New York Power Authority Partners with Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens to Expand Rooftop Garden for Students and Community Members

For Immediate Release: 09/22/23

Contact: media.inquiries@nypa.gov | (914) 522-0872

 

New York Power Authority Partners with Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens to Expand Rooftop Garden for Students and Community Members

 
LaGuardia Community College and NYPA Develop Urban Farming Curriculum to Engage Intergenerational Community Members in Sustainable Food Practices

 

QUEENS—The New York Power Authority is partnering with the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens to expand a rooftop garden that will provide intergenerational learning opportunities for students and community members. The project directly advances the Power Authority’s longstanding commitment to support disadvantaged communities within New York, including the development of urban agriculture to create a more sustainable state.

 

New York Power Authority President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll said, “The Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens has been a wonderful partner over the years and the Power Authority is always eager to team with local organizations to engage community members and young people in sustainability, STEM and climate action learning opportunities. With the expansion of this rooftop garden, students and community members of all ages will be able to learn about sustainable food production and environmental science, resulting in benefits for the local community and advancing the state’s sustainability goals.”

 
CEO of the Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens Costa Constantinides said, “Thank you to NYPA and President and CEO Justin Driscoll for your commitment to Western Queens and your support of the young people at Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens. NYPA's exciting investment at Sky Farm LIC will allow us to provide hands-on learning in healthy eating to our students, who often do not have access to healthy fruits and vegetables in their daily lives. Integrating these works with LaGuardia Community College will be an amazing opportunity to work with a world-class institution of higher learning that shares our mission of providing young people the tools to achieve the dreams of their hearts’ desire.”

 

The Power Authority will contract a landscape architect to support the Variety Boys and Girls Club build upon the facility’s current rooftop garden efforts, expanding it into a functioning farming space, including the installation of a canopy structure to establish an outdoor learning area for students and community members.

 

NYPA will offer community workshops and learning sessions to educate students and local community members on sustainability and climate justice, also providing farm materials and supplies to facilitate the program. The learning sessions will provide hands-on STEM opportunities for students and community members to learn more about topics pertaining to sustainability, renewable energy, and climate change, as well as urban agriculture topics.

 

The Power Authority also will partner with LaGuardia Community College to support and develop a new curriculum that focuses on urban farming and sustainable agriculture practices, as well as food justice topics. Variety Boys and Girls Club young people will have the opportunity to participate in these learning programs, along with other community members.

 

LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams said, “We are excited to be partnering with the New York Power Authority and the Variety Boys and Girls Clubs of Queens on the development of a new training program to introduce the young people of Queens to career opportunities in urban farming and agriculture, environmental science, sustainability, food justice, and more. We look to strengthening our relationship with the community and reminding young people that LaGuardia can be their home for higher education.”

 

The Power Authority has worked closely with schools and community organizations throughout Queens over the last several years, including NYPA’s Green Classrooms program at schools in Astoria, establishing programs at The Steinway, Henry David Thoreau, The Judge Charles J. Vallone School, Mamie Fay School and the New York City Housing Authority’s Astoria Houses Environmental Learning Lab.

 

NYPA is committed to being a good neighbor to the historically underserved and marginalized communities located near its statewide facilities and assets. The Power Authority’s environmental justice programs promote curiosity, increase students’ confidence, and help to enhance educational equity by improving STEM learning programming outside a traditional classroom setting

Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez said, “I'm excited to see Variety Boys and Girls Club of Queens take Sky Farm LIC to the next level as an urban agriculture learning hub through its partnership with New York Power Authority and LaGuardia Community College. This collaboration will transform the rooftop garden into a better functioning farming and learning space. The new canopy structure will also provide protected learning space and holds great opportunity to add solar to this green roof’s climate benefits. I look forward to the climate, sustainability, and stewardship educational programs this collaboration will foster at all levels from young students to the broader community and those seeking hands-on experience for certification in urban agriculture. I'd like to thank the New York Power Authority for their urban agriculture and sustainability investment in our community.”

 

Senator Kristen Gonzalez said, “We are proud to celebrate NYPA's generous contributions to Sky Farm and LaGuardia Community College's Urban Agriculture program. These resources will help Sky Farms develop the first-rate sustainability and agricultural programming our children deserve and help cultivate a generation of urban growers prepared to lead New York's transition to a healthier, more sustainable future for our city.”

 

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New York State's Nation-Leading Climate Plan

New York State's nation-leading climate agenda is the most aggressive climate and clean energy initiative in the nation, calling for an orderly and just transition to clean energy that creates jobs and continues fostering a green economy as New York State recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Enshrined into law through the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, New York is on a path to achieve its mandated goal of a zero-emission electricity sector by 2040, including 70 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, and to reach economy wide carbon neutrality. It builds on New York's unprecedented investments to ramp-up clean energy including over $35 billion in 120 large-scale renewable and transmission projects across the state, $6.8 billion to reduce buildings emissions, $1.8 billion to scale up solar, more than $1 billion for clean transportation initiatives, and over $1.6 billion in NY Green Bank commitments. Combined, these investments are supporting more than 165,000 jobs in New York’s clean energy sector in 2021, a 2,100 percent growth in the distributed solar sector since 2011 and a commitment to develop 9,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Under the Climate Act, New York will build on this progress and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050, while ensuring that at least 35 percent with a goal of 40 percent of the benefits of clean energy investments are directed to disadvantaged communities, and advance progress towards the state's 2025 energy efficiency target of reducing on-site energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs of end-use energy savings.

 

 

About NYPA

NYPA is the largest state public power organization in the nation, operating 16 generating facilities and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines. More than 80 percent of the electricity NYPA produces is clean renewable hydropower. NYPA finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity. For more information visit www.nypa.gov and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr and LinkedIn.