press kit. - Rocking the Boat

I am so thankful to have Rocking the Boat
in my life. It has made me a better person. It
has given me people I can trust and talk to.
I love when I’m out in the middle of the East
River on a boat because I get to think about
everything that’s happening in my life. If I’m
having issues at home or in school, I get to
think about what I can do to help myself.
at rocking the boat,
kids don’t just build boats,
boats build kids
Rocking the Boat empowers young people from
the South Bronx to develop the self confidence to
set ambitious goals and gain the skills necessary
to achieve them. Students work together to build
wooden boats, learn to row and sail, and restore
local urban waterways, revitalizing their community
while creating better lives for themselves.
rocking the boat
812 edgewater road
bronx, ny 10474
[email protected]
718.466.5799
www.rockingtheboat.org
www.whitehallaward.org
www.rockingmanhattan.org
facebook.com/rockingtheboat
twitter.com/rtbbronx
instagram.com/rtbbronx
‘Port. Starboard. Hold water. Forward row.’
These rowing commands tell me when and
where to row. They give me direction. Not only
when I’m rowing, but in my life as well.
Emily Martinez, former On-Water student,
Environmental Apprentice, and Program Assistant
I first joined Rocking the Boat because being
able to build boats is really different from a
regular afterschool program where all you do
is homework. I got to do something out of the
ordinary. Now when I’m in the shop I feel like
I can let out that inner woman who wants to
build. That’s where my passion for carpentry
shows–working the wood, figuring out how
the grain goes together, that’s what I need.
Taji Riley, former Boatbuilding student, Boatbuilding
Apprentice, and Program Assistant
our tools
our approaches
wooden boatbuilding
youth development
Participants may arrive at Rocking the Boat not
Rocking the Boat engages over 200 teens per
knowing how to read a ruler and having never
year in a series of STEM-based programs that
used tools, but they work together to build full size
last throughout their high school careers and
traditional wooden rowing and sailing boats from
into college. Participants enter as freshmen
scratch. Boatbuilding students and apprentices
and sophomores and choose from one of three
study the plans and create and assemble all of the
programs: Boatbuilding, Environmental Science,
components from stem to stern, fasten the planks
or Sailing. They move from being students to paid
and frames, paint, and then launch their boat into
apprentices to alumni once they graduate high
the Bronx River.
school, at which point they are eligible to work part-
rowing
Students board hand-built boats and learn to row,
read maps, chart a course, and follow all the rules
time for Rocking the Boat as Program Assistants.
All participants receive wrap-around social services
provided by three licensed social workers and
to safely travel on the water. Rowing drills and both
a post-secondary opportunity advisor. Together
short and long distance trips sharpen these skills
they offer participants comprehensive social and
and increase students’ and apprentices’ capacity to
work as a team, think critically, and problem solve.
emotional support, and help them graduate from
high school, apply to college or trade school,
Being able to captain a boat is a great way to show
overcome obstacles to attaining a college degree
leadership, become physically fit, and connect with
or professional certification, and map out a path for
nature in ways impossible to experience from shore.
reaching their long-term goals.
sailing
Young people go from never having been on a
boat before to sailing solo and becoming certified
U.S. Sailing Level 1 small boat instructors. Novice
sailors learn theory, practice navigation techniques,
and gain experience on Rocking the Boat’s fleet of
traditional wooden sailboats, modern fiberglass and
plastic training dinghies, and a 30-foot keelboat.
bronx river restoration
Using scientific instruments, following detailed
protocols, and working alongside environmental
professionals, students and apprentices collect
water quality data, monitor birds and fish,
reintroduce native plant and animal species, and
perform restoration work that is helping to bring the
Bronx River back to life after years of neglect.
public programs
On-Water Classroom exposes elementary, middle,
and high school students to the joy of rowing and
the beauty and ecological diversity of the Bronx
River. During the summertime, Bronx River Camp
and Sailing Camp introduce middle school students
to the activities of rowing and sailing, and allow them
to explore their local natural environment.
Community Rowing invites the general public to go
for a row on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from
Memorial Day to Labor Day, and volunteer projects
bring groups of adults up to the Bronx to support
Rocking the Boat’s work, and provide outstanding
teambuilding opportunities.
what’s
happening!
summer 2016
save the date
ROCKING MANHATTAN 2016
row around the island to support
rocking the boat
saturday, september 17
Juniors and their parents attend a planning meeting for a five-college tour in February
rocking the boat
juniors want to
know: what’s college
really like?
This past winter was generally a
mild one—except for one freezing
week during February school
vacation when Rocking the Boat’s
Social Work team brought 15
juniors on a four-day tour of five
upstate New York colleges. It
was, in many ways, the perfect
metaphor: a bracing bit of cold
reality. College is going to be very
different from what they are used
to! But like a down jacket and
warm wool hat, Rocking the Boat
is helping its students brave the
elements and make the transition
from high school to their next
phase in life.
