Alliance for Biking and Walking

Alliance for Biking and Walking 2013 - $8,000 Open Streets 2011 - $5,000 General Support The Alliance for Biking & Walking creates, strengthens, and unites state and local bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations in every state, province, and major city in North America. These sustainable organizations are highly respected by the public, media, and policy makers. Their efforts in communities and their united strength at the national level have transformed cities into places where it is easy, safe, desirable and common for citizens to bike and walk. Open Streets Open Streets develops a curriculum for a comprehensive three-day open streets training for cities interested in starting or growing initiatives. Open streets (commonly called Ciclovías, Saturday Parkways, Sunday Streets, etc.) differentiate themselves from block parties and street fairs by promoting active living, healthy lifestyle choices and connecting neighborhoods. They are typically part of a broader effort to encourage sustained physical activity, redefine public spaces and increase healthy transportation options. By opening the streets to people, residents view and connect with the community in a whole new way. An exercise in community building and social engagement, open streets also provide free recreational opportunities and public space where people can meet, socialize and make new friends. peoplepoweredmovement.org

Brooklyn Greenway

Atlantic Avenue on the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Map (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

Southwest Brooklyn Corridor of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

Aerial view of the Naval Cemetery Landscape (Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo)

Runners in DUMBO, Brooklyn running along the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

Cyclists in Jamaica Bay, riding along the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway (Photo by Brooklyn Greenway Initiative)

The Naval Cemetery Landscape (Photo by Ngoc Minh Ngo)

Brooklyn Greenway
2023 - $15,000 General Operating Support

Brooklyn Greenway Initiative (BGI) is committed to the development, establishment, and long-term stewardship of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway – a 29-mile protected and landscaped route for pedestrians and cyclists of all ages and abilities. When complete, the Greenway will connect Brooklyn’s waterfront, parks, and open space, commercial and cultural corridors, and new tech and innovation hubs for 2.65 million Brooklyn residents, over 1.1 million people who work in Brooklyn, and 15 million annual visitors from across New York City and around the world.

Since its founding in 2004, BGI has channeled more than $218 million in public and private investment toward implementation of the Greenway, leveraged public and private investment of $2.38 million toward the creation of the Naval Cemetery Landscape (NCL) as a new park-like space and memorial meadow adjacent to the Greenway, and conceptualized or supported the development and stewardship of other open spaces and public amenities along the Greenway. BGI hosts numerous public events and programs designed to activate the Greenway and NCL, foster critical support and stewardship for this vital public infrastructure, and build awareness and engagement of BGI as the organization dedicated to their long-term care.

Approximately 21 miles of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway are currently complete, and expansion projects are underway. While progress is encouraging, planning gaps remain, and resources for the Greenway’s ongoing maintenance and stewardship are severely lacking. New York City’s pandemic bikeboom (in 2020, bicycle use on the Greenway soared 3-5 times from 2019 and pedestrian use doubled) and increasing extreme weather have made it abundantly clear that the Greenway is essential intersectional infrastructure for public health and wellbeing, active transportation, and resiliency against the changing climate.

Due to the work of BGI and their partners, there is strong momentum to advance greenways in Brooklyn and across New York City. To make progress on this work, BGI is focusing on the following programs in 2024.

New York City Greenways Coalition: In 2021, BGI formed the New York City Greenways Coalition, a group of greenway-aligned partners focused on completion and continual enhancement of an equitable greenway network in New York City. The coalition has successfully advocated for a citywide greenways plan, in addition to federally funded greenway corridor planning across New York City. In the fall of 2024, Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is building support to host their second NYC Greenways Summit - a convening of greenway-invested stakeholders across sectors to share expertise on the need for comprehensive planning, implementation, and upkeep of a fully developed greenway network in NYC. Attendees of the summit will receive a greater understanding of New York’s City transportation policy and clear next steps for influencing policymakers to support greenway infrastructure.

Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway Advocacy, Community Engagement, and Stewardship: The Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway still has 8 miles to go to complete its 29 mile corridor from Greenpoint to East New York. In 2024, BGI will continue to build partnerships to advocate for completion and engage communities across Brooklyn in stewardship activities, bike rides, and other activities to increase awareness and use of greenways.

Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway User Study: To improve the greenway and advocate for completion, BGI needs to better understand who’s using it and how. In March 2023, BGI launched a 13-month study to measure use along 29 miles of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. With our project partners, BGI installed 32 computer sensors along the corridor to measure the volume of use and mode of use (pedestrian, bicycle, skateboard, etc.) for 24 hours each day. In 2024, BGI will publish a report of the user study’s findings, along with fieldwork data that will work to inform the forthcoming Greenways Master Plan and the community based planning efforts happening concurrently. In addition to usership, BGI will have data to demonstrate the environmental impacts of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway and on reduced vehicle trips and carbon emissions.

Naval Cemetery Landscape Public Space: This 1.7 acre public space, pollinator meadow, and historic site is a place for respite and community on the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway. Fully operated and funded through BGI and their supporters, the landscape is open year round for visitors and hosts dozens of public programs every year. Located in a community that is lacking in greenspace, It is a unique natural area and peaceful spot that welcomed over 14,000 visitors in 2023. In 2024, BGI will continue to maintain an expanded schedule of stewardship events to engage community volunteers in greening projects. BGI will work to develop dynamic public programs, events, and engagement opportunities with community, nonprofit, and corporate partners to grow in-person public engagement, education, nature, art, and wellness programs at the Naval Cemetery Landscape and on the Greenway.

More information about Brooklyn Greenway Initiative is at: brooklyngreenway.org; and the NYC Greenway Coalition, created and maintained by BGI, is here: greenways.nyc.

brooklyngreenway.org

Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance

Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance
2022 – $25,000 Embodied Energy

The Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance (CNCA) is a global network of cities working strategically and urgently toward a carbon neutral future within the next 10 to 20 years—the most ambitious and comprehensive GHG emission reduction targets undertaken by any cities across the globe. Created in 2015, CNCA supports leading cities worldwide that are working aggressively toward a zero-carbon future to advance their own transformational efforts, collaborate with each other and key partners to overcome barriers, foster innovative approaches, and share lessons with other cities ready to pursue similar goals.

CNCA’s mission is to mobilize transformative climate action in cities in order to achieve prosperity, social equity, resilience and better quality of life for all on a thriving planet.

CNCA’s Approach

CNCA mobilizes transformative, game-changing climate action through the following seven strategic focus areas:

1. Funding transformative climate action to mobilize the development, adoption and implementation of game-changing climate policies in cities.
2. Exerting collective influence on and advocate for policies from other decision-makers to reduce emissions not directly controlled by cities. 
3. Advancing methodologies, standards and governance tools for carbon neutrality planning, implementation, impact measurement and continuous improvement. 
4. Fostering peer learning among climate vanguard cities, so they can learn from each other and go further and faster together. 
5. Cultivating transformational leadership so city sustainability directors can excel in their roles as change-makers. 
6. Helping cities communicate more effectively to advance their carbon neutrality work.
7. Prioritizing a just carbon neutral future by integrating climate justice into ambitious climate action.

Climate Justice

CNCA is committed to advancing a just carbon neutral future through approaches that recognize and redress the disproportionate burdens and the disproportionate benefits of the fossil fuel economy by prioritizing climate action that advances the well-being of low-income people, Indigenous Peoples, communities of color, immigrants and refugees and other historically marginalized communities. CNCA’s approach to climate justice is outlined in the Climate Justice Statement and related work includes learning and grant opportunities to support local climate justice through collaborative projects with these priority communities.

Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe

Reducing embodied carbon in the built environment is one of CNCA’s strategic program areas. Published in 2020, one key outcome of this work to date is the City Policy Framework for Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon, which documents in detail a set of 52 policies that cities can enact to reduce embodied carbon. Policy interventions are identified across five areas of city influence:  Zoning & Land Use, Building Regulations, Procurement, Waste & Circularity, and Financial Policies. Each policy has been evaluated by experts for potential carbon reduction impact, cost efficiency, ease of implementation and enforceability. The framework was developed in partnership with One Click LCA, and Architecture 2030.

In 2021, CNCA launched an exciting new project Dramatically Reducing Embodied Carbon in Europe, a three-year project in partnership with Built by Nature and the Laudes Foundation which aims to foster widespread adoption of ambitious local, national and regional policies that will reduce embodied carbon and increase the uptake of bio-based materials in the built environment in Europe.

By delivering technical support, engaging communities and industry stakeholders and facilitating peer learning, CNCA is creating the conditions for eleven European cities to lead in the development and implementation of innovative policies that will transform the built environment. As we close out year two of the project important results are clearly visible.

Technical assessments conducted with partner One-Click LCA in the first half of the project allowed city teams to identify the most promising policy levers at their disposal to reduce embodied carbon and promote the use of bio-based materials. All eleven cities are now at work developing and implementing tailored policy interventions that will lead to implementation in the final year of the project.

Some of the most ambitious policies range from carbon scoring land sales and setting carbon benchmarks for buildings to density bonuses and innovative methods to track the carbon savings from the reuse of construction materials in new builds and renovations.

Building the narrative around the many co-benefits of low-carbon buildings and bio-based materials is essential for cities to both advocate internally and engage stakeholders. Capacity building sessions are helping cities break down silos by working across departments in policy development and implementation. CNCA is also helping cities elevate success stories through communication materials and policy guidelines, demonstrating the potential and making embodied carbon and bio-based materials more accessible to communities.

Success at the city level is helping drive change at the national levels and in the European Union. The project has seeded the growth of national coalitions in Finland, the UK, France and Spain. These coalitions are actively advocating for national policy that better enables cities to reach their embodied carbon targets and to eliminate regulatory red tape that hampers the uptake of bio-based materials.

Year two has also seen CNCA, together with partner Eurocities, extensively advocate for change at the European level, where a unified approach to accounting for whole-life emissions has yet to be introduced in EU legislation.

In 2022 the focus has been on helping shape the revision of the Energy Performance and Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the Construction Products Regulation (CPR). Recommendations integrating the concepts of whole life carbon, embodied carbon, and bio-based materials were transmitted through bilateral exchanges with MEPs, rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs of the EPBD and CPR policy files. In 2023 focus will shift to the upcoming Revision of the Waste Framework Directive.

Interest in the project is steadily increasing as CNCA continues to share learnings from the project widely. In 2022 CNCA presented progress at the Klosters Forum (TKF22), the Berlin Sustainable Built Environment Forum, the Barcelona Smart City Expo and at events with Energy Cities and the World Green Building Council.

2023 is set to be an exciting year with cities ramping up implementation, success stories proliferating and awareness of the role of bio-based materials increasing across Europe. A new phase of work, supported by the Seed Fund, will explore opportunities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the design, construction and operation of buildings, public space and infrastructure while also reducing the adverse impacts of such processes on frontline communities. CNCA will engage built-environment experts across the field to explore how North American cities can best advance this vision through the infrastructure they build and the codes and regulations that influence private construction, developing.

carbonneutralcities.org

Regional Plan Association

Regional Plan Association
2023 - $20,000 Congestion Pricing

Regional Plan Association is a non-profit organization that conducts research, advocacy and planning to improve quality of life for all residents in the New York City metropolitan area. RPA conducts groundbreaking research on issues such as land use, transportation, the environment, and economic development. It also leads advocacy campaigns to foster a thriving, diverse, and climate friendly region and partners with local government to help them grow in an inclusive and sustainable way.

