Rebuild by Design

NYC is expensive. Will climate risk exacerbate costs?

Rifal Imam — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 04:59:54 +0000

An Affordability and Climate in NYC Event

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In-Person | Dear Neighbor, Do You Know Your Flood Risk?

Rifal Imam — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 04:57:46 +0000

Join us for “Dear Neighbor, Do You Know Your Flood Risk?,” an event series where you’ll learn all about your flood risk and how to stay safe. 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!

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Ibrahim Abdul-Matin Senior Fellowship

Amy — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 21:25:10 +0000

The Ibrahim Abdul-Matin Senior Rainproof Fellowship, hosted by Rebuild by Design, is a targeted capacity-building intervention designed to invest in senior, cross-sector leaders whose work already advances urban flood resilience and equips them to operate as system integrators—bridging silos, accelerating coordination, and translating innovation into practice at scale.

Named in honor of Ibrahim Abdul-Matin (1979–2023), the Fellowship reflects his core theory of change: that effective environmental action depends on leaders who can bridge public institutions, community knowledge, and moral imagination.

Read more about Ibrahim’s legacy here.

STRATEGIC CONTEXT AND SYSTEMS GAP

Over the past decade, Rebuild by Design has helped shift how cities approach climate resilience—moving from fragmented, project-based responses toward integrated, people-centered, and design-led systems change. Through landmark initiatives such as the Rebuild by Design competition following Hurricane Sandy and the ongoing Rainproof NYC initiative, Rebuild has demonstrated that effective adaptation requires not only capital investment and policy reform, but also sustained coordination across institutions and communities.

Yet a persistent gap remains: while plans, pilots, and funding streams proliferate, there are few structured mechanisms to support the leaders capable of navigating institutional complexity, maintaining cross-sector trust, and carrying adaptation work forward over time. These individuals are essential to governance capacity but are often unsupported, under-resourced, and vulnerable to burnout. The Fellowship responds directly to this gap by treating leadership capacity as critical infrastructure. Rather than functioning as a standalone program, the Fellowship is embedded within Rainproof NYC—Rebuild’s citywide framework for addressing increasingly severe rainfall—ensuring alignment with ongoing policy, planning, and implementation efforts.

This investment establishes a replicable model for strengthening human capacity within urban climate governance, leverages Rebuild’s proven institutional platform, and positions the Fellowship for sustained philanthropic and public-sector support.

THE CHALLENGE

New York City is already on the front lines of climate change: increasingly frequent and intense rainfall events are overwhelming century-old sewer infrastructure, flooding homes and transit systems, disrupting economic life, and taking lives. In the past decade alone, extreme rainstorms—including Hurricanes Ida, Henri, and Ophelia—have exposed deep vulnerabilities in the city’s built environment and governance systems, with climate projections indicating that these impacts will accelerate in both frequency and severity in the years ahead.

In practice, these impacts are not evenly distributed. Extreme rainfall and flooding function as a poverty amplifier in New York City—disrupting work, damaging housing, increasing household debt, and accelerating displacement for low-income residents and renters—making climate adaptation a core economic resilience and anti-poverty strategy.

THE SOLUTION

New York City does not have a shortage of ideas, policies, or pilot projects for climate adaptation. It has a shortage of people who can translate across systems—community, government, data, design, culture—and move solutions from insight to durable adoption. As climate impacts accelerate and federal disaster funding grows more uncertain, strengthening this human infrastructure has become a core governance challenge for cities.

This conclusion is reinforced by philanthropic research: in a national survey summarized by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, 95% of nonprofit leaders who received capacity-building support reported that it delivered moderate or major benefits to their organization, underscoring leadership and institutional capacity as among the highest-leverage investments funders can make.

MEET THE 2026-2027 inaugural SENIOR FELLOWS

As part of the Rainproof [Your Community’s Name] community partners, Rebuild by Design worked with ten organization and initiatives across New York City to bring the Rainproof NYC Working Group recommendations to the local level. Through that work, Rebuild worked closely with Tiffany Baker and Nick Nyhan who used all the resources they could leverage to center the people most affected by heavy rainfall, and drive creative solutions. This year, Rebuild by Design will recognize their efforts by awarding their outstanding work with this fellowship.

