In 2024, Rebuild By Design led a team of technical assistance providers to support South Bronx Unite as it developed an application for the EPA Community Change Grant. The proposal combines the deployment of monitoring, air filtration, and nature-based water quality improvement strategies with planning and implementation of two landmark waterfront access projects to ensure South Bronx residents have access to clean air, clean waterways, and quality open space.

For the last two decades, communities across NYC have seen widespread environmental improvements and a waterfront renaissance, reflected in new waterfront parks, promenades, and other open green space. Unfortunately, this renaissance has not been equitable. Communities in the South Bronx continue to be void of nature, critical environmental infrastructure, and access to waterfronts, magnifying their vulnerability to the impacts of pollution and climate change. The Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Change Catalyst Projects bring together several discrete interventions to create a generational shift to improve the environment and quality of life for residents of the South Bronx. 

The Community Change Catalyst Projects are the first step to realizing the Mott Haven-Port Morris Waterfront Plan – a transformative community-led initiative to provide over 60,000 local residents and 350,000 area residents access to a public waterfront that has been inaccessible for decades. Recognized as a New York State Priority Project and included in the NYC Parks Department’s Harlem River Watershed and Natural Resources Management Plan for the Bronx, this project is a testament to over a decade of community advocacy. Led by the Mott Haven-Port Morris Community Land Stewards (“The Land Stewards”) the plan represents a collective effort to reclaim and steward the waterfront. The community has long battled against the misuse of public land, which has contributed to a heavy pollution burden and unhealthy air quality, with severe health consequences.

Rebuild By Design worked alongside One Architecture and Urbanism and E-Design Dynamics, and many other partners to support South Bronx Unite in their EPA Community Change grant application.