Join us at the corner of Grand and 1st streets for a 1-mile walking tour that will link the Climate Action Conference at SUNY Orange (10am-4pm) to the Forum on Food Waste Recycling and Composting at the Downing Park Urban Farm (5:30pm).
Be sure to bring an umbrella! ⛱
Style: Informal, conversational, interactive. After the 6-hour Climate Action Conference, we expect that folks will be brimming with ideas, eager to stretch their legs and share their thoughts, experiences, success stories and questions.
Tour & Conversation Guides
Cynthia Nitikin, Renewable Places Strategist, Sustainable Hudson Valley; Placemakers Guild Co-Founder, Friends of Brunel Park
Gema Vidals Herrera, MSMC near-graduate, 2022 EJ Fellow, 2023 Senior EJ Fellow
Kat McKenzie, Dancer, 2021 EJ Fellow, currently working on Newburgh PFAS study
Kathy Lawrence, Greater Newburgh Parks Conservancy
The general plan:
Start with brief description of Newburgh’s urban forest issues and the EJ Fellowship
Highlight experiences and insights from Gema and Kat
This will serve as a jumping off place to engage participants about the importance of urban forestry in climate resilience planning and to riff off many of the themes brought up during the Climate Action Conference, e.g.: Community engagement and empowerment, energy resources, heating, cooling, transportation & walkability (good sidewalks, crosswalks, bike lanes, bus stops…), liveable streetscapes (bioswales, pollinator plots, trees, bike racks), integration of climate resilience with economic development, planning, engineering, etc.