Greening Western Queens Fund Advisory Board

The Greening Western Queens Fund was created to administer settlement funds to be used for energy-efficiency and environmental projects in the community affected by the 2006 Long Island City network electric power outages in Consolidated Edison Company of New York's service territory. Funds will support tree planting, greening infrastructure and public conservation education projects in Western Queens over three years, beginning in 2010.

The Greening Western Queens Advisory Board will make the grantmaking decisions for the Greening Western Queens Fund. Members were selected for their expertise in urban forestry, greening infrastructure projects and community involvement. Two seats on the Advisory Board are filled by members of Western Queens Power for the People, North Star Fund's partner in this project.

Hugh Hogan, North Star Fund Executive Director

Hugh Hogan, North Star Fund Executive Director since 2003, has many years of experience in the social justice movement in the U.S. and abroad. He brings skills as an organizer, activist, manager, technical assistance provider, and fundraiser to North Star Fund's philanthropic mission that supports grassroots community organizing for equality, economic justice and peace. Under his leadership, North Star Fund has updated and invigorated its activist-led grantmaking programs, and greatly expanded the foundation's donor advised partnerships. Since 2003, North Star's annual grantmaking budget has grown from $318,550 to more than $2.0 million. This increase comes through Hugh's commitment to donor programs and donor organizing. In addition, North Star has greatly expanded technical assistance and training to grantee organizations through a collaboration with several other New York area foundations.

From 1999 - 2003, Hugh directed the Open Space Equity Campaign for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYCEJA), which supported research and grassroots organizing efforts on land use and environmental issues that impact low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Previously, he spent nearly a decade in west and southern Africa assisting rural farmers and urban communities to reverse the destructive legacy of colonialism and Apartheid. Hugh is a graduate of Boston College and Clark University, and a two-time Switzer Environmental Leadership fellow. He lives with his spouse, Patrick Moffitt, and their daughters, Rachel and Jane Hogan Moffitt, in New Jersey.

Alyssa Bonilla, Western Queens Power for the People

Alyssa Bonilla is a leading member of Western Queens Power for the People. Western Queens Power for the People volunteers have petitioned, held public meetings, organized and participated in community marches, spoken at public hearings, and have written reports, comments and letters to the press and state agencies advocating for community interests since the massive 10-day power outage in July 2006. Alyssa attended Barnard and Empire State Colleges and holds a degree in English literature. Alyssa works professionally as a nonprofit consultant and is a resident of Sunnyside, Queens.

Patrick Barnhart, Western Queens Power for the People

Patrick Barnhart is a member of Western Queens Power for the People and a resident of Sunnyside. Patrick is a 2006 graduate of Brooklyn Law School and member of the New York State Bar. In law school, he was an active member of the Community Development Clinic for whom he negotiated New York's first private community benefit agreement for a major development project. Prior to law school, Patrick worked for twelve years with state and local governments and non-profits. As a planner with the Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, he helped found the Bronx Initiative for Energy and Environment - a $6 million program that has invested in green roofs, solar energy, alternative transportation and tree planting. He is also on the board of the HBA Foundation, Inc. a new nonprofit that has raised money for disabled veterans in Queens and Long Island.

Ray B. Oladapo-Johnson, Freeman and Johnson

Ray B. Oladapo-Johnson is a horticulturist whose firm, Freeman and Johnson, specializes in international conservation park design, conceptualization, open space management and horticulture. Ray served for almost a decade as the Curator of Horticulture at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), where he oversaw park administration for urban wildlife parks in NYC and was responsible for capital landscape projects, and exhibit work related to horticulture. Projects he worked on include: Tiger Mountain, Butterfly Garden, African Wild Dogs, and the Center for Global Conservation, Madagascar, Italian Garden, and Astor Court. He was also responsible for the horticulture at all the city zoos.

Prior to WCS, Ray worked with O'Brien Krietzberg (now part of URS Corporation) to manage capital projects for contractual planting of NYC street trees, Greenstreet projects, and greening of major roadways, highways, medians and urban parks.

Ray has significant experience with urban forestry, urban open space design and management , community garden development, and community environmental education in NYC. Projects he has worked on in partnership with local communities include: El Puente Community Garden, Highbridge Park, and Lorraine Hansberry Community Garden. He has served on the staff of New Yorkers for Parks/The Parks Council and Magnolia Tree Earth Center.

Martin Dunn, Dunn Development Corp.

