Raymond Figueroa Jr

Raymond Figueroa, Jr. is a member of the Sustainable Environmental Systems Faculty at the GRADUATE CENTER for URBAN PLANNING and the ENVIRONMENT at the PRATT INSTITUTE – SCHOOL of ARCHITECTURE.    

Ray is a Taconic Faculty Fellow with the PRATT CENTER for COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT where he initiated the Critical Environmental Areas policy feasibility research project aimed at exploring the potential for increasing the regulatory protections for community gardens. With the strategic collaboration of the prestigious, public interest, environmental law firm, EARTHJUSTICE, the research data from this project helped to inform a legislative bill that calls for facilitating the regulatory designation of community gardens as Critical Environmental Areas. The bill was recently unanimously passed by both the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly.

Ray is President of the NEW YORK CITY COMMUNITY GARDEN COALITION – a citywide membership organization   of community gardeners focused on community organizing and policy advocacy.

He is the Co-Founder/Director of the BROOK PARK COMMUNITY GARDEN – YOUTH FARM’s Community-based Alternatives–to–Incarceration initiatives for formerly incarcerated and currently court-adjudicated youth.

Ray has served as a contributor to publications, government, and research institutions, including:

• ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY – Food Energy Water Nexus / City As Lab / Research Coordination Network – Annual Convening – presenter: “Community Gardens as Critical Green Urban Infrastructure – Base-building for the Policy Opportunities”;
• ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY – Soil Symposium – What Does Soil Mean to a City? – presenter: “Soil as Social Justice: Recovering Resources for Resilience and Equity”;
• AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION – Hindsight Conference – Urban Planning through the Equity Lens, Our Health Our Future – presenter: “Micro Food Hubs”;
• MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE of TECHNOLOGY (MIT) Community Innovators Lab (MIT CoLab) – MIT City and Regional Planning publication, CoLab Radio – article: “Growing Community, Gardens, and Land Trusts – Raymond Figueroa, Jr. in the South Bronx”;
• COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY – Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy – Built Environment & Health Project – report: “Analyzing Potential Community Garden Sites in the South Bronx”;
• NATIONAL ACADEMY of MEDICINE (formerly the Institute of Medicine – NATIONAL ACADEMIES of SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, and MEDICINE) – report: “Childhood Obesity: How Do We Measure Up?”;
• HARVARD UNIVERSITY – GRADUATE SCHOOL of DESIGN, Department of Urban Planning & Design – interviewed for Dr. Lily Songs’s course on Community Development;
• NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL – report: “Food-Works: A Vision to Improve New York City’s Food System – Accomplishments and New Ideas“;
• NEW YORK CITY MAYOR‘S URBAN AGRICULTURE TASK FORCE – member; and
• DESIGN TRUST for PUBLIC SPACE – report: “Five Borough Farm: Seeding the Future of Urban Agriculture in New York“.

SELECTED GRANTS

Ray is the recipient of PAR (Participatory Action Research) grants from:

a) NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT of HEALTH and MENTAL HYGIENE – jointly with the CUNY GRADUATE CENTER – Micro Food Hub Project and

b) the NATIONAL ACADEMY of MEDICINE [formerly the INSTITUTE of MEDICINE of the NATIONAL ACADEMIES] – Health Literacy Project; and

c) the NATIONAL ACADEMY of MEDICINE [formerly the INSTITUTE of MEDICINE of the NATIONAL ACADEMIES] – Nutrition Mapping of Food Marketing to Youth  Project.

SELECTED AWARDS

Ray is the recipient of the following awards:

a) the CORNELL UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE for COMMUNITY and RURAL DEVELOPMENT: Innovator Award [Co-Recipient] and

b) the NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL: New York City Grassroots Environmental Advocate of the Year Award.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY – COLLEGE OF HUMAN ECOLOGY