Healthy Built Environment

Housing, and the built environment in which it is situated, are key determinants of physical and mental health. BCC strives to address the magnitude of challenges and opportunities presented by the built environment in communities of color in Brooklyn by leveraging community leadership, government support, and years of cross-sector collaboration to effect truly meaningful and sustainable change.

The built environment touches all aspects of our lives, including the distribution systems that provide us with electricity. BCC is working to catalyze and build a community-owned ‘virtual power plant’ (VPP), or distributed energy resource network and platform, in Brownsville and East New York. BCC’s work focuses on creating the partnerships, system design and technical capacity to launch a VPP in Brooklyn through an initial pilot with community-based organizations, local anchor institutions and technology providers.