CASE STUDY
Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
The Challenge
The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation (Restoration), founded by Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Jacob Javits and New York City Mayor John Lindsay, is the United States’ first-ever community development corporation. Restoration launched a program in partnership with Citi Bike, the New York City Department of Transportation and the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to promote bike share in Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, a historically low-income community with poor access to public transportation. The purpose of the program was to promote the benefits of bike share in overcoming health, mobility and financial challenges, and change the perception of bike share as a harbinger of gentrification. TASC was enlisted to promote Restoration’s efforts and secure positive media attention for the program.
Our Strategy
TASC targeted national, regional and local media outlets to secure attention for the program, its success in Bed- Stuy and the implications of this success for other similar communities across the country. TASC helped create a groundswell of grassroots support for the program by securing media coverage for bike rallies and community events.
Results
TASC secured multiple media hits for the program. Coverage included a cover story in amNY and articles in NPR, the New York Daily News, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and the Brooklyn Paper. Crain’s New York Business editorialized in support of the program and praised the larger impact of Restoration on the community. Two years after launching the program, Restoration released a report highlighting its success, including a 225% increase in bike share rides over a one-year period, a 56% increase in Citi Bike membership in Bed-Stuy vs. a 46% increase across the rest of the city, and a higher rate of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) resident enrollment in bike share in Bed-Stuy than anywhere else in the city.
225% INCREASE
IN BIKE SHARE RIDES
56% INCREASE
IN CITI BIKE MEMBERSHIP IN BED-STUY
MEDIA COVERAGE
