Our Bronx announces boroughwide expansion, merger with BCDI and 20% stake in Kingsbridge Armory

Our Bronx, the organization that for 50 years operated as the Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition, announced a boroughwide expansion and a formal merger with the Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (BCDI) aimed at directing development in the Bronx toward resident-led outcomes.

"We believe that the people most directly impacted by an issue should be at the center of decision-making," said Sandra Lobo, executive director of Our Bronx. Lobo said the group used its 50th anniversary to interview members, partners and board members before deciding to expand beyond its original neighborhoods.

The merger with BCDI, said Catherine Melia, chief of staff for Our Bronx, is intended to combine BCDI’s planning and economic development expertise with Our Bronx’s organizing capacity so that development is coordinated across the borough and addresses root causes of displacement. "We’re really thinking about equitable development differently," Melia said.

The organization is also moving from messaging into implementation on a high-profile project: Our Bronx secured a 20% ownership stake in the Kingsbridge Armory and negotiated a community benefits agreement with master developer Eighth Regiment Partners, Lobo said. "Our Bronx secured 20% ownership of the Kingsbridge Armory," she said, and added the group has been working this year to set up infrastructure to ensure the community benefits agreement’s commitments are followed through.

As part of that implementation, Lobo said the organization held a workforce fair and expects the Armory project to break ground next year, with a commitment to local hire under the agreement. She described a large public visioning process that engaged more than 4,000 residents, workers, businesses and young people as key to securing community ownership.

The group is also rolling out an organizing fellowship to develop local leadership. Melia described a three-month, paid, full-time fellowship for early and aspiring organizers that will include training, field work and leadership development; interested applicants are directed to OurBronx.org.

Guests on Bronx Talk emphasized strategies they say can limit displacement and promote affordability: partnering with mission-oriented developers, using community land trusts to preserve long-term affordability, co-creating development plans with neighborhood organizations, and supporting cooperative ownership and local procurement. They pointed to rezoning examples — including Jerome Avenue and the Bronx Terminal Market redevelopment — as cases where rapid change produced mixed results for local jobs and small businesses.

The organization previewed a two-part video with the motto "If you don't have a plan, someone else has a plan for you" and the taglines "We plan it. We run it. We own it." The show’s host said Our Bronx will celebrate its work at a 52nd anniversary gala on Friday, May 8 at 6:00 p.m. at the Andrew Freedman Home and will convene a Bronx Economic Development Summit June 5–6 at the same venue to present and refine a boroughwide economic development plan.

The interview closed with the host acknowledging the production team and thanking Lobo and Melia. For more information and application details for the fellowship, the organization directed listeners to its website, OurBronx.org.