Four Brooklyn organizations will receive a combined $70,000 to create and restore pollinator habitats across the borough through the latest round of New York’s Pollinator Conservation Fund.
Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, the Gowanus Canal Conservancy, Pineapple Ride Inc. and the Walt Whitman Tenants Association are among 28 community organizations statewide receiving grants from the $505,000 funding round announced by New York Attorney General Letitia James and the New York Community Trust.
Pollinators support New York’s agriculture and ecosystems, as 40 % of the state’s native pollinator species are at risk of disappearing.
“Every New Yorker deserves to live in a community with clean air and green space, no matter their ZIP code,” said Attorney General James. “These grants will bring pollinator gardens, workforce development, environmental education and other benefits directly to communities that have too often been left out of conservation efforts."
Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation will receive $20,000 to create a pollinator sanctuary at the East New York Youth Farm. The Gowanus Canal Conservancy will also receive $20,000 to expand pollinator habitat across community gardens, rain gardens and street tree beds. Pineapple Ride Inc. in Bensonhurst Park will receive $10,000 to expand a pollinator corridor. The Walt Whitman Tenants Association will receive $20,000 to restore green space at a New York City Housing Authority complex.
The projects will create additional habitat for bees, butterflies, birds and bats while providing opportunities for Brooklyn residents to take part in environmental education, planting and long-term stewardship.
The grants are part of the $3.45 million New York Pollinator Conservation Fund, which was created with proceeds from a 2023 settlement with Bayer CropScience and Monsanto over misleading claims about the safety of certain Roundup consumer weedkillers. The latest awards are the fund’s second and final round, bringing the initiative to full allocation.