Rocking the Boat students
frequently apply to State University
of New York (SUNY) schools, as
they are relatively inexpensive and
have 64 campuses—urban and
rural, small and large. At SUNY
Albany, they were riveted by the
presentation on the school’s
Education Opportunity Program
(EOP), which helps economically
and educationally disadvantaged
students attend college. The EOP
program director was joined by
a student who explained in detail
how supportive he has found
being a member of the EOP
community at Albany—it was
tide turning for several Rocking
the Boaters. Joseph Baez, for
example, had been quietly taking in
information during the tour but he
related closely to this freshman’s
experience and suddenly felt
inspired to think more seriously
about his future plans. At SUNY
Binghamton and Syracuse
University, the group was hosted
by three Rocking the Boat alumni,
who were thrilled to lead campus
tours and share their experiences.
The juniors’ appetite for practical
advice was voracious, and they
peppered their friends with
questions about what to expect:
what is the workload really like,
do professors offer help, what are
ways to save money, which are the
best dorms and dining halls, did they
have trouble adjusting to life outside
of New York City, and a million more.
The guides answered them all and
emphasized the importance of
managing their time well.
Over the course of the week,
which beyond the tours and
information sessions included
nights out bowling and cheering
at the basketball faceoff between
SUNY Stonybrook and SUNY
Albany, even students who
had been questioning whether
they could overcome the fears
surrounding college started to
envision themselves on campuses
like the ones they visited. Destiny
Colon’s post-trip comment
was representative of this
transformation:
“Before the trip, college wasn’t
something I was really thinking
about. Now I am definitely
interested in attending college. I
learned what it’s like to apply, how
to pay for it, what dorms are like
and how to settle into college. One
school that I didn’t know about
before the trip is SUNY Broome
and now it is a place I definitely
want to go. I like that they didn’t
focus on test grades to get into
their school especially because
mine aren’t as high as I’d like
them to be. I also really liked the
campus. The biggest takeaway
from the entire trip, for me, was
how much college costs and what
I have to do to get financial aid.”
Endnote: Rocking the Boat’s class
of 2016 has received acceptances
to a long list of colleges including
Brooklyn College, St. Lawrence
University, SUNY Albany, and the
International Yacht Restoration
School.
rocking the boat | youth development through wooden boatbuilding and on-water education in the south bronx
812 edgewater road, bronx, ny 10474 | 718.466.5799 | [email protected] | www.rockingtheboat.org
food for thought
A long list of ingredients goes into
Rocking the Boat’s special sauce:
wood and water, sailcloth and
seaweed, peaches and peanut
butter. That’s right, peaches and
peanut butter. With dozens of
teenagers in program for three
hours every afternoon, healthy
snacks play an integral role in
keeping all Rocking the Boaters
rocking until they go home for
dinner. This makes five in-kind
food donors—D’Arrigo Brothers,
Peanut Butter & Co., Gourmet
Guru, Clif Bar, and Stumptown
Coffee—the unsung heroes of
Rocking the Boat.
D’Arrigo Brothers is a pioneer
in the produce industry. Today
the third generation of D’Arrigos
is running one of the largest
and most successful produce
businesses in the country from
the Hunts Point Terminal Market—
right next door to Rocking the
Boat! Staff make weekly runs
for fresh fruits and veggies, then
prepare platters of healthy snacks
for kids to dive into every program
day. Yum!
Ever since first visiting Rocking
the Boat through its In Good
inventive flavors--to Rocking the
Boat in advance of every spring
and fall semester.
Company volunteer program
in 2012, Clif Bar has been a
generous friend, supplying
students with a steady stream of
healthy alternatives to cookies
and candy bars that keep their
energy up during long rows and
busy afternoons in the shop. And
they are perfect for packing and
bringing along on Rocking the
Boat’s weekend campouts at the
WoodenBoat Show and weeklong
trips on the Long Island Sound.
Peanut Butter & Co.’s website
recounts how founder and
President Lee Zalben discovered
his calling as the Peanut Butter
Guy: “While an undergraduate
student at Vassar College,
he always won the fierce
competitions he and his friends
held for the wackiest but besttasting peanut butter sandwich
during late night study breaks.
It was then where the idea of
opening a peanut butter sandwich
shop sprouted.” Vassar classmate
and Rocking the Boat founder
Adam Green was one of those
friends and early fans, and today
Lee generously delivers multiple
cases of gourmet peanut butter
goodness--Dark Chocolate
Dreams and Cinnamon Raisin
Swirl, to name just two of the very
Like D’Arrigo Brothers, Gourmet
Guru is a Hunts Point neighbor
of Rocking the Boat. Launched
in 1986 and named by Mayor
Michael Bloomberg as the 2011
Small Business of the Year for
the Bronx, it distributes natural
and organic food to markets up
and down the Eastern seaboard.
