HOW Green! (or Houses of Worship Greening and Sustainability Initiative) was formed out of our executive director Vonetta Storbakken’s master’s thesis at Pratt Institute.
The HOW Green! initiative works alongside faith-based organizations (FBOs), such as churches, mosques, and synagogues, in Bedford-Stuyvesant and central Brooklyn, to evaluate the FBO’s ecological context and its current practices that affect the health of the environment and the congregants. After an initial assessment, the Radical Living team serves to further educate and equip congregational leaders on the importance of social and environmental sustainability via workshops and teachings from sacred texts.
We partner with houses of worship (i.e., churches, mosques, synagogues, etc.) in Bedford-Stuyvesant and central Brooklyn neighborhoods for several reasons. People of color are disproportionately impacted by economic, health and environmental disparities, yet Brooklyn is known as the Borough of Churches. Radical Living recognizes that houses of worship are strategic stakeholders and by partnering with them in deep, meaningful ways we are able to work together to make significant impacts in our community!
Current HOW Green! partners include Calvary Fellowship AME, the Pentecostal House of Prayer, and John Wesley UMC.