Groundwork Elizabeth is launching a Climate Safe Elizabeth Task Force to bring the community together to learn about the effects of climate change, specifically flooding and heat islands.
The Climate Safe Elizabeth Task Force will work with community stakeholders to mobilize our Elizabeth neighborhoods as we participate in creating awareness for climate resiliency policies and programs.
Learn more about the Climate Safe Elizabeth Task Force and how to advocate for a Climate Safe Elizabeth by attending a community meeting in one of three pilot neighborhood locations listed below. Please check back this summer for upcoming dates and times.
Bayway Family Success Center
688 Maple Avenue
E’Port Community Center
254 Second Street
Elmora MicroFarm, Elmora Branch of the Elizabeth Public Library
740 West Grand Street
Did you know?
- Researchers know that urban floods disproportionately hurt lower-income communities that have the least resources.
- The nation’s leading cause of weather-related death is heat risk in urban areas.
Why does climate matter?
As an older urban center and the State’s fourth largest municipality, the City of Elizabeth faces many challenges due to generations of dense development and population growth. The City has made numerous improvements over the years to address hot spot areas, and to address the challenges of stormwater management in our aging urban environment. An example of a proactive step to mitigate these challenges, the Mayor and City of Elizabeth are actively increasing the tree canopy to decrease temperatures and partner to educate the community about the dangers of heat risk.
How does Groundwork Elizabeth fit in?
Groundwork Elizabeth is participating in a program through Groundwork USA through pilot funding from the Kresge Foundation and has mapped the historic origins of heat and flooding related vulnerability through five pilot communities in the United States. Groundwork Elizabeth focuses on neighborhoods which were decided by the “redlining” maps produced by the Federal Home Owners’ Loan Corporation in the 1930’s. Over 250 maps were created across the United States. Learn more online at climatesafeelizabeth.org (website coming soon).
Climate Safe Neighborhoods Partnership
The Climate Safe Neighborhoods partnership brings together five Groundwork Trusts:
Groundwork Denver, CO • Groundwork Elizabeth, NJ • Groundwork Rhode Island • Groundwork Richmond, CA • Groundwork RVA, Richmond, VA.
Trusts are working closely with residents and stakeholders in their areas to organize, mobilize, and effect systems change to make communities more resilient to extreme heat and flooding. For more information about the Climate Safe Neighborhoods Partnership visit groundworkusa.org/climate-safe-neighborhoods.
Climate change is affecting all of us. It is making our city hotter and wetter than ever but there are ways to cool and dry our neighborhoods using green infrastructure. We want to hear from you about how you’ve experienced heat and flooding and what the city should do about it.
The Climate Safe Neighborhoods Task Force will take the results of this survey to the City and discuss how they can help to cool and dry our community.
Launched in 2019, Groundwork Elizabeth’s Climate Safe Elizabeth Task Force aims to bring the community together to learn about the effects of climate change, specifically flooding and heat islands.
The Climate Safe Elizabeth Task Force works with community stakeholders to mobilize our Elizabeth neighborhoods as we participate in creating awareness for climate resiliency policies and programs.
Find out more about the Climate Safe Elizabeth initiative here.
