The Pratt Center is the oldest university-based advocacy planning and technical assistance organization in the United States. Located in Brooklyn, New York, it focuses primarily on New York City and leverages the professional skills of Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

's academic departments—architecture, design, and urban planning—to work for a more just, equitable, and sustainable urban environment.

The Pratt Center was established to create a partnership between the Pratt Institute's planning department and local organizations who want to address issues of urban deterioration and poverty. The Pratt Center continues to work with Pratt, particularly the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, as a source of and resource for faculty, a place of employment and involvement for students, and an important bridge between classroom study and the neighborhoods of New York City.

Staff

• Planner/Industrial Specialist: Amy Anderson
• Senior Fellow for Planning and Policy: Eve Baron
• Client Manager: Samuel Biele-Fisher
• Lead Architect: Michael Bogdanffy-Kriegh
• Environmental Planner: Jessie Braden
• Director of Policy: Joan Byron
• Organizer for Public Policy Campaigns: Elena Conte
• Planner/GIS Specialist: Paula Crespo
• Senior Energy $mart Coordinator for Brooklyn and Queens: Jay-E Emmingham
• Associate Director: Janelle Farris
• Director, Sustainability Services: Wendy Fleischer
• Director: Adam Friedman
• Office Manger: Marie Georges-Quildon
• Senior Fellow, Policy and Communications: Alyssa Katz
• Grantwriter: Myles Lennon
• Project Manager, Sustainability Services: Deirdre Lizio
• Director of Fiscal and Administrative Affairs: Mohendra Ramsarup
• Energy $mart Communities Coordinator: Gita Subramony
• Director of Planning and Preservation: Vicki Weiner

Advisory board

As a department of Pratt Institute, the Pratt Center is governed by the Pratt Institute Board of Trustees. In addition, they have created another body that also provides guidance and is composed of individuals from community and civic organizations, as well as academic and philanthropic institutions that are among the Pratt Center's current stakeholders.

• Chair: Gary Hattem, Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation

• Board Members

1. Andy Altman
2. Peter Barna, Provost, Pratt Institute
3. Vicki Been, Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy
4. Max Bond, Davis, Brody & Bond
5. Ramon Cruz, Environmental Defense
6. Steven Flax, M & T Bank
7. Marilyn Gelber, Independence Community Foundation
8. Colvin Grannum, Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
9. Thomas Hanrahan, School of Architecture, Pratt Institute
10. John Mollenkopf, Center for Urban Research, CUNY Graduate Center
11. Mike Pratt, Scherman Foundation
12. Damaris Reyes, Public Housing Residents of the Lower East Side
13. John Shapiro, Abeles, Phillips, Preiss & Shapiro
14. Brian Sullivan, Sullivan Consulting
15. Alexie Torres-Fleming, Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice
16. Roger Williams, Annie E. Casey Foundation
17. Ayse Yonder, Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, Pratt Institute

Funders

• Booth Ferris Foundation
• Citigroup Foundation
• Consolidated Edison
  Consolidated Edison
  Consolidated Edison, Inc. is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the United States, with approximately $14 billion in annual revenues and $36 billion in assets...
  
  
• Deutsche Bank Americas Foundation
• Enterprise Community Partners
  Enterprise Community Partners
  Enterprise Community Partners, formerly The Enterprise Foundation, is a Columbia, Maryland-based nonprofit organization with offices nationwide. Founded in 1982 by developer/philanthropist James W...
  
  
• Elizabeth Gilmore
• Fannie Mae Foundation Fund of the Homebuilding Community Foundation
• Ford Foundation
  Ford Foundation
  The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
  
  
• Garfield Foundation
• HSBC Bank USA
  HSBC Bank USA
  HSBC Bank USA, National Association, the American subsidiary of UK-based HSBC Holdings plc, is a bank with its operational head office in New York City and its nominal head office in McLean, Virginia . HSBC Bank USA, N.A...
  
  
• Independence Community Foundation
• J.M. Kaplan Fund
• J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation
• M & T Bank
• Merck Family Fund
• Mertz Gilmore Foundation
• New York City Department of Youth & Community Development
  New York City Department of Youth & Community Development
  The New York City Department of Youth & Community Development is the branch of the municipal government of New York City that supports youth and their families through a range of youth and community development programs, and administers city, state and federal funds to community-based...
  
  
• New York Community Trust
  New York Community Trust
  The New York Community Trust was founded in 1924 to distribute the income from charitable funds established by will to improve the quality of life in New York City. It also offers services to living donors. It is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the United States, and...
  
  
• New York State Council on the Arts
  New York State Council on the Arts
  The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...
  
  
• New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
  New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
  The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority , established in 1975, is a public benefit corporation, located in Albany, New York, with regional offices in NYC, Buffalo, and West Valley....
  
  
• Open Society Institute
  Open Society Institute
  The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
  
  
• Robert Sterling Clark Foundation
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  Rockefeller Brothers Fund
  The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...
  
