Our current Request for Proposals, The Restorative City, called for projects at the intersection of health equity and the built environment. Alongside the RFP, a mini-grant series was made available to past and current Design Trust fellows to support our community’s ongoing work connecting public space to wellness.

Design Trust Fellows are top professionals who join our project teams and lead the research, design and planning work. Earlier this year, we put out a third call to our Fellows network offering mini-grants to support ongoing work connected to the RFP theme of health equity. We are thrilled to announce that Dr. Mollie Serena, the current Community Engagement Fellow on our Opening the Edge project, has been selected as this cycle’s grant recipient! 

Mollie is a resident of the Lillian Wald Houses on the Lower East Side and an interdisciplinary artist working in photography, sculpture, film, and light art. 

Mollie began working with the Opening the Edge project as a Community Design Team member developing a prototype with residents for a lively public space at the Lillian Wald Houses, which could be replicated at other NYCHA developments. Mollie proposed and designed the Lighting the Edge installation in celebration and anticipation of moving into the final phase of the project. Now a Fellow on the project, Mollie has been instrumental in community engagement and utilizes unique public art activities to educate and excite the neighborhood about the vision for the space and upcoming groundbreaking. 

Public housing is an integral part of the city’s landscape and is home to one out of every 17 New Yorkers. Many NYCHA residents in New York City do not have access to green space outside their doorsteps, a crucial tool for health equity and wellness. Better public space in these communities contributes to a more connected, sustainable, and healthy future for all New Yorkers. At the same time, access to arts and culture provides measurable benefits to our individual and collective health. 

Continuing this work, Mollie’s Fellows Forum project will create an immersive public art exhibition that opens a dialogue surrounding public space in NYCHA and empowers its residents in shaping the future. The exhibition will raise awareness about the power of community-led design and the positive impact of public art on urban environments. 

Follow @openingtheedge on Instagram to keep up with the latest developments and explore Mollie’s past work in space!

Meet our past Fellows Forum winners and learn more about their work elevating important conversations around public space, health equity, and wellbeing here.