closing, send us a picture. If you had an awful/wonderful experience at a store/park/restaurant… you get the picture. Some people have already signed on as columnists and they’re the best in the city, if not the world!), and we would like to add new columnists. If you become a columnist, you can write or take pictures or make videos about whatever you want, so long as they are about the neighborhood. If you’re interested, send an email to: info at westsiderag dot com. Also, be sure to follow us on twitter and facebook.>br>
And sign up for our email newsletter (just send an email to us at news at westsiderag dot com with your email address).
Thursday, August 8, 2013
New York City Economic Development Corporation
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.nycedc.org
NYCEDC is the City’s primary engine for economic development charged with leveraging the City’s assets to drive growth, create jobs and improve quality of life.
We are an organization dedicated to New York City and its people. We use our expertise to develop, advise, manage and invest to strengthen businesses and help neighborhoods thrive. We make the City stronger.
NYCEDC also helps create affordable housing, new parks, shopping areas, community centers, cultural centers and much more. How do we accomplish this?
We build from the bottom up; starting with a strong infrastructure to support the City’s many neighborhoods. By leveraging partnerships between the public and private sectors, we stimulate the economy with real estate developments that create jobs, build and revive communities and improve quality of life for all New Yorkers.
By providing expert business, economic and policy advice to the City, not-for-profit and for-profit private sectors, we work to ensure that New York remains a global center of commerce and culture. We advise the City on strategic issues and devise programs that help to attract and retain world-class companies and professionals. In order to diversify and grow the City’s economy, our extensive initiatives are designed to assist the City’s various sectors and to introduce actionable plans to make our vision for the City’s future a reality.
Our management of City properties and assets generates revenue while creating jobs and new business opportunities. We partner with other City agencies to ensure that our properties, which include manufacturing and distribution hubs, transportation and other infrastructure, are well-maintained and easily accessible. We also support initiatives that stimulate growth across industries that utilize City properties and assets.
We provide the financial tools that allow businesses and not-for-profits to grow and create new jobs. We also fund public and private projects that generate jobs and revenue – investments for now and for the future.
Website: www.nycedc.org
NYCEDC is the City’s primary engine for economic development charged with leveraging the City’s assets to drive growth, create jobs and improve quality of life.
We are an organization dedicated to New York City and its people. We use our expertise to develop, advise, manage and invest to strengthen businesses and help neighborhoods thrive. We make the City stronger.
NYCEDC also helps create affordable housing, new parks, shopping areas, community centers, cultural centers and much more. How do we accomplish this?
We build from the bottom up; starting with a strong infrastructure to support the City’s many neighborhoods. By leveraging partnerships between the public and private sectors, we stimulate the economy with real estate developments that create jobs, build and revive communities and improve quality of life for all New Yorkers.
By providing expert business, economic and policy advice to the City, not-for-profit and for-profit private sectors, we work to ensure that New York remains a global center of commerce and culture. We advise the City on strategic issues and devise programs that help to attract and retain world-class companies and professionals. In order to diversify and grow the City’s economy, our extensive initiatives are designed to assist the City’s various sectors and to introduce actionable plans to make our vision for the City’s future a reality.
Our management of City properties and assets generates revenue while creating jobs and new business opportunities. We partner with other City agencies to ensure that our properties, which include manufacturing and distribution hubs, transportation and other infrastructure, are well-maintained and easily accessible. We also support initiatives that stimulate growth across industries that utilize City properties and assets.
We provide the financial tools that allow businesses and not-for-profits to grow and create new jobs. We also fund public and private projects that generate jobs and revenue – investments for now and for the future.
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Municipal Art Society
OLocation: New York, NY
Website: www.mas.org
The Municipal Art Society is New York’s leading organization dedicated to creating a more livable city.
For 120 years, MAS—a nonprofit membership organization—has been committed to promoting New York City’s economic vitality, cultural vibrancy, environmental sustainability and social diversity.
Website: www.mas.org
The Municipal Art Society is New York’s leading organization dedicated to creating a more livable city.
For 120 years, MAS—a nonprofit membership organization—has been committed to promoting New York City’s economic vitality, cultural vibrancy, environmental sustainability and social diversity.
Working to protect the best of New York’s existing landscape, from landmarks and historic districts to public open spaces, MAS encourages visionary design, planning and architecture that promote resilience and the livability of New York.
Founded in 1893, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) has helped create a more livable city by advocating for the quality of the built environment through excellence in urban planning, design, preservation and placemaking through the arts.
