Jeanne DuPont, Executive Director of the Rockaway Waterfront Alliance (RWA) is the 2008 Yolanda Garcia Community Planning Award recipient. This award, which recognizes the often-unsung leaders of grassroots community-based planning, was awarded to Jeanne for her work promoting public waterfront access in the Rockaways. In 2005, the RWA created the Rockaway Waterfront Park Project, which laid the groundwork for the present PLANYC public park project for Far Rockaway. Like Yolanda Garcia, Jeanne has a strong commitment to community-led planning-working across cultural and generational lines to create a community vision.

The YGCP award was created to commemorate the work of Ms. Yolanda Garcia, a community activist in the South Bronx. Under Ms. Garcia’s leadership, the residents of Melrose challenged the city, created an alternative to an urban renewal plan, and transformed a neighborhood. Each year, the MAS Planning Center presents an award and $2,500 cash prize to a community-based planner whose work embodies the spirit of Ms. Garcia. Yolanda Gonzalez, Executive Director of Nos Quedamos and daughter of Yolanda Garcia will be presenting Ms. DuPont with the YGCP Award at the MAS Annual Meeting on July 9th.