Hi All,

Photos from our roundtable discussion in Jersey City, Workable Cities: Community Development are up! Thank to everyone who attended for generating an engaging dialogue on how politics and economics have impacted community development work in Newark and Jersey City. Special thanks to New Jersey Community Capital and University of Orange for sponsoring the event. 
Photos courtesy of Maulin Mehta.
 

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP

Mass Urban hosted the second Workable Cities breakout event on May 29 in downtown Jersey City. We had four participating speakers: Prof. Tony Schuman of NJIT , Dr. Bob Zdenek, Baye Wilson--founder of the Newark-based Lincoln Park Coast Cultural Group, and Debra Italiano--founder of the Sustainable Jersey City network. The event was an informal roundtable discussion that focused how economics and politics have impacted community development efforts in Newark and Jersey City.

The discussion also highlighted the need for more holistic community development  models that integrated environmental, social and financial factors, as well as bringing together stakeholders such as public officials, social services agencies, and local citizens. Photos from the event will be posted on our Facebook page and website soon! Special thanks to New Jersey Community Capital and the University of Orange for sponsoring the event. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Plan It Newark!
Interested in getting involved with a hands-on project and learning more about Newark? Join Mass Urban co-founder, David Lee, in helping out with the Plan It Newark! (PIN) initiative,  a planned permanent exhibition aimed at helping Newark residents understand the development process and advocate for their neghborhood and city, featuring a scale model of the entire city. The PIN Project Architect, Jae Shin, is currently planning to host a evening workshop for young professionals at New Jersey Institute Technology and Mass Urban has been asked to help set up a workshop team. We want to ask if you the members of our mailing list would be interested in participating in the workshop and future PIN events. If so, contact David at [email protected]

SUGGESTIONS

Got an upcoming event or need help with a project? If so, get in touch with us at [email protected]. We'd be happy to hear your ideas and discuss how we could help out or promote your work/organization. 
 
We just had our second Workable Cities workshop, focused on how public policy and economics have impacted communities in the NJ/NY region.  
 
The first Workable Cities workshop: Building Cohesive communities will be held at Ironworks Community Gallery on April 9, 2012. Save the date!
 
We’re happy to announce the launch of the Workable Cities (WC) Website! Currently in beta mode, we’ll keep you posted as we add on new features over the next few months. Please check out the site and spread the word!
 
Dear supporters,

Welcome to the Workable Cities February 2012 Newsletter. We’re pleased to provide you with the most recent news on current and upcoming projects.

Workable Cities Facebook Page Launch
We recently launched a Facebook page for the Workable Cities initiative. Check us out and “Like” the page and recommend us to all your friends. The event video and the latest updates will be posted there soon.

Coming soon...Workable Cities Website
After several weeks of pre-planning, we’ve just commenced work on the upcoming Workable Cities (WC) website. Envisioned as a online platform for exchanging ideas and fostering collaboration between professionals, researchers, and community members interested in community development issues, we’re planning to launch the first phase of the website by March 15. Stay tuned for more details!

Upcoming Workshops and Events
Plans to launch upcoming workshops are currently underway. As of now, we’re hoping to host the first such event by late March. Each workshop will focus on 1-2 topics raised during last January’s panel talk, and will be led by several panelists from the first event as well as leading community organizations. We’re also planning to launch a fundraising campaign within the next 3-4 weeks to help keep the WC initiative going strong. Further updates will be provided soon on our Facebook page and website. In the meantime, thank you for your continued interest and support.

Newest Team Member for Mass Urban
One of the two organizations spearheading the Workable Cities project, Mass Urban is pleased to welcome our newest member: Angela Tam. A recent architectural graduate of UC-Berkeley, Angela played a lead role in designing the materials for the first Workable Cities event. She has joined the Mass Urban team as its new Project Manager and is now heading efforts to develop the WC website and other design-research initiatives.

    ABOUT WORKABLE CITIES


    ABOUT    Architecture/Planning, Public Policy, Sustainable Design, Community Development

    DESCRIPTION    Workable Cities is an advocacy and research initiative by Mass Urban, started in December 2011.

    MISSION   The Workable Cities project seeks to explore how cities and towns within the NY/NJ region could evolve into more environmentally and socio-economically vibrant places. Our hope is to accomplish this by fostering inter-disciplinary collaborations, community engagement, and being willing to think boldly.

    EMAIL   [email protected]

    YOUTUBE   com/workablecities

    TUMBLR   massurban.tumblr 

    TWITTER   com/#!/mass_urban

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