Thursday Presentation: Greening the Ghetto, and How Much It Won't Cost Us

From email:

After decades of increasing and unprecedented philanthropic giving in the US, public health, income disparities, educational outcomes, and incarceration and recidivism are all getting worse. Decisions about growth and development – rather than addressing these issues – often exacerbate these problems. As a result, communities are left with the high costs associated with helping people overcome generational poverty, recover from traumatic combat and/or prison experiences, and generally attain a better quality of life.

Majora Carter, founder of Sustainable South Bronx, will speak from her experience revitalizing the Hunts Point area to explain how “horticultural infrastructure” is not only a key component of successful and efficient stormwater runoff management – it can also simultaneously address the issues associated with healing the people mentioned above.

Ms. Carter will describe how the manner in which we distribute jobs in horticultural engineering -- and to whom -- can have multiple social, economic and environmental benefits if done with intelligence and care.

Majora Carter is a MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, host of Eco-Heroes on Sundance Channel and The Promised Land on NPR. She was awarded the National Building Museum’s “Visionaries in Sustainability” award in June 2009, and is currently President of her own economic development consulting group.

Attendance is always free, but registration is now required for Smart Growth Speaker programs. Registration is for event planning purposes only and does not guarantee a seat. Online registration for National Building Museum programs closes one day before the scheduled date. Walk-in registration is available beginning one hour prior to each program and is based on availability. Register for the event through the National Building Museum Events Calendar.

TIME: Thursday, October 8, 2009 -- 12:30-1:30pm

LOCATION: The National Building Museum, 401 F Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. (Judiciary Square Metro)

Previous speaker series lectures can be heard at:
http://www.smartgrowth.org/audio/default.asp

The Smart Growth Speaker Series is sponsored by the U.S. EPA, ICMA, the National Building Museum and the Smart Growth Network.

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I seem to recall seeing Majora Carter speak before. She's quite good.