Event series: Building a Resilient Brooklyn
Join us for “Building a Resilient Brooklyn: Flood Mitigation Strategies, Community Power, & Protecting Our Homes,” a series where you’ll learn all about your flood risk and how to stay safe. Together we’ll review the lowdown on protecting your home and community from flooding. Partners Rebuild By Design, Neighbors Helping Neighbors and muralist Tiffany Baker will join speaker Sam Robinson of Field Form to discuss ways we can all work to keep our communities flood resilient together. We will use the power of art and storytelling to help connect neighbors who might otherwise feel isolated in these times of transition. Don’t miss out on tips, resources, and a chance to ask questions—all from the comfort of wherever you are. Stay informed, stay prepared!
WHY NOW?
New York City’s climate has shifted toward a hotter, more humid subtropical pattern, bringing heavier rainfall, rising sea levels, and more frequent extreme weather events. Rain now falls at rates that exceed the capacity of aging sewer infrastructure designed for historical storm conditions. Since 1970, sea levels have risen approximately eight inches, intensifying the “dunk” effect—where higher baseline water levels allow storms to more easily overwhelm coastal and drainage defenses. As a result, flash flooding is becoming more common, placing homes, infrastructure, and communities at increasing risk. Flooding has emerged as the leading cause of disaster-related foreclosures, underscoring the urgent need to address infrastructure and resilience gaps in the face of a rapidly changing climate.
EVENT GOALS:
Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn in this event series:
Increase residents’ understanding of their flood risk and how climate change is affecting their neighborhood
Equip neighbors with practical, actionable steps to reduce flooding impacts before, during, and after storms
Elevate community voices by documenting lived experiences with flooding and climate impacts
Build collective advocacy power to influence policy, infrastructure investment, and long-term resilience planning in Brooklyn
EVENT SERIES OVERVIEW:
Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn:
Staying Safe During Floods: practical life-safety guidance to protect yourself, your family, and your home
Flood Insurance 101: a discussion of common misconceptions
Adopt a Catch Basin: how residents can take simple actions to reduce street flooding.
Low-Cost and No-Cost Flood Preparedness: easy steps you can take now, before the next storm
SHARE YOUR FLOOD STORY
🌧️ Share Your Flood Story with Rainproof NYC Your experience matters. Whether your basement flooded once or your block floods every storm, your story helps us understand what’s really happening in NYC neighborhoods and advocate for real solutions. This form takes 3-5 minutes. Everything is optional except your story location. Your information will: ✓ Help document flood-prone areas across NYC ✓ Support advocacy for infrastructure improvements ✓ May be featured in Dear Neighbor Project public art (with your permission) ✓ Connect you to flood preparedness resources All responses are confidential unless you choose to share publicly.
STAY CONNECTED WITH US
Neighbors Helping Neighbors
A HUD-approved housing counseling agency dedicated to building wealth and keeping NYC residents in their homes, CLICK HERE>>
Dear Neighbor Project
Collecting oral histories of NYC residents to transform individual experiences into a collective voice mediated by art.
Rebuild by Design/ Rainproof NYC
Rebuild by Design reimagines the way communities prepare for climate change through design and policy.
Rainproof NYC is a city-wide initiative led by Rebuild by Design to fill the gaps and lead NYC to learn to live with increasingly heavy rainfall. Since 2022, Rebuild has been combining research, global inspiration, and convening hands-on collaboration across agencies, nonprofits, communities, and experts. Rainproof NYC is charting a path to systematically transform our city into a giant sponge.
OUR EVENT RECAPS & RESOURCES
On October 30, 2025, a flash flood in NYC claimed two lives and damaged homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure across several neighborhoods. The storm reminded us that extreme rainfall is becoming more frequent and that everyone has a part to play in keeping our city safe.
We compiled a Rainproof actions guide for how we can each play a role in rainproofing our city. This action guide has been compiled by resources with the Rainproof NYC “Everyone Has A Role to Play” Working Group.
![RAINPROOF [YOUR COMMUNITY'S NAME]](https://rebuildbydesign.org/wp-content/uploads/elementor/thumbs/Screenshot-2025-01-28-at-12.35.24 PM-r0o7wshn4mib7xvi34m5hl68us0cpo1lz5nfngqtjk.png "RAINPROOF [YOUR COMMUNITY’S NAME]")
Our Rainproof work has identified natural solutions as vital opportunities for responding to more water. To implement our findings, Rebuild by Design has initiated research and resources to understand how investing in NYC parks as climate infrastructure offers significant economic, environmental, and social returns, especially in flood-prone neighborhoods.
To view our research, data analysis, and visit a Hoboken ReslienCity Park, CLICK HERE>>
GET INVOLVED IN RAINPROOF NYC
We each have a role to play in Rainproof.
Rainproof NYC is where all stakeholders learn from each other and act collectively to tackle increasingly heavy rainfall and flash floods.The growing Rainproof NYC network brings together community groups, city officials, technical experts, policy advocates, private sector partners, educators, and more to understand and address flooding in NYC.
Ways you can get involved include:
- Stay updated on new pilot projects, events, and funding opportunities.
- Collaborate with the Rainproof NYC Network.
- Join a Rainproof Event.
- Learn from other cities in our Rainproof Series.
- Participate in or Pilot Rainproof NYC Projects.
- Share Rainproof Resources & Expertise.