Gourmet Guru has relationships
with healthy brands including
Fage yogurt, Applegate meats,
and Dancing Deer cookies, and
provides delicious refreshments
for many of Rocking the Boat’s
special events, such as Family
and Friends Night, Spring Launch
Fest, and the fall fundraiser
Rocking Manhattan. Last
October, Gourmet Guru hosted
its own event at Rocking the Boat
during which Red Hook-based
Stumptown Coffee asked how it
could get involved. A couple of
emails later and Stumptown is
now Rocking the Boat’s official
coffee supplier, sending 10
pounds of beans to the Bronx per
month! The staff is grateful, to say
the least, for the daily fuel.
2016 supporters
$100,000 and above
11th Hour Racing
Altman Foundation
Booth Ferris Foundation
J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation
Judi and Alan Cogen and the Cielo Foundation
Donor Advised Fund of RSF Social Finance
DeWitt Wallace Fund for Youth
New York City Department of Youth and
Community Development
$50,000 – $99,999
Charles Hayden Foundation
Theodore Luce Charitable Trust
The Carl Marks Foundation
Pinkerton Foundation
Toyota USA*
The Uphill Foundation
$10,000 – $49,999
Anheuser Busch
Barker Welfare Foundation
*in-kind contributions.
The Robert Bowne Foundation
Jasie and John Britton
The William C. Bullitt Foundation
Thomas Carpenter
Consolidated Edison Company of New York
The Dorr Foundation
ERM Group Foundation
Frances and David Eberhart
Gwen and Austin Fragomen
Hagedorn Fund
Heckscher Foundation for Children
Hudson River Foundation
Mary J. Hutchins Foundation
Hyperion Maritime Holdings LLC
Cynthia and Peter Kellogg
Betsy and Hunt Lawrence
Lindblad Expeditions*
Joan and Greg McGinty
Meringoff Family Foundation
The New Yankee Stadium Community
Benefits Fund
New York Architects Regatta Foundation
New York City Center for Economic
Opportunity Work Progress Program
New York City Council
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
Jeremy Pochman
Antonio Ramos
Robbins-de Beaumont Foundation
Royal Bank of Canada
The Scherman Foundation
Sheehan Family Foundation
TK Foundation
Thrive Foundation for Youth
$5,000 – $9,999
Maurice Amado Foundation
CSX Corporation
Lisa and Dick Cashin
Catskill Watershed Corporation
Martin Chavez
Classic Harbor Line*
Colgate-Palmolive Inner City Education Fund
The Corinthians Endowment Fund
Manda D’Agata
D’Arrigo New York*
The Gilder Foundation
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Richard Goodwin
International Paint LLC*
L + M Development Partners Inc.
Leatherwood Foundation
Marimekko*
Wendy Obernauer Foundation
The PECO Foundation
Perlman Family in memory of Mel Dlugash
Rail Down Charitable Trust
Susan and David Rockefeller
Jessie Schilling
Shawmut Design and Construction
SIMS Municipal Recycling
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
Sunlight Fund
Vista Food Exchange Inc.
at a glance
kids don’t just build boats, boats build kids
Rocking the Boat empowers young people from the South Bronx to develop the self-confidence to set ambitious goals and
gain the skills necessary to achieve them. Students work together to build wooden boats, learn to row and sail, and
restore local urban waterways, revitalizing their community while creating better lives for themselves.
Rocking the Boat’s South Bronx neighborhood, Hunts Point, is in the poorest congressional district in the nation. Students
here need comprehensive and sustained services to contend with the dangers of domestic and street violence, the
disadvantage of under-resourced schools, and the too frequent lack of adequate family support. Rocking the Boat’s
dynamic activities—complemented by wrap-around social work services—help fulfill these needs while promoting a
greater sense of self-worth and developing stronger leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem solving skills.
Rocking the Boat’s programs help inspire and empower high school age youth to develop into responsible adults.