For over 100 years, Regional Plan Association has been an indispensable source of ideas for policy makers and opinion shapers across the New York City metropolitan region. Some of the NYC region’s most significant public works, economic development initiatives, and open space projects have their roots in RPA ideas and initiatives. 

A cornerstone of RPA's work is the development of long-range plans and policies to guide the region’s growth. Since the 1920s, RPA has produced four landmark plans for the region. The most recent was released in November 2017.

One of the ideas RPA has been advocating is a tolling program for Manhattan's Central Business District, otherwise known as congestion pricing. For decades, RPA has been saying that the program is vital to managing traffic, raising revenue for public transit, and helping reduce pollution. RPA has coordinated a number of efforts over the years to build support for congestion pricing, and after a few failed attempts, was finally successfully in receiving New York State's authorization for the program in 2019. 

Beyond advocacy on congestion pricing, RPA has released a series of more technical documents, to help ensure the program is implemented in a manner that reduces local traffic especially in neighborhoods already overburdened, build trusts with the public, and treat residents from different geographic areas fairly. In 2019, RPA released Congestion Pricing: Getting it Right with the support of many civic leaders.  RPA has also produced maps and fact sheets explaining the transit benefits of the program for communities across NYC. 

RPA currently co-leads the Congestion Pricing Now coalition with a few partner organizations and continues its robust media and outreach work in anticipation of the implementation of the congestion pricing program in spring 2024. Congestion pricing is officially called the Central Business District Tolling Program and is being managed by the MTA. 

Riders Alliance

Riders Alliance members and coalition partners filled the halls of the Capitol in Albany during state budget season to demand reduced wait times for trains and buses.

New York approved congestion pricing, a program to toll cars to reduce traffic in the busiest parts of NYC and fund public transit with the revenue in 2019. With federal approval finally secured in 2023, Riders Alliance continues to advocate for the program to be turned live and begin generating $1 billion annually to improve trains, buses, and service across the city.

Riders Alliance members laid out a 50-foot banner in Union Square for passersby to share why better subway and bus service is important. The art and activism project created community and a compelling mural that conveyed a collective message to decision-makers in Albany.

Riders Alliance canvassers meet riders at bus shelters and subway stations to listen to their transit stories and invite them to get involved to improve their experience and service in their community.

Riders Alliance and a broad coalition of partners, including from Transport Workers Union Local 100, gathered outside Grand Central Terminal, to call on state lawmakers to prioritize transit in the post-pandemic budget.

Riders Alliance provides leadership training to members, including telling personal stories at press conferences. Kelechi M. a Riders Alliance member shared what the Fair Fares (half-priced MetroCards) program means to him and his family.

In 2019, New York City rolled out the Fair Fares program proposed by Riders Alliance. The program provides half-priced MetroCards to New Yorkers with incomes below 100% of the federal poverty level. Riders Alliance is now calling to expand the successful program by raising the eligibility cap.

Riders Alliance
2024 - $15,000 General Support

Riders Alliance is a grassroots organization made up of, and dedicated to, New York bus and subway riders fighting for better public transit to make our city more equitable and just.

Riders Alliance is a grassroots organization made up of, and dedicated to, New York bus and subway riders fighting for better public transit to make our city more equitable––especially in Queens, the Bronx, and Brooklyn where transit is most delayed and disjointed.

Since its founding in 2012, Riders Alliance has organized thousands of riders to demand results from officials and to change the politics of New York transit. It has produced meaningful, tangible improvements that save riders time and money: half-priced MetroCards for low-income riders, the nation’s first congestion pricing program with revenues set to fund major accessibility and reliability improvements on the subway, and a first-in-a-generation increase to off-peak subway frequency, which particularly helps shift and service workers.

