\u201cThe central question is not whether change is coming, but how broadly opportunities, risks, benefits, and decision-making will be distributed,\u201d the draft report said. \u201cWithout a coordinated and intentional strategy, new development will continue to favor higher-income newcomers, outside investors, and uses that do little to improve long-term conditions for current residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260605_124524-1.jpg\")
The two-day event saw hundreds of attendees from across the city and country. Photo by Emily Swanson<\/p>\n
The Andrew Freedman Home event brought together a diverse group of experts and local leaders around the issues in the draft plan, with time to build relationships and attend sessions by speakers from across the city and the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Friday sessions primarily focused on how traditional concepts of economic development \u2014 employment, small business, real estate \u2014 are now being \u201creimagined.\u201d Sessions included perspectives from those in the New York City area, as well as Chicago, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Oakland, Boston and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Saturday program looks to the history and future of the Bronx in terms of environmental resilience, finance, manufacturing, small business and other industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The summit kicked off with remarks by Borough President Vanessa Gibson, BXEDC President Winston Peters and Our Bronx Executive Director Sandra Lobo\n<\/p>\n
Gibson said the summit was part of an effort to \u201creclaim the Bronx\u201d and lift up its communities. \u201cWe will aim high and raise the standard for years to come.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Last year saw a record-breaking $9 billion in investments in the borough, with 17,000 new housing units and 19 million square feet of other development, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gibson said 2026 \u201cis looking like another great year\u201d towards new ventures that will impress locals and tourists alike.\n<\/p>\n
This year will see the opening of the Hip-Hop Museum, which she called \u201ca global empire\u201d and an expansion of the Bronx Museum of the Arts.\n<\/p>\n
In addition, the new pavilion at Orchard Beach<\/a> is reopening after nearly two decades of closure, and work to redevelop the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory<\/a> is starting soon, according to Gibson.\u00a0<\/p>\n The borough president also cited the ongoing Metro-North expansion in the East Bronx, which not only adds new stations in Parkchester-Van Nest, Co-op City, Morris Park and Hunts Point but also 7,000 new homes and three million square feet of development.<\/p>\n \u201cOur borough has always been defined by our courage, determination, resilience and strength, collectively charting a path forward together for where we want to go,\u201d Gibson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amid a time of transition, Lobo said the Bronx is indeed seeing new investment \u2014 which in turn sparks concerns about who benefits.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor many residents, the economy is rent, bills, job quality, safety, health \u2014 all the things that determine whether life is stable and affordable. For many professionals, the economy is growth, investment, development indicators. Our work over the next two days is to connect those realities into one cohesive set of strategies,\u201d Lobo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n With a population of nearly 1.5 million, \u201cThe Bronx is too interconnected and the challenges are too big for siloed solutions.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Peters similarly said the summit will \u201cbreak down silos\u201d that typically separate community partners, even ones working towards similar goals.\n<\/p>\n The draft strategy creates \u201ca common platform for coordination\u201d in the Bronx, \u201cwhere one plus one doesn\u2019t equal two, it equals, like, ten.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n At the same time, partners must be able to actually implement ideas on a borough-wide level, Peters said. \u201cA strategy is only as valuable as it leads to action.\u201d<\/p>\n Friday attendees also heard from keynote speakers engaged in new models of economic development in communities across the country.\n<\/p>\n First was Nneka Onwuzurike of The Community WEB<\/a>, focused on shared wealth building in Chicago.\n<\/p>\n Onwuzurike said she began working for the city in June 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and just days after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. She had to set high-level policy aside to just make sure people had food, masks and other essentials.<\/p>\n That period for her was a \u201cportal\u201d after which nothing was the same and forced her to rethink the traditional metrics of wealth.\n<\/p>\n The questions driving her current work are, \u201cHow do we redefine wealth as shared prosperity?\u201d and \u201cWhat are the portals that exist in this moment?\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n In times of major change, as the Bronx is undergoing, \u201ca people infrastructure\u201d that draws new voices in and relies on existing expertise is essential, Onwuzurike said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charli Cooksey of WEPOWER<\/a> St. Louis echoed that in her \u201cradical community design\u201d workshops, residents offer a vision for wealth that goes far beyond money.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many people don\u2019t necessarily want to be millionaires but want well-educated, thriving communities with easy access to good food and resources, she said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Cooksey also drew parallels between the Bronx and her home city. In St. Louis, about 27% of households have zero or negative net wealth, concerns over population loss are growing, and about 70% of local businesses are owned by people nearing retirement age, according to Cooksey.<\/p>\n St. Louis also has a legacy of redlining, disinvestment and other racist policies meant to limit the wealth and power of communities of color.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Cooksey also pointed to the current challenge of state and federal attacks on progressive policies. Though New York is a blue state, the Bronx has seen such challenges in, for example, federal cuts to SNAP<\/a> benefits that target already-poor populations.\u00a0<\/p>\n With much money and organizing power going towards far-right policies, \u201cThe only way forward is together,\u201d Cooksey said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n For more information on the two-day summit, see https:\/\/www.bxedc.org\/bxedc-summit-2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reach Emily Swanson at\u00a0eswanson@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0(646) 717-0015<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and Instagram!<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260605_123452.jpg\")
BP Gibson speaks at the opening of the summit. Photo by Emily Swanson
\nChanging times\u00a0<\/p>\n