fast facts
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Founded in 1998 with a budget of $53,500; expanded to $2.6M in 2016
Over 600 high school aged students have participated in long-term engagement programs building a fleet of 50 boats;
more than 15,000 community members have enjoyed broader programming
20-member full-time professional staff includes five program alumni; every year 50 former students work for the
organization part-time, receiving valuable job experience and income
Major boatbuilding commissions include a 29-foot whaleboat for Mystic Seaport and a 28-foot steamboat for the
Stevens Institute of Technology
Eight different monitoring and restoration projects are currently underway on the Bronx River, including fish, bird, and
water monitoring, wetland restoration, and oyster cultivation for nutrient bioextraction
Three on-site social workers and a college and career advisor counsel participants, help them explore educational
and career paths, and connect them to resources
High school graduation rates in the area are 33%; for Rocking the Boat students it is nearly 100%, and 28 out of 28
Rocking the Boat graduates over the past two years are now in college
Program spaces includes a 2,500 square foot professional grade boatbuilding shop, fully equipped environmental
laboratory, and a 25,000 square foot boatyard just steps from the Bronx River
impact
•
•
•
•
Youth Development Program participants develop a range of technical skills in their respective disciplines of
boatbuilding, sailing, and environmental science that are highly transferable to both the academic and working worlds
Youth take on challenges and experience success, thanks to a consistent level of structure, guidance, and
encouragement provided by caring adult role models.
Participants climb a ladder of increasing responsibility and learn about current and future opportunities, including
college and career paths; gain access to social and academic services; and both set and accomplish personal and
educational goals
The general public benefits from camp, teambuilding, environmental education, and community service programs
youth development program
Wooden boatbuilding and water-based programs help underserved youth build the
create bright futures.
boatbuilding
with students from the two programs collaborating to arrive at the best boat.
on-water
water quality monitoring
oyster garden monitoring and oyster reef monitoring
sailing program
need
None of the limited sailing education opportunities in the New York City area are
accessible to Rocking the Boat’s target population due to location, cost, and
culture adding to the uniqueness of Rocking the Boat’s program:
•
10474 is the poorest zip code east of the Mississippi River, 15th Congressional
District is the poorest in the nation, Hunts Point has a poverty rate of 43.9%
•
40% of adults in the community did not graduate from high school, and only 6.5%
have earned a Bachelor’s degree
•
Hunts Point has the worst air pollution in New York City caused by 15,000 annual
truck trips in and out of the nation’s largest wholesale food market, a sewage
treatment plant, and 11 waste transfer stations
structure
Rocking the Boat’s first major program expansion in eight years, the Sailing
Program mirrors the progressive structure of the organization’s Boatbuilding and
Environmental Programs:
•
Youth are exposed to sailing during a two-week summer camp session as middle
schoolers
•
They register for the Youth Development Program as freshmen or sophomores in
high school, learning basic small sailing skills after-school and through the summer.
•
Eligible students move up as apprentices in the Job Skills Program for their junior
and senior years of high school, learning advanced sailing skills and getting their
first opportunity to teach sailing during summer camp.
•
Those who attend college in the City may work part time for Rocking the Boat as
Sailing Program Assistants, doing more sailing, racing, and helping to lead the
Youth Development program.
outcomes
The Sailing Program will allow Rocking the Boat’s participants to experience the
many benefits of being out on the water aboard their own fleet right in their own
neighborhood. Along with changing kids’ lives, the program will help change the
face of sailing:
•
After one year in the program, 30 Rocking the Boat students will go from never
having been on a boat to sailing solo; after two years, they will be able to help
teach sailing to other young people
•
When the program reaches scale, six graduating apprentices will receive handson job readiness training and will become certified U.S. Sailing Level I small boat
instructors each year, prepared to teach sailing and enter sailing industry trades
anywhere in the world
•
Social workers will continually provide wrap-around support, helping 100% of
Sailing Program participants graduate from high school, both enroll in college, and
earn their degree
•
All Rocking the Boat sailors will learn to network through racing in regattas,
partnering with other local sailing organizations and college sailing teams, and
crewing at nearby yacht clubs
•
At scale, over 100 young people each year will be immersed in the nature of
the Hunts Point, a neighborhood surrounded by water on three sides but rarely
associated with its valuable maritime resources; a healthier Bronx community will
result as more people take advantage of the open space, cleaner air, and quiet
found on the water
boatbuilding
environmental
A team of up to 12 Environmental Apprentices is chosen from the
whaling ship in the United States.
routine maintenance.
wading and shore bird foraging survey
regular water quality testing with the general public and will educate local residents about how to safely enjoy recreational activities on and around
community rowing program
hunts point riverside park
lafayette ave. and edgewater road
Every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend, Rocking
the Boat brings its boats down to the Bronx River waterfront at Hunts Point Riverside Park to offer free
rowing to the public. Community members from children as young as two, to junior high and high schools
students, to adults and senior citizens climb aboard to try their hand at rowing and receive guided tours of
the beautiful Bronx River. Leading the program each week are Program Assistants, all Rocking the Boat
alumni attending local colleges.
