Reports

Pratt Center conducted a thorough investigation of the Brooklyn Navy Yard (BNY), a 300-acre city-owned industrial park and one of the fastest growing green manufacturing centers in the country. The report demonstrates that New York City’s strategy of retaining ownership of the Navy Yard, placing it under mission-driven, nonprofit management and investing a total of $250 million in capital funds since 1996 has paid off: the Navy Yard generates $2 billion in economic output and sustains 10,000 jobs and $390 million in earnings each year.

The Pratt Center for Community Development, in partnership with SFMade, has launched the Urban Manufacturing Alliance (UMA). UMA is a national collaborative of non-profit, for-profit and governmental stakeholders working together to grow urban manufacturing, create living-wage jobs and catalyze sustainable local economies.

On October 18th and 19th 2012, more than 50 individuals representing 29 organizations and 13 cities convened in New York City to share best practices and explore a range of public policy topics of pressing need to urban manufacturers. Click on the pdf below to review a presentation given at the recent convening of the UMA that describes the organization, its mission and presents some of the founding members' and their efforts to protect and grow urban manufacturing. 

On March 16, 2012 community organizations from New York City and beyond came together to share and discuss lessons learned from their efforts to make urban neighborhoods healthier, more equitable, and more environmentally sustainable at Greening From the Ground up: A Sustainability Leadership Conference.

Farmers Boulevard Community Development Corporation Presentation

There is an upsurge of innovative and socially-minded food businesses all over the United States. Two types that hold great potential for both their social and economic impact include incubator kitchens and training restaurants. Incubator kitchens provide food entrepreneurs access to low-cost commercially-licensed kitchen space and in some cases a variety of other small business support services. These kitchens foster local economic development and promote local independent businesses. A training restaurant is a venue that provides job readiness and skills training with the added benefit of hands-on experience. It also provides a retail amenity for the community in which it is located – it functions as a “real” restaurant!