Building the Blue Economy: Opportunities for Community-Based Organizations in Stormwater Management

Using Buffalo, New York as a primary case study, this report explores both the challenges and winning strategies for advocating for neighborhood-level green infrastructure solutions. It focuses on a project called “PUSH Blue,” supported by the non-profit People United for Sustainable Housing (PUSH) Buffalo, to implement stormwater management intervention in Buffalo’s West Side. Especially for low-income communities, such projects can yield strong intersecting benefits for sustainability, neighborhood redevelopment, and job creation. While not explicitly oriented toward climate adaptation, this report outlines relevant methods to achieve community-based green infrastructure (“blue economy”) projects to manage stormwater.