No reservations are necessary.
rocking the boat 812 edgewater road, bronx, ny 10474 | 718.466.5799 | [email protected] | www.rockingtheboat.org
rocking the boat
on-water classroom
for schools and teachers
Rocking the Boat’s On-Water Classroom
brings academics to life on the Bronx
River. Participants will explore the river’s
rich history and ecology, grow as a team,
gain confidence, and learn to row handbuilt wooden boats, all while having a huge
amount of fun. Particular effort is put into
creating unique learning experiences and
customizing content to suit each group’s
specific interests and goals.
on-water classroom for students
Students of all ages will discover one of New York City’s most precious natural resources: the Bronx River. Rocking the Boat’s environmental
science and maritime activities open students’ eyes to the great beauty and ecological diversity along the River. Past program themes have
included: The Living Estuary; Human Impact on the River; Navigation and Maritime Trade; and The Bronx River: Past, Present, and Future.
Hands-on activities range from water quality monitoring, fishing and aquatic life survey, and wading and shore bird monitoring to green
infrastructure and stormwater management.
all participants will:
Practice basic on-water safety • Learn to row • Explore the natural and social history of the Bronx River
on-water classroom for teachers
Teachers interested in a unique professional development opportunity are invited to work as a group with Rocking the Boat. Programs can
be customized to focus on specific academic subjects or themes such as water chemistry, biology, physical science, urban ecology, Bronx
River history, or environmental justice. As an experienced youth development practitioner, Rocking the Boat can help educators integrate
hands-on techniques with traditional classroom learning. The program can also help groups of teachers work better together and grow more
cohesive as a team.
all teachers will:
Be exposed to the educational resources that exist in the estuarine environment of the South Bronx • Learn how to use the outdoors as a component
of curriculum • Be trained to incorporate hands-on activities in the classroom • Begin to work together more effectively
testimonials
“Rocking the Boat is nothing short of our own national treasure! As a
teacher, administrator, parent and lifetime Bronx resident, I am proud that
my students, teachers, parents, colleagues and my own daughter benefit
from the preeminent, inclusive and diversified programming offered by RtB.
You will not find more impactful programming anywhere and I urge all to
partner and explore the Bronx River; ready, set, row!”
- Stephen Ritz
Founder: Green Bronx Machine
“My first day and my last day were so different. On the first day, I was
scared to go on the water. Since then I’ve learned to row, how to catch
fish, crabs and shrimp. It was an interesting experience for a city girl like
me…I learned some important new skills. You never know when I might
use these skills in the future.”
- Elvira Quarshie
New Settlement Apartments, Bronx Helpers Program
contact: ryan mccormick | [email protected] | 718.466.5799 x1229
improvement in playing the blues harmonica.
junior high schools in the same East
Throughout his childhood he spent time
range of subjects in mainstream and
special education classes. That year he
learning about the beauty of the river and
the hand that human beings have in both
destroying and restoring natural resources.
school program for high school students
education after-school program incubated
for three years before growing into its
annually.
young people.
community outreach and environmental
in the construction of an 8-foot dinghy
that they launched at the end of the
where the boatbuilding and environmental
board of directors
Oscar Aarts
Frosty Montgomery, Secretary
Director, Financial Advisory Services
Houlihan Lokey
Senior Vice President/Director
Brown Harris Stevens
Thomas Carpenter
Carla Murphy, President
Digital Operations Consultant
Project Manager
New York City Fire Department
Robert Clemens
Project Manager
Shawmut Design and Construction
Manda D’Agata
Americas Treasurer
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Jennifer Galvin, Vice President
Director/Producer
Reel Blue
Dustin Goodwin
VP of Technology and Security
Icahn Enterprises
Jeremy Pochman
Co-Founder and Advisor
11th Hour Racing
Antonio Ramos
Managing Director
TIAA-CREF
Richard Thayer, Treasurer
Jassen Trenkow
Director and Chief of Staff
Finance Division-America
Barclays
Rolando Infante
Peter Wright
Public Affairs Manager
Consolidated Edison Company of New York
President, Wright Asset Management
collaborators
eDesign Dynamics
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry
University of Connecticut Stamford
Wildlife Conservation Society
goverment agencies
Wildcat Academy
community organizations and businesses
USDA Forest Service
boating organizations
Apprenticeshop
Floating the Apple
New Settlement Apartments
New Settlement College Access Center
cultural and public organizations
supporters
public agencies
Catskill Watershed Corporation
New York City Center for Economic Opportunity Work Progress Program
New York City Council
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
New York City Department of Youth and Community Development
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
NOAA
Partnerships for Parks
Congressman Jose E. Serrano
Watershed Agricultural Council
Wildlife Conservation Society
corporations
Clif Bar*
Clif Bar Family Foundation
Colgate-Palmolive Inner City Education Fund
Consolidated Edison Company of New York
CSX
D’Arrigo New York*
Drury Design Dynamics
The Durst Organization
Entergy
Equity Office
ERM
Goldman, Sachs & Co
HBO
IGM Construction Inc.
