In 2024, with support from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, New York Sea Grant launched the Jamaica Bay Community Flood Fellowship Program to connect community leaders from neighborhoods across the Jamaica Bay watershed. Fellows share their local expertise about flooding, learn about existing flood resilience tools and resources and make recommendations, and become equipped to share out this knowledge with fellow community members and decision makers.
2024 Flood Fellows
Sonia Moise
Sonia Moise is a local resident, homeowner and President of Edgemere Community Civic Association. Sonia became interested in the Community Flood Fellowship because there were a lot of organizations talking about flood resilience but not enough initiative.
The Community Flood Fellowship Program wanted to bring community knowledge and input into the implementation of ideas about flood resilience. As a part of the Civic Association, residents in the community rely on Sonia’s information to be informed and made aware of the resources available to them. Sonia hopes to see improved infrastructure, but while she waits for that to come, she hopes to see more resources available to residents in flood prone communities. For example: shelters, charging stations for electronic devices, disaster recovery, and insurance companies to assist families to fill out forms.
Abby Jordan
Abby Jordan is a Brighton Beach, Brooklyn native, and the daughter of immigrants from El Salvador. As a former Parent Coordinator of Liberation Diploma Plus High School, a small but mighty public transfer high school, she helped students and families in Coney Island.
Currently she’s a SIPA Environmental Fellow at Columbia University working to earn a Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy. Abby is an avid open water swimmer through CIBBOWS and loves swimming in the ocean year round. Passionate about helping educate and build resilient coastal communities, she has science education experience with the National Wildlife Federation Resilient Schools Consortium as an educator and community advisor. Abby joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program after she and her family were devastated by the historic storm surge of Hurricane Sandy in 2012. She hopes to see urgency and acknowledgement of the realities of flooding, of climate change.
Deborah Alves
Deborah Alves is a resident of East Flatbush, a neighborhood that has experienced an increase in flooding due to unprecedented rain events, destroying businesses and homes. Deborah is a community activist helping to create and support a network of resources for disaster preparation and health justice, aiming to reach different communities.
Deborah joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program because people in her community suffered flood losses and were being ignored and I wanted to help provide resources to them. Deborah hopes to see in my neighborhood that would enhance flood resilience are the implementation of catchment basins, planting of more green areas eg. trees and native grasses in rain gardens.
Harold Jones
Harold has a passion for improving the Canarsie Community and was one of the founders and current Executive Director of the Canarsie Community Development Inc (CCDI). CCDI works to identify and fund projects that impact the Canarsie in addition to providing a forum that addresses common concerns affecting the residents.
CCDI is also one of the leading community advocates for environmental and climate justice issues in New York State working with many Universities. Harold was formerly a Nuclear Engineer with Raytheon Engineers and a Power Plant Design Engineer with General Electric Co. Harold is also the President of the Flatlands 8th Street Block, an Association Member of the NYC Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), and Member of the Brookdale Hospital Center Community Board. Harold joined the Community Flood Fellowship Program in hopes of providing important resources on and knowledge on flooding resilience to Canarsie Residents.
Pamela Pettyjohn
Pamela Pettyjohn is the Founder and President of the Coney Island Beautification Project, Inc. When her Coney Island home and a large part of her community was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, Pamela came to the realization that despite her losses, she had to give back to the many thousands in need.
Founded in 2014, the Coney Island Beautification Project was formed in response to Hurricane Sandy to foster community involvement, resilience, and education to enhance the local environment. The organization focuses on neighborhood greening, developing and enhancing parks, street tree beds, waterfronts and other green spaces for public use. Pamela also serves on the board of the Waterfront Alliance, an organization that works to inspire and effect resilient, revitalized, and accessible coastlines for all communities. And finally, Pamela serves in a leadership role on several coalitions, including Rise to Resilience, the Forests For All NYC Coalition, Northeast Regional Council Member of the National Parks Conservation Association and several others.
Kiera Maloney
Kiera Maloney is currently the Vice Chair of Surfrider NYC and a Farmer at Edgemere Farm. Living in Rockaway, Kiera encounters a lot of flooding caused by storms and high tides. With her work with Surfrider and Edgemere, she has seen the benefits of green spaces in flood mitigation.
With her work through the Community Flood Fellowship, she hopes to see more open spaces in Rockaway become flood-resilient gardens.
Rona Taylor
Rona Taylor is the Executive Director of the Central x South East Brooklyn CDC (CxSE BK). Rona was drawn to participate in the Community Flood Fellowship because she understands that extreme weather events will only become more frequent and severe over time.
Rona aims to be a resource to her community to help mitigate the impacts of flooding. She hopes to see a community that is better prepared to meet the challenges of climate change.
Roger Gendron
Roger Gendron is currently the President of the New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, has formerly coordinated a relief center after Hurricane Sandy, and workshops for area residents with FEMA.
As the president his main role is to serve as the connection between his community and the city’s elected officials and agencies. Additionally, Roger provides peace of mind to the New Hamilton Beach community by updating members through the Civic Association’s social media pages about when they can expect coastal flooding conditions. Through these updates, Roger has seen and documented how coastal flooding has become “a quality of life issue” and continues to affect many coastal communities. As a member of the Community Flood Fellowship, Roger hopes to create a larger community amongst one another and share knowledge so no community feels alone.
Lauren Cosgrove
Lauren Cosgrove is a Northeast Campaign Director for the National Parks Conservation Association, a 100+ year-old nonprofit organization advocating for America’s national parks. As a resident of Rockaway, Queens, NY for over a decade and serving as a Board Member of the Coney Island Beautification Project since 2015.
Lauren leverages her skills to train community leaders and center local voices in the rebuilding and future development of vulnerable coastal communities. Lauren has written publications, spoken at noteworthy public events, and served on numerous Citizen Advisory Committees in NYC helping to shape innovative approaches in land conservation, urban and suburban resilience, and cultural preservation. Lauren recently became a certified WEDG® (Waterfront Edge Design Guidelines) Associate joining a network of over 500 professionals in waterfront planning, design, engineering, and community development.
Jackie Rogers
Cory Wright
