UPROSE
Founded in 1966, the United Puerto Rican Organization of Sunset Park (UPROSE) is Brooklyn's oldest Latino community-based organization. An intergenerational, multi-racial, nationally recognized community organization, UPROSE promotes sustainability and resiliency in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood through community organizing, education, indigenous and youth leadership development, and cultural/artistic expression. UPROSE advocates to ensure meaningful community engagement, participatory community planning practices, and sustainable development with justice and governmental accountability. As lead advocates of climate justice, UPROSE views just urban policy—ranging from transportation to open space—as the heart of climate adaptation and community resilience.
In the wake of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, community members charged UPROSE with the responsibility for organizing their ideas into a plan for action. In response, UPROSE launched the Sunset Park Climate Justice Center. The goals of the project are:
- To build the capacity of Sunset Park’s indigenous leaders and local businesses to effectively respond to future severe weather events, coordinate the allocation of community resources, and mitigate the impacts of future severe weather
- To engage community members and local businesses in leadership development and in a block-by-block, building-by-building assessment, mapping, and relationship–building process to create, implement, and manage a truly grassroots-led climate adaptation and community resiliency plan
- To develop the tools and partnerships needed to transition the Sunset Park Industrial area from a traditional 20th Century industrial operations model into a 21st Century climate resilient and sustainable industrial area adapted to climate change
- To engage community residents and local businesses in the public processes (land use planning, infrastructure design, permitting, etc.) required to adapt the community’s infrastructure to climate change
UPROSE's major campaigns focus on climate justice, 100% renewable energy, community & industrial business resiliency, small business resiliency, youth organizing, and transportation justice.
Phone: (718) 492-9307
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