The Newark Greenprint is a free, easy to use interactive mapping tool that provides key data insights to support the siting and implementation of nature-based solutions within Newark and provides the community with access to information about open spaces, environmental health metrics, natural resources, and physical and environmental risks. This tool is a valuable resource to empower the community to further explore the impacts of nature-based solutions to improve public health and quality of life while reducing climate impacts, such as urban heat, local flooding, and air quality issues.
In 2021 and 2022, the Newark Greenprint was developed from a partnership between TNC New Jersey Greening Our Cities team, the City of Newark’s Office of Sustainability, members of the Newark Green Team and Environmental Commission, and Rowan University with support from the PSEG Foundation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Cooperating Technical Partners Program.
During the summer of 2023, the TNC New Jersey Greening Our Cities team began engaging with the community and holding one-on-one meetings with community leaders to introduce the tool and form partnerships to co-hosting eight community meetings. Lisa Leone, our Cities Conservation Coordinator and Johnny Quispe, our Cities Program Manager facilitated these workshops in partnership with local community-based organization and The Brickerati Group. These workshops included five in-person, place-based focus groups in each of the city’s five wards, focusing on scenario building exercises and discussion on the tool’s functionality and any needed improvements. Additionally, three virtual train-the-trainer style review sessions were held that provided a walkthrough of the tool to educate community members on how to navigate the tool and how to use it for on-siting nature-based solutions.
Through our team’s community engagement and user training of the Newark Greenprint, we received feedback on how to make the tool usable and provide inputs on data needs, which will be used to make improvements and ensure that the Newark Greenprint is continued to be developed in conversation with the community. Due to the user-friendliness of the Newark Greenprint, community members have indicated plans to utilize the mapping tool to implement and advocate for change within their neighborhoods. Our goal for the future of this tool is that our Cities team will continue to work with the local community to form a working group providing opportunities to identify community environmental priorities and share existing environmental data collected by community organizations to ensure that the Greenprint continues to be a resource for the community.