Tiffany Baker | Visual Artist & Oral Historian

Tiffany Baker is a Brooklyn-based visual artist whose Dear Neighbor Project uses public art and oral history to document and respond to flooding in Gowanus. Her work demonstrates how cultural practice can function as climate infrastructure—strengthening community awareness, preparedness, and cohesion in flood-prone neighborhoods.

View her work here>>

Nick Nyhan | Data Entrepreneur & Civic Technologist

Nick Nyhan is a data entrepreneur and civic technologist who founded The City Sponge to address gaps in flood preparedness and recovery information, particularly for renters, who are often forgotten in government administrated post-flood programs. Through digital tools, convenings, and partnerships, his work improves access to actionable knowledge and supports more equitable climate risk governance.

View his work here>>

HOW WILL THE FELLOWS WORK WITH RAINPROOF NYC?

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. to chart a path to systematically transform our city into a giant sponge. Read more about Rainproof NYC here>>

In 2026, the Senior Fellows will partner with Rebuild by Design to help launch Rainproof University, a multi-sector climate leadership and learning platform designed to train 200–300 New Yorkers annually. Rainproof University will build shared literacy around urban hydrology, governance, equity, and climate risk, while cultivating a pipeline of practitioners capable of coordinated action across agencies, communities, and disciplines.

By building practical climate literacy and cross-sector coordination among practitioners working closest to frontline communities, Rainproof University helps reduce the cascading economic disruptions—lost income, housing instability, and displacement—that extreme rainfall disproportionately imposes on low-income New Yorkers

This approach allows the Fellowship to serve as both a leadership investment and a capacity multiplier—converting individual expertise into institutional knowledge and longer-term system resilience.

ABOUT IBRAHIM ABDUL-MATIN (1979–2023)

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin brought love, passion, and a sense of humor to working on environmental policy. He worked across the public, private, and civic sectors on several affairs including sustainability, technology, community engagement, sports, and new media to influence many realms of society. Part environmentalist and part community organizer, his book, Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet, draws on research, scripture and interviews with Muslims to trace Islam’s profound dedication to humankind’s collective role as stewards of the Earth. And that people of all beliefs can appreciate the gifts and contributions that Islam and Muslims bring to the environmental movement.

Ibrahim had a career in service including the sustainability policy advisor to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Director of Community Affairs at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection during Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. As a young person, Ibrahim served as Director of Youth Programs for the Prospect Park Alliance, an Outward Bound instructor, and co-founded NYC’s first public high school for future climate leaders – the Brooklyn Academy for Science and the Environment. While at the Movement Strategy Center, he co-authored the seminal book, “Future 500,” an anthology of movement leaders and organizations that blended youth organizing and technology. He received numerous awards including the National Urban Fellow (2008), Green for All Fellow (2009), and was named one of the 40 Under 40 Rising Stars in New York City Politics from City & State Magazine (2015), and NCAA Scholar-Athlete of the Year (1998) for his decorated career as a Division 1 Linebacker. Abdul-Matin held a BA from the University of Rhode Island and a MPA from CUNY (City University of New York) Baruch College. Ibrahim passed away in 2023 and leaves behind 3 sons – Ismael, Yousuf, and Mustafa – his greatest loves, his most beloved legacy.

All gifts to support this work will go through Rebuild by Design at New York University, with 100% of the gift applied toward the Fellowship.

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FUNDING STRATEGIES TO ADVANCE RESILIENCE

Johanna Lawton — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 23:05:04 +0000

Communities across Massachusetts face escalating challenges from increasing weather events: more frequent flooding, extreme heat, rising sea levels, and increasingly intense nor’easters. These events threaten communities, infrastructure, and the economy—cutting across political, socioeconomic, and geographic boundaries.

Join us on March 4 to hear from Katherine Antos, Undersecretary for Decarbonization and Resilience and Mia Mansfield, Assistant Secretary for Resilience at Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs for a discussion on Mass Ready Act, a $3.1 billion investment in the environment creates new ways to fund, finance, and design projects that protect and prepare communities.

We will also present Rebuild by Design’s Atlas of Disaster: Massachusetts, a report on Massachusetts’ recent history of disasters and opportunities to build storm resilience, alongside a statewide legislative representative search tool that connects residents to the state and federal officials responsible for advancing climate resilience.

