News

Doreen Wang, program assistant for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s New York City and Southern China programs, reflects on her experience of discovering that “those random, fenced in strips of land in New York City, that that have been empty and abandoned for years” were brownfields.

The Story of Brownfields, written by Anita Nager, a recognized leader in the environmental field, documents the Rockefeller Brothers Fund’s 14-year history of brownfield grantmaking and presents a narrative of the foundation’s choices, against a timeline its grantees’ activities and the brownfield remediation and redevelopment efforts of New York City and New York state.

New York City's Office of Environmental Remediation has published a series of videos on brownfields reclamation and remediation. Cleaning Up NYC is a four-part video series about these previously developed urban sites that have been affected by environmental contamination limiting their future uses and often falling into disuse.

Poet Kwoya Fagin reflects on her residency at The Pocantico Center. The impact of the time and setting were invaluable to her as an artist and as an individual, she says.

Nonprofit dance organizations are significant contributors to New York City's economy and residents' quality of life, according to a report published by Dance/NYC. The report also found that the city's dance organizations—particularly smaller groups—demonstrate a "strong start-up culture of dance," with a handful of staff producing high levels of new creations.

The Americas Society has released the first comparative white paper that examines the economic impact of immigration-related city policies on the local business environment. The paper, The Economic Impact of Immigrant-Related Local Ordinances, focuses on 53 cities that passed either restrictive or non-restrictive city ordinances between 2006 and 2008, and which were still being enforced through 2009. 

Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, New York City program director, reviews an extraordinary summer of arts and culture, and looks ahead to an exciting fall season of programming. But, he argues, none of it would be possible without support from enthusiastic audiences made up of New York City residents and tourists, as well as private donors.

On Thursday, April 21, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented an updated agenda with new goals for PlaNYC, the city's landmark effort to ensure long-term sustainability and improve all aspects of the city's environment. New initiatives include plans to install solar power plants on capped landfills, offer loans to businesses to help pay for energy-efficient upgrades, and launch a program to help buildings switch to cleaner heating fuels.

New York City's arts and cultural community is gearing up to welcome dozens of artists from Cuba and across the United States to partake in "¡Sí Cuba!" a three-month festival celebrating Cuban arts and culture that will encompass music, dance, cinema, literature, and the visual arts. The festival will run from March 31 to June 16 in venues across New York City.

Ash Hammond, development coordinator at F.I.E.R.C.E., an RBF grantee, has co-written a piece reflecting on the spike in LGBTQ violence in 2010, and the commitment to working for a more peaceful year in 2011. The essay, "Shoulder to Shoulder, Ending the Violence," appeared in The Huffington Post on Dec. 30, 2010, and was co-written with Sharon Stapel, executive director of New York City Anti-Violence Project.