Welcome to part two of our series about how our green partners have fared during the pandemic. Today we hear from Newtown Creek Alliance (NCA), a community-based organization dedicated to restoring, revealing and revitalizing Newtown Creek.  NCA has played a key role in advancing environmental initiatives in our community, among them Kingsland Wildflowers at Broadway Stages, where they steward the educational programming of this green roof initiative. Like the rest of NYC, the pandemic has been a challenge to NCA, but they are  overcoming these difficult times with resilience and resolve. They continue their mission and are advancing their environmental advocacy efforts.  We had the pleasure of speaking with Lisa Bloodgood, Director of Education and Advocacy and here is what she had to say. 

_____________________________________________________________________

It’s definitely been a bumpy ride since March. Our number one priority has been to ensure the health and safety of our staff, volunteers and community who support and participate in our programs.  We made the difficult decision to suspend all programming at  Kingsland Wildflowers through the end of the year and halted all NCA in-person events including things like our volunteer programs.  The pandemic has impacted our ability to expand advocacy, programming and ecological restoration efforts due to the loss of funding from the city and state as well as foundations and private institutional grants, but we have persevered. 

After the initial shock of it all we began to transition all work activities online, including pre-recorded content for our educational programming. This allowed us to engage our public virtually instead of in person.  We are reaching new audiences with the production of online resources and connecting with other networks citywide.  As the city entered Phase 4, we were able to implement a safe and socially distanced outdoor volunteer program.  We removed invasive plants and hundreds of pounds of litter from our shorelines and public rights of way, planted thousands of native perennial flowering plants and grasses in both Greenpoint and Long Island City, and laid the groundwork to expand these pocket habitats and green spaces into Bushwick and upland areas in the Creek’s watershed in the coming year. We published another water quality booklet with 2019 data and continued our 2020 seasonal sampling.  Digital content for schools and educators was developed, we established new relationships and partnerships, and have continued to engage with the EPA on the superfund process. Together with the EPA and others we virtually recognized the 10-year anniversary of the Superfund designation of Newtown Creek, and we are about to throw our annual fundraiser Tidal Toast! This years’ virtual event will be held on October 29 and we are encouraging everyone to consider sponsorship or a donation.  We could really use the support.

Another unexpected accomplishment is that we are welcoming two new members to the NCA family. This September we had the great fortune of bringing on a part-time horticulturist who will help us care for the nearly one acre worth of street-end and pollinator pathway plantings, as well as the green roofs at Kingsland Wildflowers. And for the first time we will also have a NYC Civic Corp member who will work with us through July 2021 on developing volunteer programming. We are humbled to be able to grow our organization during this challenging time, and realize how truly fortunate we are.  We miss our neighbors and look forward to being able to safely reopen Kingsland Wildflowers and  welcoming our community back to the beautiful green rooftop garden and hosting more socially distanced in-person programming. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter to stay informed about all the great things we are doing at NCA.