About the Project | Wellbeing Insights, Assets & Tradeoffs Tool

Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) Grant – Midtown Thriving: A Community Vision to Revitalize Vacant Properties

The City of Kingston, NY, in collaboration with Pattern for Progress, has secured a $238,559 Brownfield Opportunity Area (BOA) grant from the New York State Department of State. The joint initiative, “Midtown Thriving: A Community Vision to Revitalize Vacant Properties,” aims to revitalize Kingston’s Midtown neighborhood. This project is a collaborative effort between the Full Frame Initiative (FFI), the City of Kingston, New York, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress (Pattern for Progress), Tilda’s Kitchen and the Community Credible Messengers. FFI contributes the Wellbeing Insights Assets and Tradeoffs Tool (WIATT), while the city and Pattern for Progress will lead the work in selecting credible messengers to gather residents’ input to create a plan that best meets their needs. Tilda’s Kitchen serves as a meeting place and space for community engagement. It is also where many of the paper surveys were housed to distribute to community members.

Grant Details

Funds will support a community-driven redevelopment plan for vacant and abandoned properties along the Broadway corridor in Midtown Kingston.
The 270-acre project area was previously studied by Ulster County in 2019.
Pattern for Progress will lead the two-year development of the final BOA plan.

Outcome

The completed plan will be submitted to the state, finalizing the BOA nomination and unlocking tax credits to incentivize property redevelopment aligned with the community’s vision.

WIATT will support this project by offering a tool that centers equity and wellbeing in infrastructure investments. It will measure the potential impact of projects on wellbeing and how those impacts are distributed within the community. WIATT will ensure the inclusion of the voices of those most impacted by the project in the planning process and will help illuminate the project’s impact on different pockets of the communities living in and near Kingston. NY. This ensures the project does not unknowingly or unintentionally cause more harm than good, fostering a sense of belonging, social equity, environmental sustainability, and civic pride for the residents.