Riders Alliance’s theory of change is simple: elected officials and public agencies will prioritize transit riders’ needs only when riders are organized and prepared to hold our representatives accountable. Riders Alliance continually builds membership in the most impacted outer-borough neighborhoods, canvassing at bus stops and on subway platforms to engage riders in its work and identify new leaders to develop and support. It hosts regular trainings to equip members with skills to speak to the media, facilitate meetings, canvass, and lobby elected officials. Member-leaders organize in their communities to support fellow riders. Members are integral to campaign selection, strategy, and  implementation.

In 2024, Riders Alliance is focused on three areas of transit policy and service to improve the lives of everyday New Yorkers:

• Fairer fares for a fairer New York: In 2024, Riders Alliance’s priority for Fair Fares, New York City’s half-priced MetroCard program for low-income riders, is to increase the utilization and impact of the program by increasing eligibility to 200% of the Federal Poverty Line (or $29,160 for a one-person household). Riders have a chance to evolve this program to have the biggest impact and help the most New Yorkers.
• Congestion pricing’s premier year: In 2024, Riders Alliance’s priority for congestion pricing, the tolling program established for Manhattan’s Central Business District, is to keep leveraging rider power and strengthen the coalition to ensure the program successfully exits the political “valley of death” and goes live.
• Buses are the key to transit equity:  In 2024, Riders Alliance’s priority for better buses is to build unignorable bus rider power and test its case for an expanded theory of organizing and powerbuilding to finally deliver fast and reliable service to all of New York City. It will zero in on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn as a model of bus organizing and service for the future.

www.ridersalliance.org

Spring Street Climate Fund

Spring Street Climate Fund
2023 - $15,000 Zero emission school buses

Addressing climate change is a central challenge of this moment; the actions taken today will help determine the safety and prosperity of billions of people living today and set a framework for generations to come. 

New Yorkers are uniquely positioned to have an outsized impact on climate outcomes around the globe. New York is the world’s 11th largest economy; what happens in New York can build markets, reshape industries and incentivize billions of dollars of investment. As a prominent large state, New York’s actions set a precedent that can scale to other states and the country as a whole.

That’s where Spring Street Climate Fund comes in. Spring Street identifies opportunities to win climate policy in New York that can make a difference globally, and partners with grassroots organizations throughout the state to turn ambitious ideas into public policy. Spring Street acts as a force multiplier in the climate movement, helping supercharge the grassroots organizing that can turn New York into a powerful force for progress.

Since its founding in 2021, Spring Street has helped win progress on bold new policies, including:

• A ban on fossil fuel heating in new construction in New York State: Spring Street helped to win first-in-the-nation statewide legislation that phases out construction of buildings that burn fossil fuels for heating and cooking. The broad influence is already becoming clear, including calls for California to follow suit and a new proposal to end natural gas hookups in Chicago.
• Protection for Local Law 97: Spring Street is supporting the grassroots campaign to protect Local Law 97, New York City’s world-leading clean buildings law. Spring Street is providing support to grassroots organizations spearheading the effort to fully enforce the law, as well as communications support to ensure that the benefits of the law are prominent and public.
• Progress on the NY HEAT Act: Spring Street is working with grassroots organizations around the state to build support for groundbreaking legislation that would begin to wind down New York’s multi-billion-dollar utility gas network. If NY HEAT succeeds, it could create a pathway not just for New York but for other states with ambitious climate policies that are also stuck with sprawling, expensive gas distribution networks.

As part of its mission to identify opportunities for New York to make an outsized difference on climate policy, Spring Street is also working to make New York the first state in the nation to fully transition away from diesel school buses and to clean, zero-emissions school buses statewide. 

Diesel school buses are not only a climate change issue - emitting high levels of greenhouse gasses like carbon dioxide - but also a public health and environmental justice issue: the air in a school bus is up to 12 times as toxic as the ambient air outside the bus. This hurts the children breathing the dirty air on their buses, and hurts environmental justice communities where school bus depots are disproportionately located. The challenge is vast, and the opportunity for New York to use its unique leverage to address the problem is immediate and real. 

