Pratt Center for Community Development

Join us at Pratt Manhattan for an evening of conversation on archiving, protecting, and advocating for nightlife spaces!

Nightlife has long been more than entertainment. For Black, q***r, immigrant, and other marginalized New Yorkers, nightlife is infrastructure—a form of inclusive public space in the face of racialized zoning, policing, and gentrification.

This Used to Be a Club () is a data-driven reconstruction of club geographies that visualizes cultural displacement. It also celebrates how nightlife communities have persistently engaged in placemaking, culture, and joy.

This Used to Be a Club’s founder and Pratt Center’s Senior Planner, Tara Duvivier () will introduce new data on former nightlife spaces in Manhattan and lead a conversation with David Banks () and Greg Miller (), Executive Director at on how we can learn from the past to save the nightlife spaces of today. Food will be provided.

RSVP at the link in bio!

This event is supported by and .

The data is clear: home flipping is a predatory practice targeting vulnerable homeowners and tenants, while driving out majority BIPOC residents from some of the last affordable neighborhoods in NYC.

In late April, we released a policy brief with new data on home flipping. Since then, the research has helped inform and expand reporting that shines a spotlight on the issue—from latest investigation into LLCs and flipping’s impact on homeowners, to a segment on NY1.

Swipe to see the latest coverage, and read the full policy brief at the link in our bio.

Thank you again to our incredible research partners and supporters:

🚨New policy brief from Pratt Center on the latest updates on home flipping released today!

Our new brief finds that from 2021 to 2025, over 10,000 homes were flipped in NYC. These are 1–3 small homes bought and resold within two years, often by professional investors seeking quick profits through superficial renovations.

In some of the last neighborhoods with affordable homeownership opportunities, this practice is driving up prices and increasing pressure on homeowners of color.

Building on our 2024 report, Flipping Out, these findings show a consistent pattern: home flipping is highest in neighborhoods of color and is associated with rising home prices.

Swipe for key findings, and read more at prattcenter.net/flippingout-2026 or the link in our bio.

And a big thank you to our coalition partners and supporters:

Happy Earth Day! 🌱

Today we’re highlighting the importance of energy-efficiency and our long-running small home retrofit program, EnergyFit, with our amazing community partners at and .

Scroll through to learn why energy efficiency matters—and download our EnergyFit toolkit, which distills 15+ years of research into a practical guide for CBOs to launch their own retrofit programs (at the link in bio!).

Announcing the OneLIC Oversight Task Force! 

This Task Force has been convened to oversee the commitments laid out in the OneLIC rezoning previously passed in 2025. 

Through the Task Force, residents and community leaders will meet regularly with city agencies, gather updates, and share them with the public to ensure commitments are being met on time.

Pratt Center for Community Development () is proud to facilitate the Task Force, and helping with meeting facilitation, strategic planning, and co-developing the governance model with task force members.

Learn more and follow along at onelictracker.com.

For five years in the 1970s, Pratt Center published “Street: A Magazine of the Urban Environment.”

The magazine ran until 1975, when it merged with publications to become what is now .

“Street” covered everything from public policy to practical “how-tos,” pairing striking graphics and bold typography with articles on topics ranging from food additives and sewage to creative DIY solutions like turning milk cartons into storage containers.

Learn more about “Street” on our website—and sign up for the Research Open House next Friday, April 17 to see a mini installation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Link in bio!

Pratt Center for Community Development has four fellowship positions available for graduate students interested in working on projects related to urban planning, economic development, and environmental sustainability during the 2026–2027 academic year.

Positions include:
- Storytelling Fellow
- Graphic Design Fellow
- Policy & Data Fellow
- Climate Initiatives Fellow

Head to Pratt Center’s link in bio for detailed descriptions of the positions and instructions on how to apply.

Founded in 1963, Pratt Center is the nation’s oldest university-based advocacy planning organization.

Last fall, Pratt Center held an exhibition at the Brooklyn campus library walking through 60+ years of our history.

Missed out on the exhibition? We’ll be sharing glimpses of some archival material we found leading up to the Research Open House on April 17, where we’ll have displays for a mini-exhibition for attendees.

🗓️ Friday, April 17, 2026, 1:00–5:00 pm
RSVP at the link in our bio.

The 2025–2026 Taconic Fellows have been hard at work with community partners across New York City, advancing projects on housing justice, environmental resilience, and community planning. 🏙️

Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight their work, starting with these three teams and the organizations they’re collaborating with. Their projects range from a public exhibition to community organizing initiatives.

Learn more about the Taconic Fellowship at prattcenter.net/taconic or through the link in our bio.