New Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professional Joins Team Expanding Outreach to the Bronx and Queens
Contact:
Benjamin Goldberg, NYSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities Extension Professional, New York City, E: bgoldberg@cornell.edu, Phone: (718) 874-0120
Queens, NY, March 21, 2025 - In January, the Sustainable and Resilient Communities Team welcomed its sixth extension professional, Benjamin Goldberg, who will assist communities in the Bronx and Queens. Originally from the Washington, D.C., area, Goldberg holds a bachelor’s degree in literary studies from Middlebury College in Vermont and a master’s degree in city and regional planning from Rutgers University.
Goldberg’s interest in the intersection of natural resource management and community resilience stems from his experience in sustainable agriculture. He worked for more than six years on organic farms, advocacy groups, and small businesses in New York, California, and Washington, D.C., promoting sustainable food systems. After earning a certificate in ecological horticulture from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Goldberg was inspired to pursue graduate study in urban planning to advance urban sustainability. In graduate school, Goldberg’s interests narrowed to climate adaptation and resilience planning, applying ecological solutions and conservation practices to foster increased community resilience. He gained experience in state planning as a research assistant at the New Jersey Climate Change Resource Center, where he supported the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection in food waste planning and developing floodplain buyouts policy.
Upon completing his graduate degree, Goldberg became a mitigation and resiliency specialist at New York City Emergency Management where he assisted with the coordination and management of federal grants to support implementation of local resilience projects. In this role, he gained exposure to the city’s coordinated response to growing climate hazards such as coastal storms, flooding, and extreme heat, and supported partners like the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC DEP) and NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development to implement infrastructure projects.
With the Long Island Sound Study, Goldberg hopes to apply his experience in sustainable agriculture, urban planning, and resilience to foster long-term partnerships between local government and community-based organizations that promote the conservation and restoration of Long Island Sound. Goldberg lives in Brooklyn and works out of NYC DEP’s headquarters in Queens.
“As a part of LISS, I look forward to becoming more involved with the tremendous work of NYC’s environmental stewards, and to working with Bronx and Queens communities to establish community-driven planning processes and navigate funding opportunities.”
More Info: New York Sea Grant
Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.
Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (NYSG) has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.
Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.
New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.
For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.