About Us

Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance:  A catalyst for realizing a powerful, shared vision of the metropolitan waterways

New York City flourished because a magnificent harbor offered shelter, food and a place to do business. After hundreds of years, New York Harbor continues to power the life of the region, and the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is at the forefront of the movement to acknowledge, revitalize and redevelop this precious resource.

We’ve had great success! Providing common ground for a diverse waterfront community, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is a thriving coalition of more than 600 partner organizations, with more joining every week.

The lively, inclusive MWA Task Forces -- where ferry captains and environmentalists learn the language of urban planners, and kayakers debate shipping executives – have resulted in comprehensive advocacy heeded by policy-makers and government agencies. Here, at Task Force meetings, is where the precedent-setting Waterfront Action Agenda was hammered out in 2008. In 2011, in a towering achievement for the MWA, these wide-ranging harbor strategies were adopted by the Bloomberg Administration to become New York City’s Vision 2020: the Comprehensive Waterfront Plan for New York City.

With environmental justice and sustainability now buzzwords in harbor projects, the MWA continues to call for greater public access to the 700 miles of regional waterfront and better support of the area’s $9 billion maritime industry. With climate change presaging rising sea levels, planners, scientists and architects must re-imagine the shoreline, while expansion of global shipping activity demands updated infrastructure to maintain the Port’s preeminent international reputation.

This is the MWA: where impassioned people with occasionally competing interests collaborate to create far-reaching yet practical proposals for the future of New York Harbor and its network of waterways. Thanks to the work of MWA’s brilliant partners, more children understand their harbor heritage. More people are learning to sail. Less sewage flows into the waterways. More ferries traverse the rivers. More politicians discuss smart redevelopment of the waterfront. The fruits of this groundbreaking, collaborative work have a seismic effect on the future of the metropolitan area.

Its goal nothing less than transformation of the entire region by reimagining its harbor, the MWA continues to conduct research, publish influential reports and produce well-attended conferences. The MWA can pull off blockbuster entertainment (delighting 25,000+ people with City of Water Day) and yet focus on detailed projects important to single neighborhoods (building and installing sturdy Eco-Docks around New York City and working for regulatory reform).

As MWA helps people understand the multi-layered significance of our waterfront, the job has expanded to include crucial advocacy for funding and implementation. Over the next several years, MWA will lobby elected officials for New York Harbor’s fair share of government dollars, work to streamline the waterfront permitting process, and track progress on waterfront initiatives by holding stakeholders accountable to benchmarks.

To view MWA's IRS 990 Form, click here.