Martin Dunn, President of Dunn Development Corp, is a leader in the field of housing and community development in New York City and has extensive experience in energy efficiency and other greening issues. Dunn Development is a socially conscious, award-winning real estate developer with expertise in affordable and supportive housing. Over the last 17 years, Martin has been involved in the development of more than 1,800 units of new housing, and he has been at the forefront of incorporating sustainable design and green building into affordable housing. Amongst many achievements, Dunn: developed the first two ENERGY STAR rated mid or high-rise buildings in the United States; created innovative financing and program models that are highly regarded in the affordable and supportive housing fields; and has developed new initiatives to serve the homeless, people with psychiatric disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS and people with developmental disabilities. Martin is also an active advocate on housing and homelessness issues in New York City and New York state. From 1993 to 1997, Martin was the Executive Director of the East New York Urban Youth Corps, one of New York City's most dynamic and successful non-profit community development corporations. From 1989 to 1992, Martin held senior program and management positions at the Association to Benefit Children. He received the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award in 1990 for his work with the Association to Benefit Children. He serves on the boards of Hour Children, which serves incarcerated women and their children (with programs in Long Island City and Astoria), the Supportive Housing Network of New York, and the Citizen's Housing and Planning Council. He also serves on the advisory board of Make the Road New York, a social justice organization with programs in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. From 1995 to 2003, Martin served as a board member of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development; from 1998 to 2004 he was the chair of Forefront Activists, an innovative international human rights organization; and from 1998 to 2006 he was a board member of Neighbors Against Garbage, an environmental justice organization in Brooklyn.

Peter W. Zimmerman, The ELM Group

Peter W. Zimmerman has over 30 years of experience in applying a diverse array of scientific disciplines, training in commercial real estate financial analysis and underwriting, and oversight of environmentally-related construction in over 30 states and several countries. He has gained this experience over an equally diverse array of project settings and stakeholder groups; the majority focused on urban redevelopment and involving urban ecology management principles. As the Principal in charge of the New York office of The ELM Group, a progressive environmental consulting and engineering company, his duties include directing the development of the office practices in carbon auditing and assessment and energy sustainability assessments. His experience also includes environmental and conflict management support to multiple complex redevelopment projects.

Peter's public service has focused on economic redevelopment initiatives for non-profits, municipalities, and regional government sectors, with a focus on sustainable solutions and re-use of impaired real estate assets. His recent work has involved support for the funding, planning, construction and long-term care of charter schools in New York City and Newark, New Jersey, including work with school construction authorities.

Peter currently serves as a resource for review of sustainability initiatives for The Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California, and is also an instructor and guest lecturer at the Institute, specializing in water resources education. He has served on economic development advisory committees for his hometown of Maplewood, New Jersey, and on numerous task forces to assess and plan redevelopment of key municipally-owned parcels, encouraging full community engagement in the process. On a larger scale, he has provided input on environmental/financial risk management to New Jersey regional planning authorities groups concerning sustainable their programs for re-use of "Brownfields" in intermodal transportation/economic development initiatives.

Alexie M. Torres-Fleming, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice

Alexie M. Torres-Fleming, Founder and Executive Director of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice, is an experienced community organizer around environmental justice issues. Growing up in the Bronx, Alexie watched her borough burn. As a little girl perched on the ledge of her ninth floor window in the Bronx River Public Housing Projects, she witnessed the fires that led to the devastation of the South Bronx in the late-1960s and 1970s. Although she was too young to understand things like 'Planned Shrinkage,' 'Urban Renewal,' 'Disinvestment' and 'White Flight,' she knew that it was a frightening and tumultuous time for her and all of the children of the South Bronx. When later urban planning initiatives transformed the rubble of her neighborhood, Alexie grew determined to see that local residents had a role in the rebuilding process. Alexie was among the founders of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ) in 1994 with the mission to rebuild the neighborhoods of the Bronx River and Soundview/Bruckner in the South Bronx by preparing young people to become prophetic voices for peace and justice. Alexie believes that educating and convincing residents of the Bronx that they possess the skills and tools necessary to engender change is as important a legacy as the concrete results that YMPJ has produced. She is proud of YMPJ's successful projects that have added parks, provided access to the Bronx River and cleaned-up brownfields, but she notes that it is "even more important that I contribute to leaving a legacy of a community that understands its own power." A nationally sought after speaker, Alexie has received numerous awards; most recently, she received the Rockefeller Foundations Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism, The Caritas Medal from the Vincentian Society for her service to the poor, and the EPA's Environmental Excellence Award. This past January she was also named one of 50 Visionaries Changing Our World by the Utne Reader. In addition to her work with YMPJ, she sits on the boards of the Bronx River Alliance, of which she is also a cofounder, and El Puente, a Brooklyn-based environmental justice organization.