El Puente

El Puente — Spanish for The Bridge — is a community-based organization that engages youth and adult members in the arts, education, public health, environmental justice and social action programs. Founded in 1982 on the Southside of Williamsburg, El Puente works with more than 2,000 North Brooklyn residents each year through its Center for Arts and Culture, a Community Health & Environment Institute (CHE), four Youth Leadership Centers, and a partnership with the El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice, a New York City public high school it founded almost two decades ago.

In September of 2011, El Puente launched the Green Light District, a ten-year campaign to transform the Southside of Williamsburg (Los Sures) from one of the most economically and environmentally challenged neighborhoods in New York City into a more equitable, healthy, safe, and culturally vibrant place to live. The Green Light District serves as the space for the community to speak up and exercise their right to self-determination in shaping the vision and future of the neighborhood.