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Majora Carter

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Majora Carter
Born (1966-10-27) October 27, 1966 (age 58)
New York, New York, U.S.
EducationWesleyan University (BA)
New York University (MFA)
Websitemajoracartergroup.com

Majora Carter (born October 27, 1966) is an American urban revitalization strategist[1] and public radio host from the South Bronx area of New York City. Carter founded and led the non-profit environmental justice solutions corporation Sustainable South Bronx[2] from 2001 onward, before entering the private sector in 2008.

Early life

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After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science,[3] Carter entered Wesleyan University in 1984 to study film and went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts.[4] In 1997, she received a Master of Fine Arts from New York University (NYU).[5] While at NYU, she returned to her family's home in Hunts Point.[6]

Career

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Advocacy

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In August 2001, after declining to engage in a campaign for NY City Council,[4] Carter founded Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx),[4] where she served as executive director until July 2008.[7][8] During that time, SSBx advocated the development of the Hunts Point Riverside Park which had been an illegal garbage dump.[9] Carter was a co-founder of the Bronx River Alliance,[10] and SSBx continued to carry on Carter's involvement in Bronx River waterfront restoration projects.[5][6] In 2003, Sustainable South Bronx started the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program,[11][12] one of the nation's first urban green collar training and placement systems.[6][13] Other SSBx projects have centered around fitness, the creation of a community market, and air quality.[5] In 2007, Carter co-founded Green for All with Van Jones.[14] A December 2008 New York Times profile called Carter "The Green Power Broker" and "one of the city's best-known advocates for environmental justice" but reported that some South Bronx activists (who would not go on record) stated that Carter has taken credit for accomplishments when others should share the credit as well as taking credit for uncompleted projects. Other Bronx activists (who did agree to be named) stated that her recognition was well deserved.[6]

Carter was a torch-bearer for a portion of the San Francisco leg of the torch relay of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Many portions of the torch relay, including the San Francisco leg, were met with protests concerning the policies of the Chinese government toward Tibet. Although Carter had signed a contract pledging not to use an Olympic venue for political or religious causes,[15] when she and John Caldera were passed the torch during their part of the relay, she pulled out a small Tibetan flag that she had concealed in her shirt sleeve.[16]

Members of the Chinese torch security escort team pulled her out of the relay and San Francisco police officers pushed her into the crowd on the side of the street.[17] Fellow torch-bearer and retired NYFD firefighter Richard Doran called Carter's actions "disgusting and appalling" and said that he thought "she dishonored herself and her family".[18] Another torch-bearer, retired NYPD police officer Jim Dolan, agreed with Doran.[18]

Media

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Majora Carter's TED talk[19] was one of the first six publicly released talks[20] to launch the TED website in 2006.[21] Carter gave a second TED talk in 2022,[22] making her the only Black woman who is not an entertainer to be invited to their stage twice.[citation needed] Carter has made appearances in, written, and produced television and radio programs, including HBO's The Black List: Volume 2,[23] American Public Media's Market Place,[24] and PRX's This I Believe series[25] and has hosted several pieces on urban sustainability with Discovery Communications' Science Channel.[26]


She has been featured in corporate promotional videos and advertisements for companies such as Cisco Systems,[27] Frito-Lay,[28] Intel, Holiday Inn,[29] HSBC,[30] Visa,[31] Mazda[32] and Honda.[33]

In 2014, Carter was the on-camera and voiceover host of "Water Blues - Green Solutions",[34] a documentary on Green Infrastructure in several American cities, produced by Pennsylvania State University TV for the Public TV Market. In 2015, Carter played "TSA Agent 1" opposite Meryl Streep in Ricky and the Flash, directed by Johnathon Demme.[35]

From 2007 to 2010, Carter co-hosted on The Green, a television segment dedicated to the environment, shown on the Sundance Channel.[36] The first season consisted of a series of 90 second op-eds shot in studio.[37] The second season consisted of a series of short interview pieces with individuals taking uncommon approaches to environmental problems.[38]

In 2008, Carter and Marge Ostroushko[39] co-produced the pilot episode of the public radio show, The Promised Land (radio), which won a 3-way competition for a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Talent Quest grant.[40] The one-hour programs debuted on over 150 public radio stations across the US on January 19, 2009, was renewed for the 2010/2011 season,[41] and earned a 2010 Peabody Award,[42] but went unsupported by the public radio funding organizations after that period, and has since stopped production.

Carter co-authored a white paper on urban heat island mitigation[43] and a peer-reviewed article, Elemental carbon and PM(2.5) levels in an urban community heavily impacted by truck traffic.[44] In February 2022 Penguin Random House released Ms. Carter's first book, Reclaiming Your Community: You Don't Have to Move Out of Your Neighborhood to Live in a Better One published by Berret-Koehler Publishers.

Consulting

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After leaving Sustainable South Bronx, Carter has served as president of a private consulting firm, Majora Carter Group, LLC (MCG). In the June 2010 issue of Fast Company magazine, Carter was listed as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business.[45] In 2014, B Corporation (certification) recognized MCG as one of the "Best for the World"[46] according to its ranking among other B Corps of similar size.