Lindblad Expeditions*
Long Island Concrete
M&T Bank
Manhattan Yacht Club
Marimekko*
The New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund
NJS Electrical Services Corp
Northern Trust
North Shore-LIJ Health System
Nova Concrete Contractors, Inc.
Patagonia*
Peanut Butter & Co.*
Phillips-Van Heusen Foundation
Port Morris Tile & Marble Corp.
Royal Bank of Canada
SIMS Municipal Recycling
Striano Electric Co., Inc.
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP
The Sweet Construction Group
Tangent Construction
TD Charitable Foundation
Toyota USA Foundation
Van Dyk Baler Corp.
Wilkstone, LLC
foundations and individuals
11th Hour Racing
Elaine Abrams-Schechter
Maurice Adamo Foundation
Altman Foundation
American Chai Trust
Barker Welfare Foundation
Peter and Rachel Beardsley
Matthew Bentz
Andrew Berdon
Black Rock Foundation Fund
Booth Ferris Foundation
The Brightwater Fund
John and Jasie Britton
The William C. Bullitt Foundation
J.E. & Z.B. Butler Foundation
Jason Carroll
Thomas Carpenter
The Cashin Family Fund
Cielo Foundation Donor Advised Fund
Henry and Barbara Colie
Thomas and Miriam Curnin
Manda D’Agata
Harriette and Marc de Swaan Arons
Doug and Maria De Vos Foundation
Caner Dinlenc
Dock Street Foundation
Strachan Donnelley Charitable Trust
David & Frances Eberhart Foundation
Abe Eisenstat
Edward Estrada
Austin and Gwen Fragomen
The Ganlee Fund
The Gilder Foundation
Brian Gillen
Peter and Renate Gleysteen
Dustin Goodwin
Goodwin Foundation, LLC
Peter and D’Arcy Green
Hagedorn Fund
Jay Halfon
Charles Hayden Foundation
Heckscher Foundation for Children
Michael Hennessy
Stephen Hopkins
Hudson River Foundation
Mary J. Hutchins Foundation
Hyde & Watson Foundation
Peter R. and Cynthia K. Kellogg Foundation
David Koenigsberg
Hunt and Betsy Lawrence
Leatherwood Foundation
Brian Lee
Leon Lowenstein Foundation
Kristina and Russell Lucas
Theodore Luce Charitable Trust
Tricia Lynch
Moe Magali
Carl Marks Foundation
Greg and Joan McGinty
DJ McManus Foundation
Frosty Montgomery
Carla Murphy
New York Architects Regatta Foundation
New York Community Trust
Stavros Niarchos Foundation
The Wendy Obernauer Foundation
Hank Orenstein
PECO Foundation
Andreas Pfanner
Pinkerton Foundation
The Prescott Fund for Children and Youth
Antonio Ramos
Shawn Ricker
Joseph and Virginia Ripp
Robbins-de Beaumont Foundation
The Roddenberry Foundation
Raymond Rodgers
The Kenneth and Hazel Roe Foundation
The Ruder Family Foundation
The Scherman Foundation
Wendy Schmidt and Eric Schmidt
The Shackelford Family Foundation
Austin Smith
Louis and Mary Kay Smith Family Foundation
Sunlight Fund
Richard Thayer
Jassen Trenkow
The Uphill Foundation
Jan-Willem van den Dorpel
Leo S. Walsh Foundation
WestWind Foundation
Regina Williamson
Peter Wright
*All or part of these gifts were made as in-kind contributions.
rocking the boat 812 edgewater road, bronx, ny 10474 | 718.466.5799 | [email protected] | www.rockingtheboat.org
http://www.forbes.com/sites/billspringer/2016/05/18/wendy-schmidts-11th-hour-racing-is-racing-to-save-the-planet-and-a-few-other-things
Wendy Schmidt’s 11th Hour Racing Is “Racing” to
Save The Planet (And A Few Other Things)
MAY 18, 2016 @ 01:06 PM | Bill Springer CONTRIBUTOR
Credit: Lloyd Images
But, as I was motoring up the East River with businesswoman and
philanthropist Wendy Schmidt (the co-founder of The Schmidt Family
Foundation and 11th Hour Racing, seperate foundations that are
committed to sponsoring and promoting organizations that are applying
new knowledge and innovation and advancing original research in science,
energy and the sustainability of the world’s biosphere), and Sir Ben Ainslie
(the founder and skipper of Team Land Rover BAR that’s dedicated to
winning the America’s Cup for Britain, and also sponsored by Schmidt’s
11th Hour Racing) the day after the event, I quickly realized that the wellhyped return of America’s Cup racing to NYC may have been cool, but
helping underserved kids in the Bronx overcome poverty, violence, and
educational challenges, and saving the planet from our own, dangerously
outdated thinking is…critical.
