Street Lab’s co-founders ask for your support

Dear friends and followers,

Street Lab has been out there on the streets of New York City 535 times this year—a record for us—and we’ll soon pass the 20th anniversary of our first pop-up, a film festival in a vacant lot that is still going strong. On the ground, our staff work long hours on their feet, rolling gear, hooking up hydrants, moving barricades, solving problems, talking with hundreds of people in a day, all with an eye towards expanding what seems possible at street level and demonstrating a bold vision for what urban community can be. To our team and hundreds of partners who pull this off each day, thank you for being out there.

To you, our friends and followers, today is when we ask you to join us as well, supporting our work with a donation. Read on to learn more about what your donation will support in 2025.

Contributing to Street Lab is a unique way to care for and invest in the city where we live. We’re grateful to all of our supporters, giving at every level, and we hope many of you will join us as first-time donors and have your donation matched. Thank you!

See you on the street,

Leslie and Sam
Co-founders, Street Lab

Here’s what your donation will support in 2025:

We’ll help more grassroots groups launch Open Streets

In 2024, we helped ten groups, and we already have 15 more asking for Street Lab in 2025. Groups want to make their block safer and bring people together, and we’re gearing up to dramatically expand how many we can help. Here’s the story of one, Decatur Block Association.

We’ll help more schools create School Streets

In 2024, we worked with nine schools, and we have another 16 waiting in the wings. They are all in critical need of outdoor space, and we want to answer the call. School Streets bring out the best in students, residents, and neighborhoods. Here’s the story of one in the Bronx.

We’ll support more youth who want to lead pop-ups

This year we made kits for a group of 30 teens from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Safety’s Youth Leadership Council so that they could run their own pop-ups near public housing. Pop-up is a powerful way for young people to shape the city and have a say, and we’re expanding this work in 2025.

We’ll add capacity and serve even more low-income neighborhoods

535 was a lot of pop-ups. But we received more than 1,000 requests, so we had to turn down nearly half. Every dollar from individual donors goes to support more pop-ups in low-income neighborhoods.

Here’s the nutshell: community groups, schools, youth organizations, and committed individuals across NYC have been asking Street Lab to help them bring to life a positive vision for their neighborhood. In 2025, we’re out to share everything we’ve built and learned over the years so we can help them succeed.

Thank you for joining us with a donation and being a part of it.