In 2012, Carter's consulting firm, Majora Carter Group LLC (MCG) accepted FreshDirect as a client to help the company connect to local organizations prior to its proposed relocation to the Harlem River Yards in the South Bronx.[47]

Activists opposed to the relocation claimed New York City Government and FreshDirect failed to conduct sufficient environmental review and community outreach.[48] A lawsuit and boycott campaign[49] were initiated to stop the relocation. That lawsuit was dismissed,[50] and a subsequent appeal was also dismissed; both were filed by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.[51] Sustainable South Bronx, an organization Carter founded, opposed FreshDirect's move to the Bronx.[52]

Subsequent votes by Bronx Community Board 1[53] and the NYC Industrial Development Agency[54] both voted to approve the move to the Bronx.

The project broke ground December 22, 2014, and was scheduled to be completed before the end of 2016.[55] FreshDirect started hiring in the Bronx ahead of its move in anticipation.[56] Consistent with activists' concerns over increased truck traffic as a result of the new FreshDirect facility, a study found that the opening the FreshDirect warehouse "significantly increased truck and vehicle flow, especially for overnight time windows, and that for one traffic monitoring site, resulting changes were not adequately predicted by the facility’s environmental assessment prior to construction."[57]

Tech-Economy Inclusion

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In 2007, while running Sustainable South Bronx, Majora Carter introduced MIT's first ever Mobile fab lab (digital fabrication laboratory) to the South Bronx, where it served as an early iteration of a maker spaces.

In 2013, Carter joined the advisory board of the Bronx Academy of Software Engineering High School. After co-founding StartUp Box #SouthBronx[58] in 2012 as a social enterprise to seed diverse participation in the knowledge economy, she launched StartUp Box #QA,[59] a quality assurance testing service, which assisted in the launch of Mayor Bill DeBlasio's Digital.NYC[60] in 2014. StartUp Box to victory won the pitch contest at the national Blogher Conference in 2015 with $250,000 worth of in-kind services from SheKnows Media.[61]

The social enterprise also won second place in the MIT Inclusion Innovation and the Village Capital & Kapoor Capital People Ops Competitions in 2016, (each garnering a $25,000 prize), as well as the Digital Diversity Network's Code Breaker Award in 2016[62]

She is a BusinessInsider.com 'Silicon Alley 100',[63] and her 2006 TEDtalk was one of 6 on the launch of its website.[64] Carter is also a co-founder of the Bronx Tech Meetup.[65] She served as a judge for the NYC Office of Digital Media's "Reinvent Payphones Design Challenge".[66]

Awards and honors

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Marge Ostroushko, Majora Carter, Mary Beth Kircher and Emily Botein with award for The Promised Land at the 70th Annual Peabody Awards

She is a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities.