From saving Grand Central Terminal and the lights of Times Square to establishing groundbreaking land-use and preservation laws that have become national models,
Founded in 1893, the Municipal Art Society (MAS) has helped create a more livable city by advocating for the quality of the built environment through excellence in urban planning, design, preservation and placemaking through the arts.
From saving Grand Central Terminal and the lights of Times Square to establishing groundbreaking land-use and preservation laws that have become national models,
MAS is at the forefront of New York’s most important campaigns to promote our city’s economic vitality, cultural vibrancy, environmental sustainability and social diversity. MAS is a convener of ideas and an advocate for solutions aimed at achieving a high quality of life in all of New York’s communities.
We strive to ensure that the city’s leadership fully debates New York’s prospects for improved livability and includes the public in the discussion.
MAS has played a critical role in the creation of the New York City Planning Commission, Design Commission and Landmarks Preservation Commission; and served as incubator for such civic organizations as the Public Art Fund, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Historic Districts Council, Park Avenue Armory and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.
Significant milestones:
1893: MAS is founded to beautify New York City parks and public buildings with murals and sculptures financed by membership dues.
MAS has played a critical role in the creation of the New York City Planning Commission, Design Commission and Landmarks Preservation Commission; and served as incubator for such civic organizations as the Public Art Fund, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Historic Districts Council, Park Avenue Armory and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.
Significant milestones:
1893: MAS is founded to beautify New York City parks and public buildings with murals and sculptures financed by membership dues.
1902: New York’s first major tree-planting campaign, the “Block Beautiful” movement, begins as a private MAS initiative.
1908: As New York City’s y burgeons, MAS advocates for the construction of public housing, increased services for poor residents and more public bathhouses.
1916: MAS advocacy allows political reformers to win approval of the landmark Zoning Resolution of 1916.
1920s: MAS helps defeat proposals by Major John Hylan to build the IND subway within Central Park and the Music and Art Center on its south edge.
1930s: MAS urges construction of Rockefeller Center, an unpopular, pro-Modernist position at the time.
1938: After decades of advocacy by MAS, New York City establishes a permanent City Planning Commission under its new City Charter.
1955: MAS fights to defeat the demolition of Tweed Courthouse, near City Hall.
1956: MAS begins to curate architectural walking tours of New York City, a key tool for our preservation and advocacy efforts.
1961: MAS organizes a successful public campaign to save the Jefferson Market Courthouse in Greenwich Village.
1973: MAS helps win passage of New York City’s Landmarks Law, substantially broadening the powers of the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
1978: The MAS campaign to save Grand Central Terminal, led by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is victorious when the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms the constitutionality of the Landmarks Law.
1979: When Radio City Music Hall is threatened with demolition, MAS fights to block construction of an office building on the site.
1980: As Lever House is threatened with demolition, MAS helps designate it a landmark, saving the first New York City modern landmark.
1980: MAS campaigns successfully to achieve landmark status for the historic theaters of Times Square, and ensure that all new development includes illuminated signage.
1987: MAS begins its popular Adopt-A-Monument effort to rescue public sculptures from deterioration, which was augmented by the Adopt-A-Mural project in 1991.
1991: MAS establishes a training program to assist community groups seeking guidance on planning, land use, zoning and development issues.
1999: MAS partners with New York City to sponsor an international design competition for the future reclamation of the Fresh Kills Landfill on Staten Island.
2001: MAS, with Creative Time, leads the creation of Tribute in Light, a memorial to the victims of September 11. MAS also organizes Imagine New York to ensure that the public’s ideas concerning reconstruction in Lower Manhattan are heard.
2006: Following six years of coalition building and advocacy that includes successfully championing a waterfront committee of the City Council, MAS launches the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance as a new organization.
2007: With support from the Rockefeller Foundation, MAS presents the ground-breaking exhibition and public program series, Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York.
2009: MAS generates new ideas for the future of Coney Island through ImagineConey, a series of public forums and online submissions.
2010: MAS releases its inaugural MAS Survey on Livability at the first annual MAS Summit for New York City, bringing together top urban academics and thought-leaders to identify the most significant challenges to the city’s future.
With the Preservation and Climate Change Campaign,
MAS emerges as a leading voice promoting the link between historic preservation and energy efficiency, convincing City leaders to include preservation as a goal of its sustainability PlaNYC 2030.
MAS launches a campaign to preserve the Garment District, one of our city’s last industrial and entrepreneurial hubs.
Construction begins on Moynihan Station, a project MAS has long championed,
Based on ideas generated through a community charrette, MAS publishes design guidelines for a new waterfront park on the East Side of Midtown Manhattan.
