… and other upcoming events PUBLIC NOTICE FROM NAG:
Our next NAG ACTION! meeting is coming up on Tues, July 6, and this month we will be focusing on “Why Shop Local?” In the last few years, our neighborhood has seen an influx of chain stores and the loss of some beloved local businesses. At the same time, many new, small entrepreneurs are moving in to North Brooklyn. This meeting will address the benefits of supporting local businesses, and provide a forum for strategizing about how to keep our local businesses going strong in a struggling economy. Lacey Tauber will present case studies and policy strategies from the Pratt Center for Community Development, Caitlin Dourmashkin of EWVIDCO will discuss the Northside Merchants Association, many local business owners will be on-hand, and we’ll even hear about a new effort to start a local currency for North Brooklyn and Bushwick. Join us!
School of the Future is a collaborative project about what a school can be. For the month of July, School of the Future will be an inter-generational free school for the community around Sgt. Dougherty Park, at Meeker and Vandervoort. From solar-powered lighting to a giant scrabble board, giant Tyvek mountains and experimental food sculptures, the School of the Future is an invitation to experiment and analyze learning through the arts. Each class, performance and student-teacher exchange provides inspiration for a curriculum that allows a community to respond to a particular site, encouraging the use of under-utilized public space as a way to learn and question cultural constructs and personal responses to school and education.
NAG joins School of the Future at Sgt. Dougherty for four workshops, the 2nd weekend in July:
How to Re-Imagine Your City: July 10, 3pm:
What does your ideal neighborhood look like? Join us for a workshop that asks you to imagine, visualize, and create your own ideal neighborhood. Next, learn how you can get involved in influencing the decisions that shape NYC to make your vision a reality! (Teacher: Lacey)
Guerilla Gardening: July 11, 1pm:
North Brooklyn currently has the most stalled construction sites of any neighborhood in New York City. Join us to learn how to make seed balls, a guerilla gardening strategy used to plant wildflowers in abandoned lots. You’ll leave with a bag of seed balls to distribute around the neighborhood! (Teacher: Lacey)
Newtown Creek: The Gunk Under Greenpoint Bike Tour: July 11, 3pm:
Jump on your bike and delve into the history, pollution and health of Newtown Creek, visiting the best sites around the creek to discuss the past, present and future of the area, including the industrial heritage, oil spills and pollution plumes, combined sewage overflows, potential designation as a Superfund site, and the ecosystem of estuaries. (Teacher: Ryan)
What is Affordable Housing?: July 11, 5:30pm:
In case you missed our last NAG ACTION meeting, we’re doing this workshop again! The term “affordable” is thrown around often, but what does it really mean? Why is affordable housing important to our neighborhood, and what can we do to preserve it? How can you qualify for an affordable apartment? What are the rights of affordable housing tenants? Join us as we answer these questions and more, in a workshop using the Center for Urban Pedagogy’s Envisioning Development: Affordable Housing Toolkit! http://envisioningdevelopment.net/affordable-housing (Teacher: Ryan).
Friend of NAG Kate Zidar of the North Brooklyn Compost Project will also be leading workshops at SOTF on compost and stormwater management! Check out the full schedule here. For more information, or to RSVP for a class, emailschoolofthefuture2010@gmail.com.
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