On October 29, The Northwest Bronx Community and Clergy Coalition (NWBCCC) celebrated the signing of a historic Community Benefits Agreement, negotiated with the 8th Regiment Partners, who were selected by the city to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.
“After more than three decades of planning, organizing, and negotiating with the people of Kingsbridge, this community benefits agreement will finally bring our community’s vision for the Kingsbridge Armory to life,” said Sandra Lobo, Executive Director of the NWBCCC, at the event, alongside Economic Development Corporation CEO Andrew Kimball, City Council Member Pierina Sanchez, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, State Senator Gustavo Rivera, and coalition partners.
“We have organized to ensure that the core values of this project reflect the needs of our Bronx community,” said Lobo. “Now, thanks to this agreement, the plan for the Kingsbridge Armory is one that we can be proud of. This is what it means to fight forward.“
Thirty-two Bronx institutions have signed on to the CBA, and will support the ongoing implementation and enforcement of its provisions. The agreement requires the 8th Regiment Partners to make a good-faith effort to hire 20 percent of its full-time staff from within the community in the first two years, and 40 percent of its full-time staff thereafter, with opportunities for advancement, comprehensive job training and other critical resources for local residents. A companion Project Labor Agreement requires the development team to use union labor throughout construction, provide prevailing wages and benefits, create pre-apprenticeship opportunities, and prioritize local union minority- and women-owned businesses in its contracts.
Soon after the agreement was announced, the New York City Council unanimously voted to advance the redevelopment of the Armory.
Lobo served as the co-chair of the Together for Kingsbridge visioning process, through which more than 4,000 Bronx residents shared their priorities for the redevelopment, and has steered the NWBCC’s vision of community-led development through to completion.