News

On August 10, The Brooklyn Community Foundation (BCF) officially launched “Brooklyn Greens,” a three-year $750,000 commitment to help three low-income communities in Brooklyn to become models for environmentally responsible, sustainable living.

On June 30, former President Bill Clinton announced the support of his Clinton Global Initiative for the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, a new partnership between the Pratt Center, SF Made, and other organizations working on behalf of small manufacturers in U.S. cities.

"This is a very important time for America to look for homegrown solutions to the jobs crisis," said President Clinton at the initiative's Chicago summit. "We do not do enough to generate internal economic development, particularly in areas of high unemployment." Turning to Pratt Center Director Adam Friedman and Kate Sofis, executive director of SF Made, Clinton added, "I am very happy about this and I want to congratulate all these folks for their commitment."

Watch the video of President Clinton's full announcement of the Clinton Global Initiative's Commitment to Action for the Urban Manufacturing Alliance.

The Pratt Center has been a strong supporter of PlaNYC, the Bloomberg administration's sustainability agenda introduced four years ago and updated for Earth Day 2011. But as senior fellows Alyssa Katz and Eve Baron write in the Gotham Gazette, the ability of the city to realize the ambitious goals of PlaNYC has been hampered by the omission of a public process to develop and validate the plan. That's not just a political problem; it's an end run around the New York City Charter and the democratic process that created it.

"The City Charter needs updating to make New Yorkers part of the process not just on individual land use decisions, but on more comprehensive strategic planning about the future of New York City," write Katz and Baron.

City Council Speaker helps Pratt Center and partners launch citywide green home upgrade program

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined the Pratt Center, Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and other partners on November 16 in the front yard of Theresa Braithwaite's Hancock Street house to inaugurate Retrofit NYC Block by Block, a new initiative to get New Yorkers to reduce their energy use through smart investments in their homes. Energy retrofits — home improvements that reduce the use of heating fuel, electricity, and water — can significantly reduce energy bills, make homes healthier and more comfortable, and reduce greenhouse gas and other emissions.

The New York City Council is sponsoring a one-year program that calls on community development groups in Staten Island, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens to enlist property owners in their neighborhoods to undertake retrofits, with the help of incentive programs from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), utility company programs, and federal grants and tax credits.

"When we saw the opportunity to fund $400,000 to help hundreds of homes throughout the City, particularly for underserved neighborhoods in the outer boroughs, we jumped at it," Speaker Quinn said. "This is a great initiative that I’m proud to support and I want to thank Pratt Center for Community Development and all the neighborhood partners for making our City green — one home at a time.”