New York - New Jersey Harbor Coalition
The Campaign for a World-Class Waterfront
The NY-NJ Harbor Coalition is a group of like-minded organizations that joined together to transform the region’s waterways into a truly world-class harbor and estuary with urban waterfront parks, ecological health and critical infrastructure to meet the needs of the 22 million residents of the nation’s largest, most diverse urban area.
The value of this region’s harbor – America’s harbor -- is immense, from its diverse ecology to its incredible opportunities for commerce, recreation and transportation. It is a cultural icon, with the Statue of Liberty and the nation’s first urban National Park, the Gateway National Recreation Area.
But despite these resources, efforts to protect and restore the environment, provide public access to the waterways, and create vibrant and healthy waterfront communities have not been funded to their full potential. In fact, other regions receive hundreds of times more federal money than ours.
The Harbor Coalition was formed to correct that imbalance and help the NY-NJ Harbor get its fair share. The Coalition seeks to galvanize and elevate public support for our waterways and to work with elected leaders and other stakeholders to increase funding for regional waterfront projects. The group will also build on the comprehensive research and planning done by local, state and federal agencies to advocate for public policies and resources that can sustain the waterfront’s restoration and transformation into the future.
The Coalition is led by a Steering Committee of eleven members who have national reach and represent hundreds of thousands of groups and individuals in the New York-New Jersey region. The Steering Committee includes: The Environmental Defense Fund, Hudson River Foundation, Ironbound Community Corporation, Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, National Park Conservation Association, New Jersey Audubon, NY/NJ Baykeeper, NYC Environmental Justice Alliance, Regional Plan Association, Trust for Public Land and WE ACT.
Support for the New York-New Jersey Harbor Coalition's work is provided by the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and others.
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Harbor Coalition Developments......
Increased Public Outreach.....
The Harbor Coalition is stepping up its public outreach campaign. Check us out on NJ Capitol Report and our first e-newsletter!
Dear Mr. President......
In December the Harbor Coalition sent a letter to President Barack Obama that outlined the campaign’s long-term goals and requested his support in the 2013 budget for certain restoration projects, including efforts to create waterfront parks in Newark and Sunset Park, Brooklyn, restore wetlands in Jamaica Bay and green port operations throughout the region. A copy of this letter is available here.
