In This Issue
 
New Team Members
Our team is growing! 

Pamela Soto recently joined NYC-EJA as our new Research Analyst. In this newly created role, she will work closely with our Research Director on the Waterfront Justice Project, but will also provide assistance to our other projects and campaigns. 

Pamela previously served as a fellow for the NYC Parks Department, where she worked as the communications associate for the Bronx River Alliance. She has also acted as the Coastal Zone fellow for the New Haven City Plan Department. She received her Master of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry, where she focused on Urban Ecology and Sustainable Urban Planning, and her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Yale College.
 
Eight New NYC-EJA Fellows from Pratt Institute

In partnership with Pratt Institute's programs for Sustainable Planning and Development, NYC-EJA recruits Pratt PSPD graduate students for year-long fellowships. Fellows work directly with the member organizations, supporting community outreach, research and policy analysis. Click here to get to know our fellows.

NY Prize Stage 1 Winner!
MicroGrid Pictured on a Rooftop, courtesy of NYSERDA website


Central Brooklyn: NY Prize is a $40 million, three-stage competition to engage communities in advancing plans for local power infrastructure, including the creation of microgrids.  During Stage 1, competitively selected communities receive funding to conduct engineering feasibility assessments to evaluate proposed sites in NYS.

Earlier this year, NYC-EJA learned about Con Edison's Brooklyn Queens Demand Management (BQDM) program, an initiative to meet the current gap in megawatt capacity generated by Central & North Brooklyn's growing energy demand - including the possible creation of a microgrid.  To ensure community engagement in the BQDM, we worked with several local community development and advocacy groups to create the Brooklyn Alliance for Sustainable Energy (BASE). NYC-EJA and BASE partnered with BlocPower in a successful application to NYSERDA's NY Prize, securing a $100K grant to conduct a technical feasibility study for the implementation of a microgrid in Central Brooklyn - one that will explore an innovative model to allow for a community ownership stake in the microgrid.

IN THE NEWS

G reen Tech Media: 



Capital New York:  


NYC-EJA 
on Social Media
 


Summer has been busy for NYC-EJA, our members and allies.  From our grassroots neighborhood & citywide campaigns and research projects, to helping build a national climate justice movement, it has been a whirlwind - all, as the calendar winds down to the Pope's visit next week, the National Day of Climate Action on October 14th...and the upcoming Paris climate talks.
Off+On: The Climate Movement and the Road Through Paris


Brooklyn: On September 10th, NYC-EJA Executive Director Eddie Bautista addressed nearly 2,000 climate change activists at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to talk about how climate injustices play out here in New York City. The event, co-hosted by 350.org and the Hip Hop Caucus, featured  Bill McKibben,  Naomi Klein,  Reverend Lennox Yearwood,  Cynthia Ong,  and others. People also tuned in to the event's live stream, and you can catch Eddie's speech here
K10: The 10-Year Commemoration of Hurricane Katrina
NYC Delegation in New Orleans

New Orleans Women Standing in Front of the Levee, photo by Eddie Bautista

New Orleans: For the 10-year Commemoration of Hurricane Katrina, NYC-EJA helped organize a delegation of NYC Hurricane Sandy survivors to visit New Orleans on the weekend of August 28th. In this emotionally charged trip, climate Justice leaders from across the U.S. connected with activists from Gulf South Rising to discuss movement-building to combat climate change and press for a just transition from fossil fuels. 

Last fall, 400,000 people took to the streets of NYC for the People's Climate March.  Working with the re-branded People's Climate Movement, we are building off last year's historic March to call for real action at Paris's COP21, an international conference which aims to create a comprehensive global climate agreement.  A series of national mobilizations are planned for the National Day of Climate Action on 10/14 to call attention to the Paris talks & pressure U.S. negotiators for a meaningful deal. 

Photos courtesy of Jet Toomer

Industrial Waterfront Resiliency Updates
 
South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda
South Bronx: 

Funded by the Kresge Foundation, NYC-EJA and THE POINT CDC have worked with local Hunts Point stakeholders to prepare a series of recommendations for the NYC Economic Development Corporation and the Mayor to consider for the Rebuild by Design implementation plan. The Rebuild by Design advocacy initiative is a key component of our joint South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda.

Sunset Park: 

On August 8th-11th, NYC-EJA Research Director Juan Camilo Osorio and UPROSE Infrastructure Coordinator Ryan Chavez, presented at the two-day regional ASPR/CDC/NIEHS Hurricane Sandy Conference our joint research project "Addressing the Threat of Fugitive Chemicals to Community Recovery Worker".

NYC-EJA Research Director Juan Camilo Osorio and UPROSE Infrastructure Coordinator Ryan Chavez presenting at conference, photo courtesy of Juan Camilo Osorio

Awarded major grant from NIEHS! 

In partnership with UPROSE, the RAND Corporation, and the LifeLine Group, NYC-EJA was awarded a major grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. This grant will allow us to work with small industrial businesses on the Sunset Park waterfront to make them more resilient in cases of extreme weather events. By helping these businesses prevent the risk of chemical releases due to climate disasters, this project will strengthen the public health of the community, and the economic resilience of blue-collar industries.


Be sure to check for more exciting news from NYC-EJA on our website and in future newsletters!

 

In solidarity,

 

Eddie Bautista
The New York City Environmental Justice Alliance

www.nyc-eja.org