Pratt Institute has been selected to receive $890,000 from the New York City Council for a new research facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. New York City Council Majority Leader Laurie A. Cumbo announced the news on June 25 at a press conference held at the Brooklyn Music School to celebrate historic financial wins in this year’s city budget.
Pratt Institute President Frances Bronet spoke at the event, which was also attended by Pratt’s Associate Provost for Research and Strategic Partnerships Allison Druin, Brooklyn Navy Yard President and CEO David Ehrenberg, and numerous Pratt students as well as leaders from cultural organizations across Brooklyn.
In partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the new research facility will be created and led by Pratt Institute, and shared with the community of Navy Yard industry leaders and local high school students. Pratt will bring together many of its research initiatives, from robotics to sustainability to rural design incubation, in one facility.
In her remarks for the event, President Bronet thanked New York City Council Majority Leader Cumbo and Speaker Corey Johnson for their support of the Institute. “Thanks to a generous grant and the leadership of the City Council, Pratt is now poised to begin a new chapter of community development,” she said. “What an extraordinary opportunity it will be for our faculty, our local high school students, Brooklyn Navy Yard leaders, and, of course, our Brooklyn community.”
Through the facility and its programming, urban challenges will be identified, translating research into community solutions, and training the next generation of workforce thinkers and doers.
The initiative continues Pratt’s long history as part of the vibrant fabric of the larger Brooklyn community with a deep commitment to social justice, from opening its doors to all people regardless of ethnic background and gender over 130 years ago, to extending its involvement in the community through decades of work by the Pratt Center for Community Development.