Giving Compass' Take:
- Doug Irving reports that after Superstorm Sandy, communities in New York City led grassroots efforts to understand the impact of living near a power plant or waste-transfer station when a natural disaster hits.
- How can donors contribute to these community-led partnerships that help build resilience and share information?
- Check out the Disaster Relief and Recovery collection to learn more.
What is Giving Compass?
We connect donors to learning resources and ways to support community-led solutions. Learn more about us.
Elizabeth Yeampierre watched tree branches whip past her windows on the evening of October 29, 2012, as Superstorm Sandy slammed into New York City. She had spent years warning of the dangers one big storm could unleash in her community. Now, here it was.
Yeampierre is an icon in the working-class neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, a champion of the people and the place. She knew as well as anyone that hundreds of industrial sites operated in the community, some just feet from homes. She didn't think they were ready for a storm like this
As the skies cleared and the floodwaters receded, Sunset Park got to work. Small business owners and local volunteers scraped up debris and pumped out basements, often working with no more protection than some old shoes and grubby clothes. A concern went through the community: What, exactly, was in that debris and floodwater?
Sunset Park is the largest waterfront industrial area in New York City, a place where heavy industry coexists with apartment blocks and old brownstones. Even before the storm, community activists had organized “toxicity tours” to show outsiders what it was like to live near a waste-transfer station or a power plant. All it would take, they warned, was one big storm to flood those facilities and wash their pollutants into the community.
Read the full article about partnerships protecting communities from climate change by Doug Irving at RAND Corporation.