MAS launches an energy demonstration project at the Henry Street Settlement to show how historic buildings can become more energy efficient without significant aesthetic changes or large capital outlays.
MAS partners with Community Solutions to examine public housing in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
MAS convenes a broad group of city-wide stakeholders to plan for a holistic approach to the future of East Midtown’s public realm and built form at the time of Grand Central Terminal’s centennial.
Drawing on over a decade of research,
MAS launches an advocacy campaign to better activate the City’s 525 privately owned public spaces.
In partnership with the Landmarks Preservation Commission,
MAS publishes Greening New York City’s Historic Buildings, a manual to help property owners and managers improve the energy efficiency of small historic buildings without impacting their character.
With the support of the City’s three public library systems, MAS launches Libraries as Community Anchors, a feasibility study and advocacy campaign to better promote branch libraries as vital neighborhood resources in 21st century New York.
Wednesday, July 17, 2013
Center for Urban Pedagogy
Location:
Website: www.welcometocup.org
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses design and art to improve civic engagement.
CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact our communities, so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them. We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation. CUP projects are collaborations of art and design professionals, community-based advocates and policymakers, and our staff. Together we take on complex issues—from the juvenile justice system to zoning law to food access—and break them down into simple, accessible, visual explanations.
The tools we create are used by organizers and educators all over New York City and beyond to help their constituents better advocate for their own community needs.
CUP takes two approaches to improving public engagement through civic education:
- youth education programs in which students work with teaching artists to investigate some aspect of how the city works and create final products that educate others about what they learned; and
- community education programs that bring together designers and advocates to produce tools, workshops, and publications that explain complex policies or processes for specific audiences.
Community Education works with advocacy organizations, policy experts, and designers to produce publications, workshops, and other teaching tools that explain important policy issues for the people who most need to know.
CUP publications and teaching tools are made for and with specific groups in specific places, but they reach a national audience of people interested in civics education and graphic and information design.
CUP’s Envisioning Development Toolkits are workshops built around interactive tools that teach people about basic land-use terms and concepts, enabling them to participate meaningfully in neighborhood change.
For example, the Affordable Housing Toolkit teaches participants about income demographics and the technical definitions of affordable housing to help them analyze proposed developments in concrete terms of units, rents, and incomes. The toolkits are developed in close collaboration with community organizations throughout New York, such as Good Old Lower East Side, the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Municipal Arts Society, and Tenants and Neighbors.
Making Policy Public series facilitates close collaborations between policy experts and design professionals to produce foldout posters that make complex policy issues accessible. For example, The Cargo Chain helped 10,000 longshoremen understand their place in the global shipping network, and is also a bestseller at art and design bookstores in New York. Collaborators have included designers like Candy Chang, Alice Chung of Omnivore, and Thumb Design with organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice, Community Voices Heard, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Through our Technical Assistance program, community organizations and advocacy groups can hire CUP to create custom outreach and organizing tools. For example, we are working with the Participatory Budgeting Project and Community Voices Heard, along with designer Glen Cummings, to produce outreach and educational materials, as well as maps and ballots for a citywide effort to engage public participation in City Council budget decision making.
Youth Education partners with schools and after school programs to produce experiential, project-based curricula that get students out of the classroom to interact with New York City and the people who make it work. Our education programs vary in length from one day to one semester and reach over 500 students each year – from the Bronx to South Brooklyn and everywhere in between.
Urban Investigations projects ask basic questions about how the city works and answer them over the course of a semester. Where does our garbage go? Where does our water come from? Who built public housing? Students make site visits and conduct interviews while working with artists, designers, and staff to produce award-winning videos, exhibitions, magazines, and other media that communicate what they’ve learned to a wide audience. These products are screened in theaters, exhibited at museums, and used by advocacy organizations to educate others.
For example, the Sewer in a Suitcase, a working model of a city streetscape and combined sewer system developed by CUPwith students from City-as-School, has been featured on the Design Observer website and at the Proteus Gowanus gallery, and is currently being used by educators at organizations like The Harbor School and the Lower East Side Ecology Center to teach people about wastewater management and combined sewer overflow. CUP projects are in-class and after school, project-based curricula for high school students, from semester-long projects to single-session workshops.
For example,CUP recently developed a curriculum with a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick to help students understand how to use information graphics in their persuasive writing. After conducting an on-the-street survey on a proposed soft drink tax, students created their own figures, charts, and graphs to help them develop arguments for or against the tax.
