Spotlight: The Changing Faces of Thriving Neighborhoods
Join us for a celebration of New York’s resilience and capacity for reinvention.
Building a resilient city requires partnerships and deep roots within the neighborhoods that make this place so alive and unique. We’re bringing together a group of leaders that have found new ways to center communities, connect past history to present and future, and strengthen the fabric of New York City and its myriad communities.
Gotham Park is a new park at the Manhattan landing of the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Stoop Stories celebrates stoop culture and connects New York neighbors across generations and differences through shared stories and programs. Epicenter NYC is a local news hub and community connection platform. Each organization is supporting more resilient communities in complementary ways. Through their work, the old share beautiful spaces with the young, the lifelong resident connects with the newly arrived, and they're all able to stay updated on the happenings of their city, making it ever more resilient and ensuring its success, whatever the future might bring.
Come learn with us about the hard and rewarding work that these organizations are doing, and you too can support your communities, wherever they might be.
Anew is a gathering space and discovery center for the social impact community.
Rosa Chang is the Co-Founder and President of Gotham Park, a public space initiative transforming nine acres beneath and around the Brooklyn Bridge's Manhattan Anchorage into a vibrant, community-powered park for New York City. Since launching the project in 2021, Rosa has mobilized residents, civic leaders, and city agencies to open new public space each year and secure more than $56 million in City, State, and Federal capital funding. Under her leadership, Gotham Park has become both a new green space and a platform for civic engagement and education, partnering with universities and public schools to offer hands-on learning in urban planning, architecture, environmental science, and design.
S. Mitra Kalita is an award-winning veteran journalist, media executive, prolific commentator, and author. At the height of the pandemic, Mitra founded two media companies to ensure BIPOC communities are served, supported and centered. The first, Epicenter NYC, began as a newsletter helping New Yorkers navigate Covid and has since grown into a community journalism multiplatform company. The second, URL Media, is a growing network of high-performing Black and Brown media organizations that share content, distribution, and revenues to increase long-term sustainability. Before launching her companies, Mitra served as Senior Vice President at CNN Digital, overseeing the national news, breaking news, programming, opinion and features teams. Her media background also spans the LA Times, Quartz, the Washington Post, Newsday, and the Associated Press.
Marj Kleinman is an award-winning visual storyteller and founder/ executive director of Stoop Stories, a nonprofit community collective that connects New Yorkers across generations and differences through documentary storytelling and programs. Stoop Stories' mission is to increase social connection, preserve neighborhood stories, and revitalize communities through stoop culture and intergenerational connections.