Greening The Ghetto and How Much It Won't Cost Us - A Smart Growth Speaker Series

Smart Growth Speaker Series: Greening the Ghetto, and How Much It Won't Cost Us
Event Date:Thursday, October 08, 2009
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: National Building Museum, 401 F Street N.W, Washington D.C. (Judiciary Square Metro)
Complete Description
Time Span:12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Event
Theme/Description:

After decades of increasing and unprecedented philanthropic giving in the U.S., 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.