25 Women You Should Know About: Majora Carter

Majora Carter

Ruling With a Green Thumb

Visionary

Ruling With a Green Thumb

Majora Carter, Visionary

Coining the term Green the Ghetto back in 1999, Majora Carter spent the last decade exploring economic improvements for environmentally challenged communities. Born, raised, and residing in the birthplace of Hip-Hop, Carter wrote a $1.25 million grant to design the South Bronx Greenway in 2001 . An 11-mile stretch connecting the rivers and neighborhoods to each other, the South Bronx Greenway has already secured $50 million for phase one of the project, which boasts bike paths, pedestrian walkways, storm water management, and recreational activities.

Carter also created Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx), a non-profit environmental solutions corporation; which went on to launch the Bronx Environmental Stewardship Training program (BEST) in 2003, a green-collar job training and placement system – one of the very first such programs in the US. Carter focuses on accessible-job creation to uplift the communities. She is a MacArthur “genius” Fellow and has a long list of awards and accolades. Majora brought the world into her backyard, and is now exporting that knowledge-base it with some South Bronx style to people and places everywhere.

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