New York City Green Space and Waterfronts

Throughout the 1990s, the RBF New York City program supported neighborhood-based projects restoring, preserving, and caring for physical environments, creating a positively changed urban landscape, and encouraging civic engagement as a means of improving quality of life in resource-strapped neighborhoods and underutilized waterfront areas. Grants included the Fund for the City of New York for streetscape improvement projects in Harlem and upper Manhattan; the New York Restoration Project to develop an integrated plan for the Harlem River Corridor and surrounding parks; the Open Space Institute to advocate for the construction of Hudson River Park; and the Brooklyn Bridge Park Coalition to develop a community-based plan for the downtown Brooklyn waterfront. In 1998, the Fund supported a region-wide initiative to improve the nearly 600 miles of New York-New Jersey waterfront and the possibilities for restoration, redevelopment, and public access. In addition to supporting these on-the-ground projects, the Fund was instrumental in creating the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, which continues to provide important research and advocacy region-wide.