We also provide Teacher Trainings, professional development workshops for teachers and administrators that help educators connect students to their communities through art and design. We develop custom programs to meet the needs of a particular group, from a two-hour site assessment project to a week-long set of workshops.
Website: www.welcometocup.org
The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) is a nonprofit organization that uses design and art to improve civic engagement.
CUP projects demystify the urban policy and planning issues that impact our communities, so that more individuals can better participate in shaping them. We believe that increasing understanding of how these systems work is the first step to better and more diverse community participation. CUP projects are collaborations of art and design professionals, community-based advocates and policymakers, and our staff. Together we take on complex issues—from the juvenile justice system to zoning law to food access—and break them down into simple, accessible, visual explanations.
The tools we create are used by organizers and educators all over New York City and beyond to help their constituents better advocate for their own community needs.
CUP takes two approaches to improving public engagement through civic education:
- youth education programs in which students work with teaching artists to investigate some aspect of how the city works and create final products that educate others about what they learned; and
- community education programs that bring together designers and advocates to produce tools, workshops, and publications that explain complex policies or processes for specific audiences.
Community Education works with advocacy organizations, policy experts, and designers to produce publications, workshops, and other teaching tools that explain important policy issues for the people who most need to know.
CUP publications and teaching tools are made for and with specific groups in specific places, but they reach a national audience of people interested in civics education and graphic and information design.
CUP’s Envisioning Development Toolkits are workshops built around interactive tools that teach people about basic land-use terms and concepts, enabling them to participate meaningfully in neighborhood change.
For example, the Affordable Housing Toolkit teaches participants about income demographics and the technical definitions of affordable housing to help them analyze proposed developments in concrete terms of units, rents, and incomes. The toolkits are developed in close collaboration with community organizations throughout New York, such as Good Old Lower East Side, the Fifth Avenue Committee, the Municipal Arts Society, and Tenants and Neighbors.
Making Policy Public series facilitates close collaborations between policy experts and design professionals to produce foldout posters that make complex policy issues accessible. For example, The Cargo Chain helped 10,000 longshoremen understand their place in the global shipping network, and is also a bestseller at art and design bookstores in New York. Collaborators have included designers like Candy Chang, Alice Chung of Omnivore, and Thumb Design with organizations such as the Brennan Center for Justice, Community Voices Heard, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
Through our Technical Assistance program, community organizations and advocacy groups can hire CUP to create custom outreach and organizing tools. For example, we are working with the Participatory Budgeting Project and Community Voices Heard, along with designer Glen Cummings, to produce outreach and educational materials, as well as maps and ballots for a citywide effort to engage public participation in City Council budget decision making.
Youth Education partners with schools and after school programs to produce experiential, project-based curricula that get students out of the classroom to interact with New York City and the people who make it work. Our education programs vary in length from one day to one semester and reach over 500 students each year – from the Bronx to South Brooklyn and everywhere in between.
Urban Investigations projects ask basic questions about how the city works and answer them over the course of a semester. Where does our garbage go? Where does our water come from? Who built public housing? Students make site visits and conduct interviews while working with artists, designers, and staff to produce award-winning videos, exhibitions, magazines, and other media that communicate what they’ve learned to a wide audience. These products are screened in theaters, exhibited at museums, and used by advocacy organizations to educate others.
For example, the Sewer in a Suitcase, a working model of a city streetscape and combined sewer system developed by CUPwith students from City-as-School, has been featured on the Design Observer website and at the Proteus Gowanus gallery, and is currently being used by educators at organizations like The Harbor School and the Lower East Side Ecology Center to teach people about wastewater management and combined sewer overflow. CUP projects are in-class and after school, project-based curricula for high school students, from semester-long projects to single-session workshops.
For example,CUP recently developed a curriculum with a teacher at the Academy of Urban Planning in Bushwick to help students understand how to use information graphics in their persuasive writing. After conducting an on-the-street survey on a proposed soft drink tax, students created their own figures, charts, and graphs to help them develop arguments for or against the tax.
We also provide Teacher Trainings, professional development workshops for teachers and administrators that help educators connect students to their communities through art and design. We develop custom programs to meet the needs of a particular group, from a two-hour site assessment project to a week-long set of workshops.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Center for an Urban Future
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.nycfuture.org
The Center for an Urban Future is a NYC-based think tank dedicated to highlighting the critical opportunities and challenges facing New York and other cities, and providing fresh ideas and workable solutions to policymakers. The Center’s primary focus is on growing and diversifying the local economy, expanding economic opportunity and targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods. We consistently elevate important, but long overlooked, issues onto the radar of public officials—and we push policymakers to think differently about economic and workforce development.
