How can we transform streets to build connected communities? As the city reopens, there is significant opportunity for designers, planners, policymakers, and community members to develop an inspiring strategy to permanently reclaim streets for all New Yorkers. Streets Ahead will convene working groups over a year to advance ideas and proposals to envision a more vibrant, equitable streetscape. Our workshops, events, and conversations will take place from summer 2021 through spring 2022.

Our sixth Forefront Fellowship explores how to foster food equity in every New York City neighborhood through the built environment. In partnership with the Department of City Planning and the Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, Fellows will visit neighborhoods across the five boroughs and make recommendations to strengthen community-based food infrastructure. How can we improve access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food and empower communities to shape their own food systems?

In collaboration with the Van Alen Institute, Neighborhoods Now connects New York City neighborhoods hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic with design firms in our collective network. Since May 2020, Neighborhoods Now has assisted more than 100 restaurants, small businesses, and cultural organizations in some of NYC’s hardest-hit neighborhoods across four boroughs.