As a life-long sailor and long time yachting journalist, who’s just barely old
enough to remember the longest winning streak in sports being broken
when the New York Yacht Club’s 132-year strangle hold on the America’s
Cup was lost in 1983, I came to New York earlier this month to witness
America’s Cup history.
Land Rover BAR and 11th Hour Racing visit to Rocking The Boat. Credit 2016 CorySilken.com
Credit Bill Springer
I came to see the Cup—the actual silver trophy that billionaires, tycoons,
and even a few loud-mouth playboys have fought for since 1851. And
I came to see America’s Cup racing—on some of the fastest and most
technologically advanced racing yachts in the world—off lower Manhattan
for the first time since 1920.
As I learned, Wendy Schmidt is a businesswoman, sailor, and
philanthropist who not only cares about the serious problems facing our
planet. She’s also very smart, very connected, and with her husband, Eric
Schmidt, the long serving CEO of Google who is now the Chairman of
Alphabet Inc, she is committed to bringing significant resources to foster
innovative ideas and advance sustainability efforts all over the world.
Land Rover BAR and 11th Hour Racing visit to Rocking The Boat. Credit 2016 CorySilken.com
Credit ACEA 2016/ Sean T. Smith
And while I’ll be the first to admit that the spectacle of seeing over 100,000
people line the Brookfield Place waterfront to watch the races, and seeing
a long list of A-list celebrity crew members from Mark Ruffalo and Sir
Richard Branson (both huge advocates of sustainability and innovative
solutions to complex problems) to Stephen Colbert and Lindsey Vonn put
sailing on the front pages of the mainstream media (and yes, the celebrity
pages too), was exciting, the racing itself (due to tough weather conditions,
a dubious race course, and a constricting TV schedule) was a bit…funky.
Team Land Roaver BAR’s Sir Ben Ainslie and 11th Hour Racing’s Wendy Schmidt Credit 11th Hour
Racing
But saving the environment wasn’t the specific reason we were headed
up the East River the day after the America’s Cup came to New York. In
fact, Schmidt and Ainslie were headed to the South Bronx to visit Rocking
The Boat, an organization that’s dedicated to saving kids in the Hunts
Point section of the South Bronx by teaching them how to build wooden
boats and get out on the water the water in spite of living in the poorest
Congressional District in the nation.
Rocking the Boat Executive Director Adam Green talks to Team Land Rover BAR’s Ben Ainslie and 11th
Hour Racing’s Wendy Schmidt. Credit 2016 CorySilken.com
Program Executive Director Adam Green explained how Rocking The
Boat helps kids overcome the realities of domestic and street violence,
under-resourced schools and inadequate family support by teaching them
traditional wooden boat building, sailing, and environmental science in
a warm, welcoming, respectful, and safe place. And he also spoke about
helping young people set and achieve goals and providing them with the
tools, resources, and guidance they need to reach their goals.
Land Rover BAR’s sustainability policy was “baked in” from the beginning.
“Within a couple of years the people I was spending my time with were
fascinated by the systems idea and had a project and suggested that we
create a branch of the whole business that was focused on the sailing
community and maritime industries—some of the most natural advocates
for the health of the oceans there is.
Ainslie at the helm of a slighly slower boat than Land Rover BAR’s hydrofoiling America’s Cup cat
during his visit to Rocking The Boat. Credit 2016 CorySilken.com
Wendy and Ben went for a row in boats the kids built and saw in their eyes
how their unique experience at Rocking the Boat could have a positive
impact on the rest of their lives. The kids were in awe of Ben and I even
saw how the theme of the Op Ed piece he published the next day about the
difficult racing conditions was sparked when the kids asked “So, how was
racing in NYC?”
Renewable energy is critical to 11th Hour Racing’s sustainability strategy. Credit 11th hour racing
“That’s how it all (11th Hour Racing) got started. It began with sponsoring
small teams. We provide grants that go out to different groups like Rocking
the Boat and many others. We look at groups like this as very strategic
players in reaching new audiences and spreading a new way of thinking.”
“And is ‘reaching new audiences and spreading a new way of thinking’ why
you’re sponsoring Land Rover BAR?” I ask over the roar of the wind as we
speed back down the river.
Land Rover BAR and 11th Hour Racing visit to Rocking The Boat. Credit 2016 CorySilken.com
And while there may not seem to be any similarities between inner city
kids sailing and rowing homemade boats in the South Bronx, and the best
sailors in the world racing the most technologically advanced boats in the
world, Schmidt’s 11th Hour Racing supports Rock the Boat for the same
reason it supports Team Land Rover BAR—both teams are working to
make a significant impact on some of the world’s toughest challenges.
