GROUNDWORK HUDSON VALLEY INC

Groundwork has been a dynamic force for change in communities of the Lower Hudson Valley for the past 18 years. The goal is to create sustainable environmental change in urban neighborhoods through community-based partnerships that promote equity, youth leadership, and economic opportunity. The organization engages and trains local people to improve blighted and neglected conditions in their own neighborhoods to achieve economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Participants promote community change, develop skills, and become leaders in transformative work over time. The organization’s mission is summarized by the phrase “Changing Places, Changing Lives.” In addition to local empowerment, projects have short- and long-term goals, so smaller actions, such as tree plantings, are in the context of a community-led vision. Local buy-in is further bolstered through partnerships and volunteer activities involving local business, neighborhood groups, and public agencies.

Groundwork has three major strategies to restore the urban landscape and promote long-term economic and environmental neighborhood renewal. Groundwork's strategy to transform public spaces includes uncovering polluted rivers, turning an abandoned train line into a new greenway, and transforming vacant lots into urban farms and playgrounds. Groundwork's strategy to support the next generation of community leaders includes training and mentoring more than a hundred students each year through a year-round program that includes summer jobs, after-school employment, and internships. Groundwork's strategy to increase community agency and knowledge of environmental issues includes public education programs focused on environmental sustainability, climate change, urban ecology, and brownfield remediation.

Groundwork's staff and board have years of experience developing innovative environmental initiatives, most addressing community-based environmental justice concerns. Groundwork has received and successfully managed millions of dollars in local, state and federal funds for its notable projects and programs. Groundwork programs have resulted in several prestigious awards including the Partners in Conservation Award from the Secretary of the Interior in 2016, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency 2017 Environmental Champion Award, the Outstanding CTE (Careers & Technical Education) Partner of the Year Award from Yonkers Public Schools in 2017, the National Park Service Centennial Volunteer Challenge Award in 2016, and the Westchester County Eco-Award in 2018. The organization’s highly experienced staff includes Brigitte Griswold, Groundwork's Executive Director, who was the Global Director of Youth Engagement at the Nature Conservancy for 13 years before joining the organization.

Groundwork's accomplishments include the Science Barge, a sustainable farm and urban environmental education center on the Hudson River in downtown Yonkers that is one of the region’s leading STEM centers; the Green Team youth conservation corps, which provides jobs, training, and leadership to Yonkers youth in urban conservation, with service trips to National Parks such as Yellowstone; the Saw Mill River Coalition, which resulted in the daylighting of the Saw Mill River and today focuses on cleaning up and restoring one of the most polluted tributaries to the Hudson River. Groundwork's newest project is the Yonkers Greenway Park and adjacent Yonkers Greenway, a new park and urban trail along an abandoned rail line that will revitalize some of the city’s most neglected neighborhoods to promote health, recreation, and public transit.