The magnolias will bloom again.
Bedford-Stuyvesant’s 50-year-old community space, the Magnolia Tree Earth Center, a New York City landmark, was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Brooklyn Borough President’s office to restore its damaged façade, interior and backyard as part of an effort to keep the historic center open for years to come.
The center will continue raising money to get to its goal of $350,000 in addition to the beep’s funds to cover the costs of the repairs. Its GoFundMe page has raised $52,900 so far.
The space was founded in 1972 by “the tree lady” of Brooklyn, Hattie Carthan. A resident of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Carthan was among the nation’s first African-American community-based ecology activists. She brought a variety of “green” programs to her neighborhood during the early emergence of the grassroots and environmental education movements.
The Center promotes environmental education and advocacy among Bed-Stuy’s young people and teaches work skills such as carpentry, plumbing and resume composition. The deterioration of its façade poses a risk to public safety, so scaffolding covers it and the 40-foot-tall tree that it receives its name from.
In a historically Black community facing gentrification, rising costs of living, and displacement, the cost of keeping the building operating keeps rising. The interior floors need fixing and the backyard is not a usable space in its present state. Without the funds its staff is set to rise, the center would have to shut down.
“Magnolia Tree Earth Center has been serving the community for 50 years, providing exceptional environmental and workforce development programming,” said Wayne Devonish, Chairman of the Magnolia Tree Earth Center. “Now we need the community to support us.”
The survival of the 140-year-old tree is a strange phenomenon in Brooklyn, as its species is not likely to thrive through temperatures below 20 F, which is common for a New York City winter. The brownstones that kept the Magnolia warm, out of the wind, and therefore alive, allowed for the building to gain landmark designation.
“Hattie Carthan recognized that taking care of our environment was a collective act of love for one another and the neighborhoods we call home,” said Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso at a press conference in Herbert Von King Park, right across the street from the center. “This isn’t just about Hattie’s legacy of environmentalism, it’s also about what drove her advocacy: community power, nature as a force for the education of our young people, and our right to breathe clean air, find solace in a hot summer day, and walk streets lined with the same beauty that sits in the soul of Brooklyn. If we all pitch in, we can deliver on Hattie’s vision for our borough and help Magnolia Tree reach its full potential.”
Reynoso said helping the center came with a lot of complications at a city and state levels. The grant came from the budget his office has full discretion to allocate.
“The money isn’t coming from anywhere else, this is it,” said Reynoso.
To help save the center, Reynoso was joined by the center Chair Wayne Devonish, NYC Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Laurie Cumbo, Council Member Chi Ossé and Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman.
“We have to make sure this is here for our children and for the children of our children,” said Council Member Chi Ossé.