References

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Notes

  1. ^ "Majora Carter — MacArthur Foundation". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  2. ^ "Sustainable South Bronx: Mission". Sustainable South Bronx. Archived from the original on August 1, 2008. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  3. ^ "Valerie Reidy, Jeff Greenfield, Majora Carter, Steve Harvey, Valerie Smaldone, El Doctorow, Helen Setzer, Jon Favreau, Elizabeth Tam, Dominic Chianese, Nita Lowey, John Liu - The Bronx High School Of Science Gala". Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Waldman, Amy (August 15, 2001). "Public lives; a dreamer, working for beauty in the South Bronx". The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c d "Current fellows index (fellows 2005 overview)". The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. September 2005. Archived from the original on February 25, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d Holloway, Marguerite (December 12, 2008). "The green power broker". The New York Times. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  7. ^ Theodore J. Kim, Legal Counsel, OEJ/OECA Memorandum Re: "Environmental Justice in the News" for the Week Ending March 16, 2007 Archived July 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, Environmental Protection Agency, March 15, 2007. Accessed online January 5, 2009.
  8. ^ NYU Portraits, Center for Multicultural and Education Programs, NYU. Accessed online January 5, 2009.
  9. ^ Bill Egbert (September 18, 2006). "Bronx River Group Fetes New Park". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 4, 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  10. ^ "The Bronx Times - Bronx River Alliance Turns 10". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  11. ^ Mendez, J. Edward (April 24, 2006). "Bronx goes green: program trains workers for cleanup". City Limits. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  12. ^ Sustainable South Bronx: Green Jobs, Not Jails Archived March 16, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Green for All. Accessed online January 5, 2009.
  13. ^ Marisol Bello (December 13, 2007). "Cities cultivate 2 types of green". USA Today. Retrieved April 4, 2009.
  14. ^ Holloway, Marguerite (December 14, 2008). "The Green Power Broker". The New York Times.
  15. ^ Eligon, John (April 11, 2008). "Carrying the Olympic Torch, and Protesting It, Too". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  16. ^ "South Bronx woman pulls flag from sleeve, surprises San Fran cops at Olympic tribute". Daily News. New York. April 9, 2008.[dead link‍]
  17. ^ Sou Youn & Bill Hutchinson (April 10, 2008). "Olympic torch bearer from Bronx in Tibet protest". New York Daily News. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  18. ^ a b Youn, Soo; Hutchinson, Bill (April 11, 2008). "China protester is torched by critics". Daily News. New York.
  19. ^ Carter, Majora, Greening the ghetto, retrieved April 10, 2018
  20. ^ "The first 6 TED Talks". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  21. ^ Carter, Majora. "Majora Carter - Speaker - TED.com". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  22. ^ Carter, Majora (September 21, 2022), Majora Carter: You don't have to leave your neighborhood to live in a better one, retrieved March 2, 2024
  23. ^ David Hinckley (February 26, 2009). "On HBO's 'The Black List,' Tyler Perry, T.D. Jakes and others tell their stories". New York Daily News. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  24. ^ "Invest in a 'green-collar' future". American Public Media. November 14, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2008. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
  25. ^ "This I Believe - Majora Carter". Public Radio Exchange. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  26. ^ "Brains of Science: Majora Carter Extended Interview". The Discovery Channel. September 19, 2008. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  27. ^ "Digital Transformation fueled by the Internet of Everything - Welcome to Cisco". Archived from the original on April 25, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  28. ^ "Majora Carter goes Primetime". February 24, 2009. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  29. ^ "Holiday Inn Majora". YouTube. Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  30. ^ "HSBC - Thank You - Majora Carter". Vimeo. February 4, 2015. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  31. ^ "YouTube". YouTube. Archived from the original on February 18, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  32. ^ Mazda of Lakewood (August 8, 2013). "Conviction, Creativity, Courage, - The Majora Carter Way". Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2017 – via YouTube.
  33. ^ "American Honda Motor Co., Inc. - Official Site". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  34. ^ "Water Blues, Green Solutions / Explore Stories". waterblues.org. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  35. ^ Scott, A. O. (2016). "Review: 'Ricki and the Flash' Puts Meryl Streep Behind a Telecaster". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  36. ^ The Green on Sundance Channel. Archived June 22, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Accessed online June 17, 2007
  37. ^ "Sundance Channel's The Green Presented by Robert Redford". Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  38. ^ Laura Michalchyshyn (February 26, 2009). "Sundance Channel's The Green Grows in its Historic Third Season". world-wire.com. Archived from the original on March 26, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  39. ^ "The Peabody Awards". Archived from the original on June 11, 2010. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  40. ^ Everhart, Karen (July 14, 2008). "R&D boost for new voices". Current. Archived from the original on January 12, 2009. Retrieved January 3, 2009.
  41. ^ "The Promised Land". Archived from the original on September 17, 2009. Retrieved January 13, 2010.
  42. ^ "Peabody Award". The Promised Land Radio. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018. Retrieved December 14, 2012.
  43. ^ "Urban Heat Island Mitigation Can Improve New York City's Environment" (PDF). April 15, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 15, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  44. ^ Lena, T Suvendrini; Ochieng, Victor; Carter, Majora; Holguín-Veras, José; Kinney, Patrick L (2002). "Elemental carbon and PM (2.5) levels in an urban community heavily impacted by truck traffic". Environmental Health Perspectives. 110 (10): 1009–1015. doi:10.1289/ehp.021101009. PMC 1241027. PMID 12361926.
  45. ^ PM, Chuck Salter 05 22 10 4:32 (May 22, 2010). "59. Majora Carter". Retrieved February 17, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  46. ^ "2014 Best for the World Overall Honorees". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  47. ^ DNAinfo"DNAInfor.com Article: FreshDirect Hires Majora Carter to Round Up Local Support for Bronx Move". Archived from the original on May 21, 2014.
  48. ^ Daniel Beekman (October 1, 2012). "FreshDirect hires environmental activist Majora Carter to aid in relocation bid". Daily News (New York). Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  49. ^ Bernard L. Stein (September 28, 2012). "FreshDirect hires Majora Carter: Company opponents denounce 'turncoat'". Mott Haven Herald. Retrieved October 1, 2012.
  50. ^ Annie Karni (June 3, 2013). "FreshDirect foes lose in court". Crain's New York. Retrieved June 3, 2013.
  51. ^ "BREAKING: Court appeal to stop FreshDirect move to South Bronx thrown out". March 27, 2014. Retrieved February 17, 2017.
  52. ^ Winnie Hu (April 4, 2013). "Hero of the Bronx Is Now Accused of Betraying It". The New York Times. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  53. ^ Denis Slattery (July 11, 2013). "Bronx community board approves controversial Fresh Direct plan for Port Morris as residents scream and board members object". The New York Daily News. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
  54. ^ "Despite Community Opposition, NYC Industrial Development Agency Votes to Allow Fresh Direct Relocation to the South Bronx". Mobilizing the Region. July 23, 2013.
  55. ^ "FreshDirect Breaks Ground on New South Bronx Facility". Bronx Boro President's Office. Archived from the original on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
  56. ^ "FreshDirect hiring for new Bronx headquarters". Retrieved February 17, 2017.
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  58. ^ Beekman, Daniel. "Majora Carter and partners plan to open tech startup incubator and education center in Hunts Point, Bronx - NY Daily News". nydailynews.com. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
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  60. ^ "Mayor de Blasio Unveils Digital.NYC". The official website of the City of New York. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
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