current annual report

Never before has the work of the Tishman Center been more urgently needed. With record global temperatures, continued struggles for environmental justice, and growing political uncertainty, our mission and community-centered approach are uniquely suited to meet this consequential moment. The Tishman Center’s accomplishments in 2023 underline the impact of our organization and highlight our dedication to equitable and justice-centered principles.

In 2023, our growing team focused on our deep ecosystem of relationships across four critical sectors — academia, environmental and climate justice, philanthropy, and government. We deepened connections, moved resources to the movement, impacted policy, and advanced climate solutions. Since the Biden-Harris Administration, the Tishman Center has contributed research and community support for Justice40, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).

The Tishman Center was invited to join UNITE-EJ, a coalition of partners led by the Climate Justice Alliance, which was awarded $50 million by EPA to serve as a National Grantmaker for Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program. The Tishman Center is excited to join the coalition and will provide program evaluation, tracking, and reporting to support the Western US (EPA Regions 8-10). This grant and others were proposed during the BluePrint Section of the Frontlines Communities First Federal Funding Design Lab, co-hosted by our EJ Fellowship in January 2023 in Washington, D.C.

current annual report

This year marks a pivotal moment for the Tishman Center in our nearly twenty-year history. We are very excited to announce that in December 2021, the Center was awarded a catalytic, multi-year grant to strengthen our operational, research, and communications capacity by the Waverley Street Foundation. Our increased capacity will help us better meet the needs of our campus community, our Ripe for Creative Disruption Fellows, and our collaborative, action-based research.

Over the past six months, we have worked hard to develop and implement a comprehensive growth strategy. Our staff has grown from six to twelve full-time employees contributing to all aspects of our work on campus and with communities. Our co-produced research continues to focus on the needs of the environmental justice movement. This past year, we partnered with organizations working towards equitable and just climate solutions. We released a comprehensive assessment of Cumulative Impacts policies at state and federal agencies. Our team has been particularly focused on President Biden’s and Vice President Harris’s Justice40 Initiative. On campus sustainability, we completed the New School’s second STARS evaluation to assess sustainability performance across our campus, receiving a silver rating.

Finally, we are most proud of the successful launch of the first cohort of the Ripe for Creative Disruption: An Environmental Movement Justice Fellowship partnering with fellows disrupting the status quo to lead justice and community-oriented climate solutions.

Report Designed by Tori Gruber and Drake Reed

current Strategic Plan

Over the next three years, the Center will focus on deepening our efforts to leverage the passion, experience and creativity of the New School community to confront the climate emergency while continuing to ground our work in the principles of environmental justice. After completing an outside evaluation of the prior strategic plan and reflecting on the challenges and opportunities ahead, two goals emerged. These goals will expand upon the work completed under the previous plan and build on past successes.

The 2020 - 2023 Strategic Plan is organized according to two overarching goals:

1. Serve as a resource center and hub for movement building and climate and environmental justice research, design and interdisciplinary practice.

2. Mobilize students, staff, faculty and our broader community to take action on the root causes of the climate crisis and concomitant social and environmental injustices.

Click here to read the full plan.

past STRATEGIC PLAN

Annual Reports