New Jersey Making Places from Forgotten Spaces
July 23rd, 2026 at NJIT in Newark, NJ
This summit will explore how overlooked and underutilized properties can be transformed into vibrant cultural and arts destinations through Creative Placemaking. Join us for a full day of learning and connection as we dive into the relationship between brownfields and Creative Placemaking, highlight real-world case studies, discuss cleanup considerations, and explore funding opportunities for your brownfield projects!
Speakers/Panelists
Suzanne Ishee serves as Curriculum Developer and Lead instructor for the NJIT Hub. Suzanne is an Emmy and Drama Desk Award winning producer, actor and playwright veteran of the entertainment industry. In 2009, she expanded her arts career into the Creative Placemaking field through supporting the formation of Arts Build Communities at Rutgers University as Advisory Board Chairperson. In 2011, she co-founded the Center for Creative Placemaking (CCP) where she continued to advance the field of practice through promotion, thought leadership, and training. She designed and developed Creative Placemaking content for numerous sector-specific workshops including those for professionals who practice Real Estate, Downtown Management, Conservation, Public Art, Professional Artists, and numerous others. She developed the curriculum for NJIT's Certificate in Creative Placemaking and co-developed the curriculum for NJIT's Certificate in Location Management for Film and TV. She has provided expertise and engagement in numerous CP-related efforts in the region including as original Co-Chair of the Livable Task Force for NJ Transportation Planning Authority/Together North Jersey, as original member of the Western Highlands Scenic Byway Management Board and the Morris Canal Greenway Redevelopment Working Group. She serves on the stewardship council of the 3-state/9-county Scenic, Wild Delaware River Geotourism Initiative, and since its inception remains an active member of Sustainable Jersey’s Arts and Creative Culture Task Force through evaluation of NJ municipality’s annual submissions. Suzanne serves as manager for Martin Tuchman School of Management/NJIT Hub for Creative Placemaking events and most recently has been providing leadership for NJIT's curriculum development and engagement with New Jersey's burgeoning Film/TV industry.
Cailyn Bruno is the Director of Environmental Services at New Jersey Institute of Technology Technical Assistance to Brownfield Communities Program (NJIT TAB). Ms. Bruno travels across communities in the Eastern US providing free educational forums, resources, and technical assistance for brownfields redevelopment. Prior to joining the nonprofit world, she served 16 years as a hydrogeologist consultant providing technical oversight of remedial investigations and drinking water resources. Cailyn holds a BS and MS in Geology, and is a New Jersey Licensed Site Remediation Professional and a New York Licensed Professional Geologist.
Bilal Walker is the Chief Program Officer of Urban Seeds Grow, a Newark-based nonprofit and consulting organization at the forefront of green infrastructure and community-led redevelopment in New Jersey. Since 2019, Bilal has transformed multiple vacant and forgotten parcels of land across Newark's North and South Wards into thriving community assets — beginning with two leased city lots that became Jannah on Grafton and Eden's Farm community farms and 3rd spaces for economic mobility and food justice.
That work has since grown into one of Newark's most ambitious brownfield and community redevelopment efforts. In 2026, Urban Seeds Grow completed the acquisition of our two formerly vacant City of Newark properties through a formal Redevelopment Agreement, taking on the responsibility of transforming long-overlooked sites — including a former industrial property with a century-old structure — into permanent wellness and resource centers featuring hydroponics, aquaponics, and greenhouse infrastructure, alongside affordable housing.
Bilal's approach to redevelopment is rooted in community ownership and civic empowerment. He has built youth apprenticeship pipelines, resident-led governance structures, and cross-sector partnerships with institutions including The Trust for Public Land, Farm Service Agency, Rutgers Cooperative Extension, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Newark Science and Sustainability, and the City of Newark's Department of Economic and Housing Development — all aimed at ensuring that the communities closest to a piece of forgotten land are the ones who determine what it becomes.
Bilal brings a practitioner's perspective to the conversation around creative placemaking and brownfield redevelopment — one shaped not by theory, but by the lived experience of navigating municipal redevelopment processes, environmental assessments, and the deep relational work required to turn a vacant lot into a place a neighborhood can call its own.
Michael Atkins currently serves as the Executive Director of the Atlantic City Arts Foundation, an independent nonprofit responsible for 105 mural commissions in Atlantic City. He is a communication strategist and multimedia producer with a passion for storytelling, civic engagement, and all things offbeat. Before his current role, Michael served as Communications Director for New Jersey Future, a statewide policy nonprofit that advances placemaking and urbanism throughout the Garden State, and for Friends of the Los Angeles River, which organizes the largest urban river cleanup in the nation and promotes environmental awareness through poetry. Michael is a proud resident of Atlantic City and holds an appointed position on the Atlantic City Historic Preservation Commission.
Miriam Salerno is the Managing Director of the Placemaking, Outreach, and Engagement Team at Rutgers University (POET), a specialized research center devoted to innovative public engagement practices, through which her team’s work has won national recognition, including from the American Planning Association, the New Jersey Chapter of the American Planning Association, and the Transportation Research Board. Her work with POET has included extensive public outreach and stakeholder engagement projects for variety of clients and projects in the region, including Middlesex County, North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), New York Metropolitan Area Council (NYMTC), Together North Jersey and New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), and New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). Prior to joining VTC she worked extensively in a variety of public policy areas at both nonprofits and for the federal government. She holds a master’s degree in international environmental policy and development Economics from The Johns Hopkins University - School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS).