New York has nearly 50,000 school buses in operation across the state, approximately one out of every ten buses nationwide. By transitioning its entire school bus fleet to zero-emissions vehicles, New York can help to bend the cost curve and make electric school buses cheaper for everyone - changing the economics of zero-emissions buses not only for its own school districts but for states across the country.

In 2022, Spring Street supported the successful grassroots campaign to make New York the first state in the country to require the transition of its entire fleet to zero-emissions buses. In its 2022 state budget, New York became the first state in the country to mandate the transition of its entire fleet to zero-emissions buses. Spring Street then supported a public education campaign to secure $500 million in funding to help school districts around the state make the transition to zero-emissions school buses through the Environmental Bond Act. 

But the campaign is not yet complete. Winning a law in Albany is not the same as making the change a reality on the ground. Today, Spring Street Climate Fund is partnering with grassroots organizations in New York State to ensure that policymakers and elected leaders remain accountable to the promises they have made to implement a full transition to a zero-emissions bus fleet.

If the effort is successful, full implementation of New York’s school bus law will reduce direct emissions while also building the nation’s first statewide market for zero-emissions buses, reducing the cost of clean school buses not just in New York but for consumers nationwide.

Transportation for America

Transportation for America
2023 - $15,000 Reduce VMT/zero emissions vehicles report

Smart Growth America (SGA) envisions a country where no matter where you live, or who you are, you can enjoy living in a place that is healthy, prosperous, and resilient. SGA works across the nation with elected officials at all levels, real estate developers, chambers of commerce, transportation and urban planning professionals, and community members to improve everyday life for people across the country through better development. SGA’s team includes experts in land use, real estate development, transportation, and economic development.

SGA currently focuses on three specific priorities: Climate change and resilience, advancing racial equity, and creating healthy communities. Solving huge challenges like climate change, affordable housing, the need for vibrant local economies, or how to affordably connect people to jobs and services requires an interdisciplinary approach across a span of interrelated areas: housing, zoning, planning, land use, economic development, transportation, and others.

At the core of SGA’s overall approach is empowering communities through direct technical assistance, powerful advocacy, and thought leadership to realize our vision of livable places, healthy people, and shared prosperity.

We are known for path breaking reports like:

• Driving Down Emissions, a report on the climate impacts of the transportation system that can and will undermine the benefits of electrifying the vehicle fleet if left untouched.

• Dangerous by Design, which shows how the standard design of American roads lead to increased deadly mistakes and proposes ways to fix it in the nation with the highest level of roadway fatalities in the developed world.

• Divided by Design, a report on the damaging effects of highways built through Black and Brown communities and how the approaches that led to this damage are still core to America’s transportation program today.

• Electric Vehicles and Smart Growth, which looks at how we push transportation electrification in a way that supports essential smart growth goals since, the U.S. must remake our transportation and land use system to be less car-dominated at the same time that we electrify if we are going to meet our climate targets.

The organization also comprises a number of sub-brands, including Transportation for America, which focuses on creating a transportation system that connects people to jobs and essential services no matter how they travel, how much money they earn or their physical abilities. Our transportation priorities are to:

Transportation for America currently partners with the Clean Vehicles Coalition to manage the Coalition for Helping America for Rebuild and Go Electric (CHARGE) to decarbonize the transportation sector through both electrification and improving the efficiency of the transportation system to require less driving.

Transportation for America is currently examining the question: What balance of fleet conversion and reducing driving is needed to keep emissions low enough to stave off catastrophic global climate change? To answer this question, we will:

1. Identify the total carbon budget to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and calculate transportation’s share of that carbon budget based on its current share.
2. Develop several scenarios that meet that carbon budget with different levels of driving-reduction and fleet transition.
3. Examine the costs and impacts of each of those scenarios to gain insight into the trade-offs of different approaches.
4. Explain the results graphically.

t4america.org