Don't Talk Rust, Act Green

Since 2010 Rust2Green Utica (R2G) has been at work in Utica, New York and the surrounding Mohawk Valley region of Upstate NY. We are mobilizing change through community-driven placemaking and by people uniting, working and acting together to create a greener, healthier, more equitable and vibrant city and region.

We believe our local assets are the fertile ground for greener futures so we work to nurture and cultivate them and to, in turn, strengthen and foster the resiliency of our area’s people, environments and economies. We value and facilitate collective action, community participation, collaboration and co-creation which builds social capital and community capacity and helps us learn and progress as we go. In pursuit of greater environmental, economic and social integration and interdependancy, we are open and expansive in our placemaking efforts which focus on and integrate arts and culture, food systems, neighborhood revitalization, inclusive public spaces–parks, streets, community gardens– green infrastructure, environmental justice, housing, poverty reduction, social enterprises and more. Above all, we believe in action–acting green– and making positive and beneficial change that lasts.

VISION + MISSION

Growing our city into a resilient, vibrant, sustainable community for the 21st century…

• Cultivate an open and dynamic network.

  • WE CAN’T DO IT ALONE

• Identify and nurture our assets

  • CELEBRATE WHO WE ARE

• Craft and share adaptable principles, tools and practices to guide the way

  • LEARN AS WE GO

• Take action to realize a resilient, sustainable, and vibrant Utica

  • DON’T TALK RUST, ACT GREEN