Closing in on our second to last summer intern meeting, Rich, Ben, and I gathered around the conference table to enjoy some mango and rabbit-shaped graham crackers, with our fearless leader, Vanessa. These weekly rendezvous have been a chance for interns and staff to discuss goals and successes, obstacles and setbacks – to celebrate and troubleshoot together. Sadly, David Krieger’s last day in the office was Wednesday. But soon we should have a new Community Director to spearhead our community initiatives.

Vanessa is actively searching for fall interns to help spearhead our working groups around resource efficiency and building improvements, green infrastructure and stormwater, innovative and sustainable economic development, and urban agriculture and local food. We are also looking for people interested in working on public art and space projects. Fall is looking to be a very busy time – and part of the adventure is meeting and working with new people.

Summer has been an amazing time as we get to understand the history and present-day context of Gowanus and South Brooklyn, brainstorm with our neighbors and experts during the community innovation workshop, and begin building coalitions around community priorities. We have accomplished quite a bit in the past few months, but there is still much to do to make our vision a reality. Our next steps include forming working groups, building up relationships with businesses and residents of Gowanus, and going after sponsorship and financial support for longer-term operations in the neighborhood. We are confident that with the continued support from the community we’ll be able to see this vision through, creating a livable city one block at a time.