How can New York City recover from COVID-19, rebuild our local economy, and combat climate change? By supporting the industrial and manufacturing sector. The Industrial Jobs Coalition (IJC)is a citywide alliance of community groups, policy advocates, and service providers fighting to protect and preserve manufacturing as a sector in New York. A Strong Industrial Economy for an Equitable Recovery is the central theme of the IJC 2021 policy platform, which seeks to strengthen working class, industrial neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
The Sunset Park Task Force, co-convened by SBIDC and comprised of local elected officials and community stakeholders, was formed in 2015 to develop a vision for the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal as a local hub for industrial and maritime uses, and more recently, climate resilience and adaptation. With the property set to become an offshore wind industrial facility, the task force members have decided to update and expand the group’s mission, the scope of work, and membership.
The Task Force‘s mission includes:
If you are interested in joining the Task Force, please complete this application.
SBIDC is a founding member of the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice, a racially and socioeconomically diverse coalition who strives to elevate the voices of our community that have not been heard in the City’s planning process, seek consensus on community priorities, and make the case for a community plan based on principles of social, economic, environmental and racial justice.
In 2018, SBIDC pushed for and won a commitment from the City to create an investment plan for the Gowanus portion of our IBZ – a source of essential services and jobs, but an area never included in the Gowanus Neighborhood Plan. To ensure IBZ employers could both withstand and benefit from a potential neighborhood rezoning, SBIDC, long-time Gowanus industrial businesses and Councilmember Brad Lander worked with City agencies through 2019 to identify critical and long-delayed infrastructure investments, workforce programs for residents, and tools to spur the development of new and affordable industrial space.
As the Gowanus IBZ Vision Plan and the City’s rezoning process progresses, SBIDC, local businesses and our advocacy partners will demand committed funding and projects. And for years to come, we will work tirelessly as a partner to ensure the vision outlined by the report actually comes to fruition.
Read our testimony to the Brooklyn Borough President here.
SBIDC received an Neighborhood Innovation Challenge Grant to investigate the feasibility of developing a ground-up light manufacturing center in Red Hook. The final report compiles a series of discussions among relevant stakeholders, and outlines recommendations to revitalize an underutilized lot on 41 Richards Street. We recommend that the lot be developed into a light manufacturing center that would house approximately 30 small manufacturing spaces. This would create upwards of 125 high quality jobs. SBIDC has a robust workforce program, and could help neighborhood residents access these jobs. The realization of this project would transform an 12,500 square foot lot and set the stage for a newly revitalized Richards Street industrial corridor.
If you have any questions, please contact Jesse Solomon at jsolomon@sbidc.org or 718-965-3100 x 113.
SBIDC received a Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) grant from the New York State’s Department of State (DOS). The grant allows SBIDC to create a revitalization plan for approximately 343-acres in Red Hook, Brooklyn. This area extends from Hamilton Avenue west to the waterfront, and encompasses the entire Industrial Business Zone (IBZ) in Red Hook. It has a high concentration of brownfields and was heavily impacted by flooding from Hurricane Sandy. The Red Hook BOA provides an opportunity to delve into the long-standing issues that affect brownfields and pursue a fine-grained economic examination of the future of Red Hook’s industrial area.
As part of the Red Hook BOA process, we conducted an Economic Analysis of the Red Hook industrial area.
Industrial Futures is SBIDC’s newest policy discussion series. Through examining urgent industrial policy and planning issues, it aims to address the economic, cultural, and social trends that are shaping the urban manufacturing landscape. From closely examining what is needed for wealth diversification through the development of industrial worker co-operatives, to turning to NYC’s waterways as a possible maritime freight solution for taking trucks off the road, Industrial Futures lends SBIDC’s 45 years of industrial policy expertise and knowledge towards imagining what alternatives that can lead to fostering a more equitable and sustainable industrial economy throughout urban centers. Series events to be announced on a rolling basis. Interested in learning more about this initiative? Reach out to Micaela Skoknic at mskoknic@sbidc.org.
