On Tuesday, September 24th, organizations representing Lower and Northern Manhattan will discuss resilience in the City. NYC’s open public spaces and parks have been adversely affected by excessive rain and heat. Trees are being compromised by soil erosion, causing some of them to fall over. We are experiencing pools of water in our parks due to an overloaded sewer system or overdevelopment.

Although the pandemic has renewed our appreciation of our parks and open spaces, managing these spaces requires not just City workers, but an army of trained volunteers as well. Organizations focused on youth, art, workforce development, and academics formed a coalition. Together, we are trying to curb these impacts on the environment. Among these are composting, street trees, seed bombing, construction trades, and art.

Taking proactive measures, we organized a forum for experts to share their findings. There will be speakers at Shaking Resilience to its Core: What is Advocacy Look Like in NYC, including Councilman Shaun Abreu, who championed community composting and represents West Harlem; Matthew Moulton, a hydrologist, from NYU Gallatin Wetlab; Elizabeth MacWillie and Zihao Zhang from City College of NY and the J. Max Bond Center and more.

The Resiliency Forum is free to the public. Register on Eventbrite – https://www.eventbrite.com/d/ny–new-york/shaking-resiliency-at-its-core