Photos by Jake Price unless otherwise credited.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), the nonprofit founded by actor Bette Midler to reclaim and restore neglected green spaces across New York City.
Since the 1970s, New York has devoted less than 1 percent of its budget to the Parks Department. By the 1980s and 1990s, chronic underfunding had left many public spaces neglected. Empty lots became dumping grounds for abandoned cars, tires, drug waste, and heaps of trash.
By 1995, the situation was dire. That year, while driving her daughter to school in the Bronx, Midler noticed the dismal conditions of parks on the west side of Manhattan. Disturbed by the neglect, she got a group of friends together to clean and restore the parks. From their hands grew the seed of what would eventually become NYRP.
NYRP founder Bette Midler, cleaning up Styrofoam in a New York City park. (Photo courtesy of NYRP)
Today, the organization owns and operates 51 community gardens throughout all five New York boroughs. In partnership with NYC Parks, NYRP stewards more than 80 acres of parkland in Northern Manhattan, focusing on underserved neighborhoods. The gardens are part of a land trust funded by a mixture of private donations and corporate and government funding, and through an annual Halloween fundraiser, which take place on Oct. 24 this year. A year-round staff of 35 includes all full-time leadership, advancement, administrative, engagement, and operations departments. Their seasonal staff peaks at 15 people, who work across engagement and operations departments.
The neighborhoods where the gardens are located are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Although Midler could not have foreseen the vital role these gardens would play in protecting communities from increasingly intense heat, rising sea levels, and hurricanes, they have become essential gathering places. During sweltering summer days, they provide much-needed relief from the relentless weather, and in the aftermath of storms, they offer nourishment and the strength and solace of community.
NYRP takes an inclusive approach to its restorations. Through its Gardens for the City program, the organization invites interested community groups with available open space to apply for free garden design consultation, materials, and labor to help achieve their garden vision. NYRP prioritizes applications from the city’s least green and historically most underserved neighborhoods.
