Pratt Center

The Pratt Center empowers low- and moderate-income communities in New York to plan for and realize their futures. As part of Pratt Institute, we use urban planning, architecture, and public policy to support community-based organizations in their efforts to improve quality of life, create economic opportunity, and advance sustainable development. As New York and the nation descend into an economic downturn, these communities are hit hardest. Low wages, high unemployment, and unaffordable housing combine to put families in a permanent crisis mode that sets the odds against children's future success.

Many neighborhoods face overcrowded housing and schools, or other basic infrastructure that cannot meet the demands of a growing population. Some communities continue to shoulder the environmental burdens of the region's increased needs for energy and waste disposal. Real estate speculation, deferred maintenance, rising energy costs, and foreclosure have rendered even stable home lives precarious. Communities struggling with these forces have far too little say in the decisions that determine their destinies. The Pratt Center's four initiatives use a combination of neighborhood-level technical assistance and support for community organizing with city- and state-level efforts to ensure government policies and practices work for neighborhoods.