environmental justice

Youth Ministries Convent Conversion

Page last updated April 13, 2009

Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice was founded in 1994, after drug dealers' attempt to burn down a local parish inspired neighborhood youth to organize themselves in protest. As the first neighborhood youth center in the Soundview/Bruckner and Bronx River neighborhoods of the South Bronx, which suffer disproportionately from poverty, pollution, and violence, YMPJ works to rebuild these communities by preparing young people to become prophetic voices for peace and justice.

Congestion Pricing

Testimony last updated October 31, 2007

Testimony on Congestion Pricing and Social and Environmental Justice

Joan Byron
Director, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative
Pratt Center for Community Development
October 31, 2007

My name is Joan Byron; I direct the Sustainabilty and Environmental Justice Initiative of the Pratt Center for Community Development. For 45 years, the Pratt Center has supported community-based organizations all over New York City working for social, economic, and environmental justice, and I am especially proud of the work we've done with Bronx organizations who are in the forefront of those movements -- Nos Quedamos, the Point, Sustainable South Bronx, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, and more.

That's why we support congestion pricing -- because it is socially and economically progressive, as well as a step toward environmental justice.

Hunts Point Rezoning

Testimony last updated June 17, 2008

Testimony to the City Council Committee on Zoning and Franchises Special Hunts Point District, Bronx (C080248ZMX)

Joan Byron
Director, Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative
Pratt Center for Community Development
June 17, 2008

My name is Joan Byron; I am the Director of the Sustainability and Environmental Justice Initiative of the Pratt Center for Community and Environmental Development. The Pratt Center works for a more just, equitable, and sustainable city for all New Yorkers, by empowering communities to plan for and realize their futures. We are especially proud to have supported the work of Hunts Point and other South Bronx organizations since the early 1990s in the many battles they have fought for environmental justice; Hunts Point bears more than its share of the burdens of the infrastructure and land uses that make New York City's density and vitality possible, to the daily cost of the people who live, work, and breathe in the shadow of highways, electric power plants, sewage treatment and sludge pelletization facilities, and dozens of waste transfer stations and waste handling facilities.

Pratt Center eNews - Fall 2007

News last updated November 1, 2007

In this Issue:

What Banh Mi and Child Care Have in Common
Elena Conte: Community Action and Citywide Change
Downtown Brooklyn Reassessed
Campus Connection: A Sustainable Pratt Institute
Preservation and Planning: The Next Generation
Cypress Hills Breaks Ground
Redefining ReDefining Economic Development
Change a Light, Change the World
Save the Date: Pratt Center Gala, February 26, 2008

Tell the Charter Commission: Don't Put Off a Fair Share Fix

Page last updated July 12, 2010

Fix fair share

Let the City Charter Revision Commission know that communities' health can't wait.

The New York City Charter Revision Commission must decide which questions it will put on the ballot on election day.

If the commission follows a recommendation from its staff, the processes for approving development and siting decisions won't be among them. The charter commission's staff recommends that land use "should be reserved for future consideration."

The Pratt Center agrees that reforming the charter's land use provisions will require significant time and attention. They deserve a full and wide-ranging discussion – not only by the commission, but by all New Yorkers. But one thing that can't wait are urgently needed fixes to the City Charter's "fair share" provisions designed to ensure that no community is overburdened with environmental or social service facilities.

Plan to Remove Bronx Expressway Gains Traction

Media last updated July 13, 2010

Source: The New York Times
Date: Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/nyregion/13sheridan.html

Read more about Plan to Remove Bronx Expressway Gains Traction

Tags:

affordable housing

environmental justice

Neighborhood:

Tour the Sheridan Expressway Community Plan

News last updated July 13, 2010

As The New York Times reports, the community-generated proposal to replace the underutilized Sheridan Expressway with parks, affordable housing, commercial space and amenities is gaining momentum.

Here's a video tour of the community-generated plan, as developed by the Southern Bronx River Watershed Alliance with the support of the Pratt Center. Learn more about the project here. And see Times architecture critic Nicolai Ourossoff's appreciation of the Sheridan plan as one of the leading ideas for "Reinventing America's Cities."