The Center does this through publishing fact-based research reports that are accessible to a wide audience and holding high-profile policy forums.
Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank dedicated to independent research about key policy issues facing New York and other cities. During his 12 years at the Center, he has been the architect of the policy agenda for the Center and is responsible for making it one of New York's most innovative and influential organizations and one in which its policy ideas are well-respected and widely used by policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners.
At the Center,Jonathan has authored more than two-dozen reports, including a widely acclaimed 2007 study about the significant impact immigrant entrepreneurs are having on cities' economies, an influential study about New York City's innovation economy and a report about how to retain and grow New York's middle class. He has been asked to be a guest contributor for the New York Times and The Council on Foreign Relations on a range of urban issues including New York City's need to diversify its economy and immigrant entrepreneurs.
His research about key economic trends facing New York and its five boroughs, the value of small businesses to cities, and the economic impact of industries ranging from air cargo to biotechnology has been covered in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist. Jonathan is a frequent moderator and speaker at conferences and panel discussions on urban policy in New York and nationally.
Website: www.nycfuture.org
The Center for an Urban Future is a NYC-based think tank dedicated to highlighting the critical opportunities and challenges facing New York and other cities, and providing fresh ideas and workable solutions to policymakers. The Center’s primary focus is on growing and diversifying the local economy, expanding economic opportunity and targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods. We consistently elevate important, but long overlooked, issues onto the radar of public officials—and we push policymakers to think differently about economic and workforce development.
The Center does this through publishing fact-based research reports that are accessible to a wide audience and holding high-profile policy forums.
Jonathan Bowles is the Executive Director of the Center for an Urban Future, a Manhattan-based think tank dedicated to independent research about key policy issues facing New York and other cities. During his 12 years at the Center, he has been the architect of the policy agenda for the Center and is responsible for making it one of New York's most innovative and influential organizations and one in which its policy ideas are well-respected and widely used by policymakers, business leaders, and nonprofit practitioners.
At the Center,Jonathan has authored more than two-dozen reports, including a widely acclaimed 2007 study about the significant impact immigrant entrepreneurs are having on cities' economies, an influential study about New York City's innovation economy and a report about how to retain and grow New York's middle class. He has been asked to be a guest contributor for the New York Times and The Council on Foreign Relations on a range of urban issues including New York City's need to diversify its economy and immigrant entrepreneurs.
His research about key economic trends facing New York and its five boroughs, the value of small businesses to cities, and the economic impact of industries ranging from air cargo to biotechnology has been covered in publications ranging from the New York Times to The Economist. Jonathan is a frequent moderator and speaker at conferences and panel discussions on urban policy in New York and nationally.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
New Yorkers for Parks
Location: New York, NY
Website: www.ny4p.org
New Yorkers for Parks conducts research and develops tangible policy recommendations around our findings related to park development, management and sustainability. Using this research as a foundation for our advocacy campaigns, NY4P drives both immediate actions and long-term policies that protect and enhance the city’s vast network of parks, ensure adequate and equitable distribution of open space resources to all neighborhoods, and inform and empower communities throughout New York City to advocate for their open space needs.
To support our efforts,NY4P builds and maintains strategic partnerships with government officials and agencies, local parks groups and conservancies, academic institutions, and other key stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
Our guiding principles are:
- Open spaces, and the resources to support them, should beequitably distributed,
- Existing parks and open spaces should be well-maintained,
- Parks are an essential public service and should be primarily funded by public dollars, and
- Innovative financing strategies for creating, improving, and maintaining open space should be explored to augment public dollars.
Website: www.ny4p.org
New Yorkers for Parks conducts research and develops tangible policy recommendations around our findings related to park development, management and sustainability. Using this research as a foundation for our advocacy campaigns, NY4P drives both immediate actions and long-term policies that protect and enhance the city’s vast network of parks, ensure adequate and equitable distribution of open space resources to all neighborhoods, and inform and empower communities throughout New York City to advocate for their open space needs.
To support our efforts,NY4P builds and maintains strategic partnerships with government officials and agencies, local parks groups and conservancies, academic institutions, and other key stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
Our guiding principles are:
- Open spaces, and the resources to support them, should beequitably distributed,
- Existing parks and open spaces should be well-maintained,
- Parks are an essential public service and should be primarily funded by public dollars, and
- Innovative financing strategies for creating, improving, and maintaining open space should be explored to augment public dollars.
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