Case Study 11

Working Through an Intermediary, Uprose Wins a State Grant

Background:

The United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE), an environmental justice group in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, completed a state and city-funded plan for the area in 2013. To achieve its development goals, UPROSE needed to work with NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), as two of the development sites that UPROSE identified were owned by the City of New York and controlled by EDC, and a third was a private site with significant city tax liens.

UPROSE subsequently learned that EDC did not support UPROSE’s plans for the three sites. EDC did not consider their redevelopment viable because the capital required to develop the three properties was so great that the investment would not earn a competitive rate of return.

Strategy:

To move forward, UPROSE asked a respected consulting firm to intervene on its behalf with EDC. The planning consultant had recently completed a Sunset Park plan for EDC that called for spurring industrial growth in the area, which mirrored the goal of UPROSE’s state-funded plan.

UPROSE’s consultant met with EDC to explain UPROSE’s state-funded planning effort, and later UPROSE staff members joined these discussions.

Conclusion:

Ultimately, when UPROSE applied for another state grant – this time to the Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC), it did so with EDC’s support. The state awarded UPROSE a $1.2 million REDC grant to be spent through the city Department of Transportation to expand public access to the Sunset Park waterfront. Through persistence and working through a respected intermediary, UPROSE was able to advance a portion of its planning goals.

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