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Bedford Stuyvesant

Sustainable Houses of Worship: Converting Religious Institutions Into Beacons of Sustainability

Report last updated February 4, 2011

A Report on the Pilot Initiative

Michael Kriegh, RA LEED

In 2010, the Pratt Center for Community Development helped three Bedford-Stuyvesant churches conduct energy audits and retrofits, assess their potential to renovate underutilized space for income and community benefit, and assess the repair needs of their buildings’ shells. This pilot project demonstrates that assisting congregations to upgrade their buildings for energy efficiency will not only reduce the operating costs of the religious institution, thereby freeing up income for services to their communities, it can convert religious institutions into beacons of environmental sustainability, providing leadership to their congregations and surrounding community to engage in energy efficiency and environmental action.

The Pratt Center gives thanks and appreciation to Senator Velmanette Montgomery, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), ConEdison, and New York State Council on the Arts for making this pilot possible, to Friendship Baptist Church, Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and Siloam Presbyterian Church for the privilege of working with you, and to Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation and the NYC Justice Corps for your contributions.

SHOW_PrattCenter.pdf

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Brooklyn Greens

Page last updated January 24, 2011

 

Brooklyn Greens is an initiative of the Brooklyn Community Foundation that supports community development groups in three north Brooklyn neighborhoods. They have joined forces with the Pratt Center to improve their respective environments through a powerful combination of education, participatory planning, community organizing, and weatherization to advance energy efficiency.

El Puente in Southside Williamsburg, Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation have each committed to an ambitious strategy to shrink the areas' carbon footprints, to use environmental improvement to create employment opportunities, and to make environmental sustainability a core value in local culture.

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Sustainable Houses of Worship

Project last updated November 18, 2010

For more on Sustainable Houses of Worship, see the Pratt Center's in-depth report on the project's implementation and results.

 

The Pratt Center is collaborating with New York City religious institutions to help them reduce their buildings’ energy consumption, set maintenance priorities, develop space utilization strategies, and turn the institutions into centers of education and advocacy for sustainability in their communities.

The Sustainable Houses of Worship program's pilot phase in in Bedford-Stuyvesant, home to more than 100 houses of worship, is now complete. Read the stories of three churches that received free energy audits and are already realizing savings on their fuel and electricity bills as a result of recommended improvements:

Friendship Baptist Church

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church

Siloam Presbyterian Church

 

Since then, another six congregations have received assessments of their lighting from Con Edison and two others have had their energy use audited by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority or other auditor.

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Economic and Workforce Development

Project last updated April 6, 2009

Planning for Jobs and Training Opportunities

The Pratt Center has been in the forefront of efforts to make sure that New York City's land use and development policies and programs promote strong employment and training opportunities, and link major economic development projects with nearby residents and workers.

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The Art, Culture and Sustainability Project

News last updated January 26, 2012

In the spring of 2011, Pratt Center for Community Development launched a two-year program designed to connect the arts and artists with our multi-layered work, helping New York City communities to become more environmentally sustainable. Supported by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation’s Cultural Innovation Fund, the Center has partnered with academic and community organizations to produce innovative culture, arts, media and organizing strategies that seek to engage neighborhood residents and artists to promote sustainable, environmental action. This project is a part of Pratt Center’s broader goal to develop replicable models that will aid urban communities’ efforts to become environmentally sustainable -- intensive work we are doing in partnership with nine different community organizations in all five boroughs of NYC.

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Sustainability Seeds are planted in Brooklyn

News last updated August 9, 2011

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.

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Energy Efficiency Comes to New York Neighborhoods

News last updated November 24, 2010

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.”

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Pratt Center Honors Brooklyn Church as Beacon of Sustainability

News last updated October 6, 2010

 Last week the Pratt Center honored Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, led by Rev. Johnny Ray Youngblood, as a “Beacon of Sustainability” for its leadership in promoting energy efficiency. Over the past year, Mt. Pisgah has turned itself into a shining example for the entire community. Working with Pratt Center lead architect Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh under our Sustainable Houses of Worship program, Mt. Pisgah underwent an energy audit of its 39,000-square-foot facility and proceeded to implement every measure recommended by the auditor, including lighting upgrades,the creation of separate heating zones for each building in the complex, and insulation of water pipes.

The church will see a net financial gain because the improvements are projected to lower its energy consumption costs by $13,000 a year. It also saw some immediate cost savings through Con Edison incentives, and resourceful problem-solving by the boiler mechanic referred by the Pratt Center lowered the projected cost of a boiler upgrade to $1,600 from $8,000.

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Retrofit Block By Block Inspires New Citywide Program

News last updated February 17, 2010

In her 2010 State of the City Address, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced a new Council-led initiative to retrofit homes for energy efficiency, focusing efforts in targeted locations in all five boroughs. Speaker Quinn noted that the new program will be based on a project created by the Pratt Center for Community Development. The Council will be supporting the five retrofit sites with assistance to property owners in obtaining financing for improvements, including a new loan fund.

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