Rust to Green Binghamton (R2GB) held a community meeting to share what results of student intern research about Binghamton and to hear community member’s thoughts and ideas on some of the amazing opportunities there are to reshape Binghamton’s downtown and its rivers.
 

​In addition to the focus groups, we also asked community members to participate in picture voting on projects they would like to see happen in Binghamton. Participants also responded to questions on chalkboards asking what the river is to them, what Binghamton is to them, and what they wish each had. See some of the responses in the slide show to the right!  Overall it was a fun and inspiring night for us students to learn from the community. 

​Shorna Allred, Rust to Green Binghamton (R2GB) faculty leader, is an Associate Professor, Natural Resources at Cornell University specializing in human dimensions of natural resources and community engagement in stewardship of natural resources. She conducts outreach with organizations and agencies related to effective program planning and implementation such as stakeholder engagement, peer learning and networking strategy development, program evaluation, and communication. As an R2GB researcher and human dimensions of natural resources outreach specialist, she brings expertise in social dimensions of natural resource planning and management and is concerned with how natural resources are incorporated into sustainable city design and green infrastructure.

Heidi Mouillesseaux-Kunzman is Senior Extension Associate with the Community and Regional Development Institute (CaRDI) in the Department of Development Sociology at Cornell University. Heidi develops educational programs and tools, facilitates networking opportunities, and conducts research designed to help local officials, community and economic developers, and other local leaders to collaboratively identify, pursue, and achieve their community's development goals. Heidi’s current activities include support for university-wide collaboration around local and regional food systems, resilient communities through her work with Rust 2 Green Binghamton, and the expansion of professional development opportunities for community and economic developers as co-chair of the national Enhancing Rural Community Capacity community of practice. ​

Quan Yuan is a Junior Developmental Sociology and Environmental Sustainability Sciences major, with a concentration in environmental governance. During the school year, he is working with Withmore Lab and Cornell Cooperative Extension on eradicating the Woolly Hemlock Adelgid, an invasive insect which is destroying hemlock trees in New York State. Quan was born in China, and growing up in Chinese cities have instilled in him a consciousness for urban environmental issues. Quan is glad to work with Rust 2 Green on rebuilding declining industrial cities with a new direction. To him, R2G Binghamton means an emphasis on cultivating an environmental conscious in urban planning, with benefits to both social and environmental realms.

Allie Zambito is a rising junior studying Policy Analysis and Management. She is from Rochester, NY. On campus, she is a TA for the introductory PAM class, and is also involved with Y.O.U.R.S., Cornell Ski Club, TASC Test Tutors Club, and Alpha Xi Delta Sorority. As a PAM major, she has gained an interesest in social welfare and urban housing policy, and hopes to help reform economic and social welfare policy across the U.S.. Growing up in and experiencing the challenges of a rust belt city first hand, also influenced her interest in joining the Rust2Green program and helping other rust belt communities. 

Bob Murphy is the Appointed Director of Economic Development for the City of Binghamton, New York. Mr. Murphy also serves well as the Executive Director of the Binghamton Local Development Corporation (BLDC) and the Binghamton Urban Renewal Agency (BURA).
Established in 1982, the BLDC has extended credit and advice to non-traditional borrowers and projects in the City of Binghamton for the last 34 years. The Corporation has over 2.5 Million Dollars of revolving loan funds available to prospective borrowers. It is the point of initial contact for developers and investors wishing to work in the Binghamton area.
Under Mr. Murphy's direction the Binghamton Economic Development Office and the BLDC have entered into partnerships with SUNY-Broome, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Cornell University's Rust2Green program, Binghamton University and NASA to attract and finance a variety of businesses and community development programs to Binghamton including CMP, LUMA and Porchfest.
Mr. Murphy previously has worked in both private legal practice and government. He has served in the City of Binghamton in two prior administrations as Corporation Counsel from 1994 to 1998 and as City Court Judge from 2002 to 2008.
Mr. Murphy graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a BA in Government with a Minor in Business and received a Juris Doctor from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Law School.

George Homsy is an assistant professor of public administration. His research is on sustainability and local government policymaking, with a focus within small- to medium-sized cities and towns. He explores the drivers of sustainability policy change and the results of implementation. He is currently engaged in a research project that examines the ways that rural communities implement and balance the environmental, economic and equity dimensions of sustainability. He was also a planning consultant for sustainable communities in municipalities, and a journalist who investigated local governments and sustainability.