  
• Rockefeller Foundation
  Rockefeller Foundation
  The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
  
  
• Scherman Foundation
• Scheuer Foundation
• Surdna Foundation
  SURDNA Foundation
  The SURDNA Foundation was established as a charitable foundation in 1917 by John Emory Andrus to pursue a range of philanthropic purposes.-History:...
  
  
• Taconic Foundation
• Taproot Foundation
  Taproot Foundation
  The Taproot Foundation is a 501 nonprofit organization that engages design, marketing, IT, strategic management, and human resources professionals in pro bono to build the infrastructure of other nonprofit organizations.-About:...
  
  
• US Department of Housing and Urban Development

History

Founded in 1963 with a grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund , , is an international philanthropic organisation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was set up in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle of the five famous Rockefeller brothers: John D...

, the Pratt Center's original goal was to create a partnership between Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

’s planning department and local New York organizations eager to address issues of urban deterioration and poverty.

Central Brooklyn, New York

One of the Pratt Center's first major projects was to help the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council evaluate the impact of a proposed urban renewal plan on their neighborhoods. The planning model which grew out of that endeavor integrated housing, economic, and social planning considerations. This collaborative effort attracted the attention of Senator Robert F. Kennedy

Robert F. Kennedy

Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...

 and led to the establishment of one of the first Ford Foundation

Ford Foundation

The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....

 funded Community Development Corporation

Community Development Corporation

Community Development Corporation is a broad term referring to not-for-profit organizations incorporated to provide programs, offer services and engage in other activities that promote and support community development. CDCs usually serve a geographic location such as a neighborhood or a town....

s in the country - the Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation. With this early experience, the Pratt Center's role as an advocate for community empowerment was established, and the demand for the Pratt Center's program services expanded rapidly.

Participant Education

In 1965, under a federal Higher Education Act grant, the Pratt Center launched a participant education program to assist and train local residents in the process of community development. This was followed by a series of leadership training courses and the Pratt Center's sponsorship of the Central Brooklyn Neighborhood College. Administered by community residents, this University of the Streets program was targeted primarily to African—Americans and Latinos who had either dropped out of high school or lacked access to higher education.

Pratt Planning and Architectural Collaborative

A division of the Pratt Center, now the Pratt Planning and Architectural Collaborative, was formed in 1975 to provide direct architectural services to neighborhood-based housing groups who were taking on an increasing number of projects in communities where quality professional assistance was either unavailable or too costly.

Pratt Community Economic Development Internship Program

In 1984, with the cooperation of the Development Training Institute, the Pratt Center established the Pratt Community Economic Development Internship, a program designed to build the capacity of community-based organizations to carry out housing and community economic development projects. Nearly 300 community leaders graduated from the program during its 12 years of operation.

Initiatives

The Pratt Center works to strengthen communities and their infrastructure. That requires them to work at many different levels:

1. the lot and block,
2. the neighborhood,
3. the city, and
4. the region.
   • The architecture and construction team makes sure needed structures get built or rehabilitated, and that they are affordable and environmentally sustainable.
   • The city planners focus on the larger neighborhood and its capacity for supporting the resources its residents, businesses, and institutions need.
   • The policy and sustainable development initiatives push for city—, state—, and region—wide practices that make it possible for communities to plan, build, and grow healthier and more prosperous.

Community Planning

• Pratt works with New Yorkers in neighborhoods across the city to identify what they need from the built environment and help them shape their communities through the city planning process.

Equitable Development Policy and Advocacy

• Pratt works to ensure that development brings meaningful benefits—especially good jobs and affordable housing—to low-income New Yorkers.

Sustainability and Environmental Justice

• Pratt supports organizations and advocate practices that move the New York City region toward environmental sustainability and equity.

Helping Communities Build

• Pratt helps community-based organizations develop places neighborhoods need, including child care centers, schools, libraries, and open space, and promote innovation in architecture and green building.

Services

1. Architectural Assistance oriented toward enhancing and effectively utilizing organizations' physical development capacity in the face of growing community need.
2. Community Planning Assistance to help communities shape the future development of their neighborhoods.
3. Policy Research and Advocacy to develop the tools and policies needed to promote sustainable, equitable, community-led development.
4. Training and Education to help build the leadership and skills of community development and environmental justice practitioners, especially those who come from disenfranchised communities.

Recent Activities

1. Time for a Gut Rehab: How the Next Governor Can Rebuild New York State's Affordable Housing Legacy
2. Affordable Housing and the Hudson Yards Rezoning
3. Prevailing Wage Requirement for Building Service Workers in the Greenpoint-Williamsburg Rezoning Area
   • Rebuild and Renew Transportation Bond Act
4. Queens West Issue Brief

Current activities

1. Shortchanging Working Families in Queens
2. extremecommutes The Pratt Center Transportation Equity Project

Results

Over the years the Pratt Center's policy analysis and advocacy initiatives have earned it a national reputation, particularly on issues of community planning, land use, inclusionary zoning, community economic development and affordable housing.