New York City faces challenges as vast and complex as the 9 million people who inhabit it. From housing affordability and homelessness to public safety and economic opportunity, these tensions are felt across every block and borough....
Learn More
Madeline Bender is a leader whose work spans stages and gardens with a singular mission: to create spaces where people know they matter. Madeline’s path to community leadership is rooted in her upbringing. Raised in rural Virginia and Pennsylvania, she grew up in a culture “steeped in peace and justice issues and service to other […]
Learn More
Emilie Rodriguez has spent more than a decade creating community-based care for families. A Bronx-rooted founder, doula, and maternal health advocate, Emilie knows what it means to build solutions from lived experience. Through Ashé Birthing Services, she and her team of Black and Brown doulas support hundreds of families each year across New York City, […]
Learn More
When academics first introduced STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education as an adaptation of the pre-existing STEM curriculum, the shift immediately sparked debate. Critics challenged the presence of creativity amongst the sciences, pointing to the perceived rigidity within the other disciplines. We don’t see the same distinctions. At...
Learn More
What difference can a community garden really make in the face of climate change? It’s a fair question. Climate change is global, complex, and systemic. A single project can feel small against that scale. But across New York City, our grantee partners are proving that local action matters. They are advancing hyperlocal climate resilience through […]
Learn More
As temperatures rise in New York City, residents, wildlife, urban infrastructure, food systems, and natural habitats all face the heat. But heat risk varies by neighborhood. Socioeconomic disparities and many years of disinvestment leave communities in Upper Manhattan and the South Bronx among those at higher risk of heat-exacerbated deaths. Uptown & Boogie Healthy...
Learn More
With the impact of climate change accelerating, climate resilience strategies absorb the impact of long-standing greenhouse gas emissions and ensure that future generations can thrive on this planet. CitizensNYC is proud to stand behind Cambria Heights Community Garden as they build that future at the neighborhood level. Intended to transform underdeveloped farmland into...
Learn More
New Yorkers feel the impact of the urban heat island effect, where cities experience higher air temperatures than surrounding regions. The combination of heat-retaining surfaces like asphalt and concrete with limited tree coverage can drive temperatures up to 7℉ during the day and 22℉ at night. In a vicious cycle, communities straining to keep cool consume more energy...
Learn More
On Staten Island, the Port Richmond North Shore Alliance (PR-NSA) emphasizes the power of consistent and collective stewardship in building a healthier, more sustainable community. Recognizing that climate change is driven in part by the cumulative impact of harmful everyday behaviors, they apply the same principle to respond: mobilizing consistent, collective efforts to...
Learn More
Like New Yorkers themselves, native plantings have grown and changed with the lands that they inhabit. With more than 1,300 plant species native to the five boroughs of New York City, these plantings support pollinators, improve soil health, and require significantly less water and maintenance than ornamental or imported species. Native species have always carried...
Learn More
How do we build community? According to a survey conducted on behalf of the American Psychological Association to identify and analyze a loneliness epidemic, more than 60% of adults living in the U.S. reported feeling isolated, left out, or lacking companionship often or some of the time. Nearly 70% of U.S. adults recorded a discrepancy […]
Learn MoreYour donation makes our work and the work of our grantees possible.