Where: Virtual Webinar

When: Wednesday, March 4th, 1-2pm

Watch the Event Recording HERE>>

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How Communities and Banks Can Invest in Community-wide Infrastructure

Joie Zhang — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 19:45:43 +0000

What’s the Community Reinvestment Act and what’s it got to do with extreme weather?

Rebuild by Design’s latest project Leveraging CRA for Community-wide Infrastructure demystifies the CRA, and provides a roadmap for how community-based organizations and banks can work together to finance community-wide infrastructure before extreme weather strikes.

Please join us on March 17th from 1-2 pm to hear from national experts on how the CRA is currently being used and where there is opportunity for investment in community-wide infrastructure. Rebuild will present our research, including a CRA Community Guide and CRA Bank Guide that show how community-based organizations and banks can utilize private investment to proactively protect communities and assets.

Register HERE>>

Where: Zoom

When: Tuesday, March 17th, 1-2pm

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Virtual | Dear Neighbor, Do You Know Your Flood Risk?

Rifal Imam — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:43:59 +0000

Stay informed, stay prepared!

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Dear Neighbor, Do You Know Your Flood Risk?

Rifal Imam — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:41:17 +0000

Stay informed, stay prepared!

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Odie Street Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Aliyah Kingsley — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 14:37:55 +0000

Odie Street Green Stormwater Infrastructure

North Carolina

Category: Infrastructure, Plan

Year: 2022

Funding: $242,624 primarily funded through a North Carolina Environmental Enhancement Grant (EEG) in addition to a partnership between the Town of Hillsborough and the Piedmont Conservation Council

BACKGROUND

In response to repeated road flooding on Odie Street in Hillsborough, North Carolina, The Town of Hillsborough Public Works Division along with Habitat for Humanity, Fairview Community Watch Group, and the Orange County Soil and Water Conservation District initiated a project to install green stormwater infrastructure and revitalize a Hillsborough neighborhood. Through a collaborative, community-driven process, the ditches on the street were transformed into bioswales and treatment swales. This project included the installation of 15 rain barrels, 4,000 square feet of native plantings, five educational events on stormwater pollution and green infrastructure for homeowners and the local community. The newly installed bioswales are estimated to provide an annual nitrogen and phosphorus pollutant load reduction of 84% and 92% respectively. This collaborative effort in a historically African American community is advancing environmental justice, improving drainage, reducing irrigation costs, adding beauty to the neighborhood, and providing pollinator habitat.

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Cramer Hill Waterfront Park

Aliyah Kingsley — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:53:32 +0000

Cramer Hill Waterfront Park

New jersey

Category: Infrastructure, Plan

Year: 2021

Funding: $22 million from the Hazardous Discharge Site Remediation Fund (HDSRF) at NJDEP, $4 million in public funds during 2006-2014 to remediate the landfill, and $48 million from natural resource damage settlement monies from polluters in the NJDEP’s Office of Natural Resource Restoration to construct the park.

BACKGROUND

Cramer Hill Waterfront Park in Camden, New Jersey, was constructed on a former landfill and hazardous waste site. At the former waste site, located on the Delaware River, municipal solid waste and soil contamination, including pesticides and PCBs, were exposed on the surface of the unstable, steep slopes and interacting with the tides. The 62 acres of landfill have been transformed into the Cramer Hill Waterfront Park, provides landfill closure, natural resource restoration, recreational activities, and shoreline protection (over 3,000 feet of shoreline was regraded and stabilized).

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Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary Living Shoreline

Aliyah Kingsley — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 14:41:15 +0000

Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary Living Shoreline

New York

Category: Infrastructure, Plan

Year: 2021-2025

Funding: $4 million funded by Westchester County.

BACKGROUND

In response to significant erosion caused by sea level rise, flooding, and repeated storm damage, Westchester County, NY created a living shoreline along the Edith G. Read Wildlife Sanctuary in Long Island Sound in Rye. The 900 foot living shoreline contains boulder sills, 43 reef balls, 40 types of native grasses, shrubs, and trees to slow wave action and provide aquatic habitat. The project restores the shoreline, reduces erosion, and supports aquatic life in Long Island Sound. Completed in 2024, the project will continue to periodically add ecotype-specific plantings over the next 5 years.

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