Michael Poland, PE, LSRP has over 25 years’ experience in consulting and founded Poland Environmental Consulting LLC in 2018. He has a bachelor’s in Environmental Engineering and master’s degree in Geo-Environmental Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology. He has served as Secretary and Treasurer of the LSRPA Board of Trustees and was previously Chair of the LSRPA Continuing Education Committee. He has managed a wide variety of environmental site remediation and engineering projects, principally as the Licensed Site Remediation Professional for numerous New Jersey construction and redevelopment projects. Mr. Poland’s project experience includes all phases of environmental site remediation work, such as environmental due diligence for property transactions, environmental investigation, and remediation design and oversight at contaminated sites.
Yocasta DeJesús serves as the Region’s 2 Brownfields Outreach Coordinator and Project Manager, bringing a wealth of environmental management and financial expertise to the role. Her career in federal service began at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she worked from 2000 to 2004 under a competitive federal student program. This early foundational experience instilled a deep understanding of environmental regulations and community-focused redevelopment initiatives. Yocasta holds a Bachelor of Arts from the City College of New York, where she majored in Finance and Business Management.
Jamilah Harris is a Brownfield Development Manager with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Office of Brownfield and Community Revitalization. Jamilah has been with the Department for 22 years, and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering. She is passionate about environmental justice, sustainability, and preparing urban communities for climate change. Her experience includes creating transformative urban projects by leveraging strategic corporate partnerships. She also works closely with the Environmental Protection Agency, and local state governments. In her spare time, she enjoys gardening, and outdoor activities and spending time with her family and pets.
Rachel is a supervisor in the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s Brownfield Office where she oversees HDSRF funding applications for 21 counties. Rachel has been with the Department for 19 years and in the Brownfield Office for 16 years. Rachel has a BS degree in Biology from York College of Pennsylvania and an MSM in Public Service Administration from TESU. Prior to working for the Department, Rachel was a member of AmeriCorps where she worked as a NJ Watershed Ambassador.
Andrew is the Program Officer for Community Partnerships at the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. In his role, Andrew manages the Local Arts Program, a $6 million partnership that provides state dollars to each of New Jersey’s 21 counties via a designated county arts agency (CAA). CAAs use these dollars to support their own local arts development programs and to provide regrants to local, grassroots organizations in their respective counties. In addition to managing this extensive grant program, Andrew co-leads the agency’s arts and health initiatives. Andrew represents the Council in various cross-sector collaborations, including opportunities in economic and community development, the NJ Department of Transportation’s Transit Village Task Force, and Revolution NJ, to name a few. With a strong commitment to fostering cultural vitality, Andrew continues to make a significant impact in the local arts landscape.
Andrew currently serves on the board of the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund, Just Say It, and previously served on the steering committee for the Creating Healthy Communities convening. He is also pursuing a Master of Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary. Through his work, Andrew amplifies voices historically denied opportunity, fostering a more equitable, inclusive, and vibrant society.
Christopher A. Watson, M.Sc., Ph.D.[c] serves as the Director of Planning and Development Services at Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP (MSW). In this role, he leads a team of professionals in actualizing development projects, from conception to certificate of occupancy, in municipalities throughout New Jersey, with a particular focus on projects located in the City of Newark – New Jersey’s largest municipality. Prior to joining MSW, Chris served as City Planning Officer (Director of City Planning) for the City of Newark, New Jersey. In that capacity he was able to advance key policy initiatives for the administration of Mayor Ras J. Baraka, including the adoption of the City’s latest ten-year master plan, Newark360, the winner of New Jersey’s American Planning Association 2022 Planning Excellence award for Plan of the Year. Chris is a national subject matter expert in planning and development and uses this acumen to advocate for his clients’ interests through all stages of the development process.
Chris has lived and worked in the City of Newark for nearly two decades. Born in Guyana, South America, he received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guyana. He gained his master’s degree in Urban Affairs and Planning, with honors, from Hunter College, CUNY, and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the joint Urban Systems program at the Hiller College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University’s Graduate Center. His research interests coalesce around some of the most enduring themes of urban scholarship: the intersections of poverty, race, and class; community economic advancement and the physical and socio-political impacts and consequences of gentrification in American cities.
He is the 2018 recipient of the President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching from Queens College, CUNY where he was an adjunct professor in the Urban Studies department, teaching courses on Urban Poverty and Affluence, Graduate Research Methods, Researching New York City, and Urban Planning and City Government. Chris served as Vice President of the board of directors for United Vailsburg Service Organization. Chris is the 2021 American Planning Association, New Jersey Chapter’s recipient of the prestigious Stuart Merk Distinguished Service Award, for forwarding planning in the City of Newark that is inclusive of the community’s voice.
Chris is an avid supporter of the arts, an urban gardener, and hiker of the many trails of New Jersey.
Agenda
| Time | Session | Name, Organization |
9:00am-9:15am | Keynote |
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9:15am-9:20am | NJIT TAB Introduction |
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9:25am-10:25am | Creative Placemaking and Economic Opportunity This session will highlight creative placemaking projects from around the state where transforming use of vacant sites is having community impact. |
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10:25am-11:15am | Project Planning Most vacant and abandoned sites in NJ have a history within the context of a neighborhood. This session will highlight community planning considerations and NJ's environmental assessment process. |
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11:15am-11:30am | Break | |
11:30am - 12:30pm | Funding and Resources |
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12:30pm-1:15pm | Lunch on your own | |
1:15pm-2:00pm | Breaking Brownfields (Placemaking Edition) |
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