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Urban Waters Partnership

Passaic River: Partnership History and Accomplishments

Supporting an Upriver Superfund Community Advisory Group meeting, May 2018
The Urban Waters Federal Partnership worked to improve engagement of the communities in the upper nine miles of the watershed in the expedited cleanup of the Superfund site. This involved developing and delivering presentations about the history of the Superfund Community Advisory Group (CAG) to local community organizations, and collaborating with the Clifton Environmental Commission to host the first upriver CAG meeting in several years.
 
Lower Passaic River UWFP Convenes Riverwide meeting - February 2018
In February, the Partnership convened a meeting attended by forty stakeholders representing community-based, environmental, and government agencies from across the river to map out opportunities for partnership on projects, identify challenges and opportunities relative to the Partnership’s cross-cutting goals, and hear updates about public access expansions, restoration opportunities, and homelessness policy.
 
The welcome presentation from the meeting outlining the value and role of the Urban Waters partnership, and the results from breakout groups are available on the Lower Passaic River resources page. The map generated by attendees about their projects, and other presentations from the day, are available upon request by contacting the Partnership Ambassador here.
 
Lower Passaic River Stewardship map - 2017
The Lower Passaic River UWFP collaborated with NY/NJ Baykeeper and the USFS Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project to map how local community-based and stewardship organization involve their membership in Passaic River-related projects. The map is available here
 
Community Involvement Guide Workshops - 2017
In 2017, the Lower Passaic River developed a series of workshops focused on improving public participation in federal flood risk and ecological restoration projects. The workshops were held at 10 environmental commissions and community-based organizations. The feedback collected through the workshops were used to create the Lower Passaic River Community Involvement Guide
 
Convening homelessness service providers - October 2016
The Lower Passaic Urban Waters Partnership held a meeting with homelessness service providers from five local organizations to share information about the needs of the homeless community living in the footprint of the soon-to-be-expanded Riverfront Park. The Partnership developed an information sheet about relevant local resources for the homeless shared with the contractors for the site.
 
Public Workshop with the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary Program,  May, 2016
With support from the NY-NJ Harbor & Estuary program, the Partnership co-hosted with Ironbound Community Corporation and the Lower Passaic River Community Advisory Group a public workshop in accordance with the development of HEP’s Five Year Action Agenda.
 
Newark Riverfront Mapping Pilot - May, 2016
The Lower Passaic River Urban Waters Federal Partnership convened Federal, state, municipal, and neighborhood stakeholders to map out interacting projects and programs around Newark’s expanding Riverfront Park, as well as leveraging opportunities. Specifically, the mapping pilot provided a structured opportunity for local NGOs to provide input to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the alignment of a planned flood mitigation project, in addition to the minimum public outreach required under NEPA. The map used to facilitate discussion in the pilot can be found here
 
Bringing Ambassador on-board - January, 2016
In January 2016, the Hudson River Foundation and the New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program hired an Ambassador support and coordinate efforts between local partners and stakeholders.
 
Expanding goals and identifying community projects - 2015
To define and pursue expanded goals, Partnership federal co-leads from EPA and the USACE convened federal partners and non-governmental organizations (NGO) to identify community-based projects where interagency coordination could accelerate projects, or provide technical expertise to build capacity. The list of these projects can be found here
 
Lower Passaic River Designated as Urban Waters Federal Partnership - 2013
When the location was federally designated in 2013, the Lower Passaic River Urban Waters Federal Partnership focused on collaboration between Superfund investigation and the future restoration plans for the river. More information about the beginning of the partnership available here.