Reports

While the manufacturing landscape has changed in New York City over the last 40 years, local industry continues to be a vital economic contributor by supplying goods and services to the city's other sectors as well as providing good jobs for residents. These small local manufacturers are responding to growing consumer demand by adapting their product lines and/or developing new goods and services to be sold in the green economy. As a result of these transitions, there is a particular opportunity to expand and create jobs in the 'building products' sub-sector and within the manufacture of products that promote energy efficiency.

In 2005, the New York Industrial Retention Network (NYIRN), now a program of the Pratt Center for Community Development, launched RenewableNY, an initiative to encourage industrial companies in New York City to implement energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, including solar electric and thermal installations, lighting replacements, and boiler upgrades.

The success of the program is now documented in a report from the Pratt Center, "RenewableNY: Bringing Manufacturing Businesses the Power to Retrofit." With a combination of project management and nearly $1 million in strategically timed small grants, NYIRN helped 39 NYC companies, employing more than 3,000 people, to implement energy efficiency projects. The projects leveraged an additional $2 million in private and public investment.

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.

In 2009, the Pratt Center for Community Development and Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation teamed up to turn a stretch of Brooklyn's Herkimer street into a "model green block" for energy efficiency. Retrofit Bedford Stuyvesant used a block-by-block organizing model to compel property owners to take advantage of incentive programs and weatherize their homes.

The project provided incentives to homeowners to participate via free energy audits as well as visible upgrades to beautify the block in the form of street trees, graffiti removal, and improvements to the community garden. These projects were implemented by the NYC Justice Corps program of BSRC, which engages young people with criminal justice histories in job readiness, community-service learning, internships, and job placement.