The Bed-Stuy Community Eco Mapping Project was made possible by generous funding provide by TogetherGreen. Audubon and Toyota launched the five-year TogetherGreen initiative in 2008 to build the promise of a greener, healthier future through innovation, leadership and volunteerims. To learn more about this program please see http://togethergreen.org/
Ajamu Brown: Project Manager
In November 2009, Ajamu became one of 40 individuals selected to participate in the TogetherGreen Fellowship Program- a nationwide program funded by Audubon and Toyota to support conservation projects, train environmental leaders and offer volunteer opportunities to significantly benefit the environment. This generous award will help to support his community project of developing an open source green-map designed to educate and engage residents, businesses and decision makers about the locations of sustainable living activities in his community of Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
DIVAS For Social Justice
DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice aims to bridge the digital divide by combining media literacy and cultural awareness along with a vast understanding of technology to encourage young women in under served communities to pursue careers in computer science and new media.
Clarisa James is the Executive Director of DIVAS for Social Justice. Ms. James has an MFA from the Integrated Media Arts Program at Hunter College and has dedicated her life’s work to training youth in under served communities in creating socially conscious media and bridging the digital divide. Ms. James served as the video facilitator on the Bed-Stuy Community Eco-Mapping Project as well as one of the key organizers partnering with Mr. Brown.
Magnolia Tree Earth Center
Magnolia was formed in the late 70s to improve environmental conditions in Bed-Stuy. Its founder Mrs. Hattie Carthan coined the phrase – “Save a tree – Save a neighborhood”. She was active in promoting beautification projects on a block-by-block basis.
Mrs. Carthan helped to save what is now the only living landmark in NYC a Magnolia Grandiflora that is usually found only in the southern US.
Magnolia sponsors many arts, cultural and educational programs including a community arts gallery, a Tree Corps program and Project Green all dedicated to serving a multi-generational and cultural diverse client base.
Central Brooklyn PROJECT GREEN
— A Project of the People, by the People, for the People —
Utilizes Neighborhoods as Grassroots Laboratories
for Relearning Life Basics
PROJECT GREEN, an urban intergenerational environmental education initiative and model for urban centers throughout the country, is in its third consecutive year encouraging and inspiring Central Brooklyn residents to participate in the process of shaping their neighborhoods’ sustainable future.
PROJECT GREEN activities are centered in and near Bedford Stuyvesant’s largest greenspace, comprising Herbert Von King Park and anchored by the environmental programs nearby, including Magnolia Tree Earth Center of Bedford Stuyvesant and the Hattie Carthan Community Gardens of Bedford Stuyvesant. By building awareness and interest in existing locally-based environmental programs, and their leaders and projects, Project Green, working with the Bedford Stuyvesant Eco-Mapping Project and Divas for Justice, has increased awareness of local gardening and gardeners; farmers, farms and farmers markets, environmental justice, nature journaling and art, and ecology challenges, including recycling and “doming more with less.”
Bed-Stuy Food Council
A grass-roots organization working to change the food system in Bedford Stuyvesant Brooklyn.
Special thanks to the following organizations and individuals for their continued support.
Brooklyn District Public Health Office, NYC Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene
Mara Gittleman & Farming Concrete
Farming Concrete is a study quantifying food production in NYC community gardens, fiscally sponsored by the Open Space Institute and partnered with GreenThumb (NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation), Just Food, and New York Restoration Project. A team of volunteer researchers, students, interns, and gardeners are working with hundreds of gardens to map areas under production, measure total acreage, and track harvest volume by crop. For the first time, metrics will be developed to estimate yield from a small, poly-culture raised bed, a common model for urban agriculture with characteristics that differ vastly from large-scale conventional agriculture. This information would also inform any new shifts in policy related to urban agriculture and push New York City ahead of the curve in expanding urban food production. The data from this will be available to the public and will be able to answer for each garden and for all gardens as a whole.
Green Map System
With unique global icons and adaptable tools, Green Map System has engaged communities worldwide in mapping green living, nature and cultural resources since 1995.