Bringing sustainability to sailing at this scale will cost more upfront in
some respects and that’s where our sponsorship of Land Rover BAR comes
in. They are not only trying to “raise awareness” but they are actually
engaging the entire Land Rover BAR team [sailors, designers, industrial
engineers etc.] so the team can be competitive AND reduce its carbon
footprint. Schmidt also believes that corporations in many sectors will
soon follow her lead in making sustainability a core element in their sports
sponsorship programs.
Credit Team Land Rover BAR
Land Rover BAR and 11th Hour Racing visit to Rocking The Boat. Credit 2016 corysilken.com
“The 11th Hour Project was started when we founded the foundation back
in 2006,” Wendy tells me as we speed back down the East River after
the Rock The Boat event. “It was dedicated originally to funding people
working on climate and clean energy.
“But here we were in Silicon Valley thinking we’re all about solutions. So
we were working on the environment and clean energy when we realized
that you weren’t going to be able to solve the climate problem if you didn’t
address agriculture.
“We are systems-thinkers,” she adds with a spark in her eye. “And that’s
what we apply to everything we do. Within a few years of working in the
agricultural space we realized human rights must be addressed here. There
are people not being paid for the work they’re doing. There are people
whose health is not being considered at all. There are a human rights at
stake here.
“All the sailors we work with at 11th Hour Racing are incredibly
enthusiastic about this,” she says. “I ended up supporting Ben Ainslie
because I met him after the last America’s Cup. I was on the organizing
committee in San Francisco and we ran the greenest event that the
public had ever had in San Francisco. He told me what he wanted to do a
sustainability based racing team. And could I come on as a sponsor?”
“And you knew he wasn’t sort of giving you a line?” I said. “You knew he
meant it?”
“He’s the real thing,” Schmidt says with a sincere smile.
And so is she.
When he’s not sailing or pushing a baby stroller all over New England,
Bill Springer covers superyachts, offshore adventure, luxury travel, and
technology. Follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn.
HOW
TO
MAKE A
KID *
Sekou Kromah
has helped build
10 boats in the
poorest section
of the Bronx.
Opposite: Tools
in the shop at
Rocking the Boat.
In the Bronx an after-school program teaches
high school students to build wooden boats by hand.
They learn a lot more than that.
By Michael Brendan Dougherty
Photographs by João Canziani
* W H O C A N M A K E A B O AT
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PG. 78
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ANYTHING
PM
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09.2014
THIS IS THE DAY THE STUDENTS HAVE BEEN
WAITING FOR, AND IT’S PERFECT.
The sky over the Bronx is a clear, cool blue, with white
sponge clouds drifting here and there. The traffic on
the Bruckner Expressway, a massive eight-lane highway that chokes off this neighborhood from the rest of
the borough and the rest of the world, is a dim wash
in the distance, and the dark Bronx River ripples with
expectation. In some neighborhoods of New York City—
like this one—it’s possible to live life without much
awareness that this massive city grew up on one of the
greatest natural ocean ports in all the world, and that
it’s laced with rivers besides. Many city kids don’t even
know how to swim, which makes what’s going on here
today all the more amazing. The students, these high
school kids, are proud, but they try not to show it. They
smile without showing their teeth, looking at the dirt.
These kids built a boat here, in the Bronx, inside the
brick walls of this shop, wood shavings falling like feathers to the plywood floors amid spattered drops of thick
paint and marine varnish.
These kids built a boat.
This is the semiannual launch at an after-school program called Rocking the Boat, an oasis of woodworking
and engineering since 1998. The lot outside the shop is
filled with people today, a crowd of probably 300. The
students are here, of course, and their instructors from
the boatbuilding program, and the program administrators. Some alumni and their families. A few grinning
local dignitaries, including a state senator. Neighbors,
here to feel good for a day in a pocket of America in
which one-third of the families subsist on less than
$15,000 a year. A band from the neighborhood—saxophone, trombone, tambourine, some kind of beautiful
hand drum the size of a beach ball—plays music you can
tap your foot to. Some of the families of the students
are here, too, and the grandmothers and mothers and
fathers, wearing their Saturday best, dance and sway.
Over their heads, the towering cranes at the scrap yard
next door swing and swivel, hulking clusters of metal
dangling from their jaws.
The dock is maybe a hundred yards across the
weedy rubble, in Riverside Park, a sliver of grass connecting the dead end of Lafayette Avenue to the river.
Little kids—the siblings of the students, and kids from
the neighborhood—scamper back and forth between
the dock on the river and the party outside the shop,
where everyone eats hot dogs and drinks sweet tea.
One of the students, Gianmarco Bocchini—dark eyes,
trim goatee, ropy arms—glides around the yard, a few
girls following close after him and giggling. He rides
the bus for a half hour each way to come build boats
after school. Before this he had never built anything in
the 17 years of his life. And then: “I drilled the holes. I
painted it. I put my heart and soul into it.”
One of the full-time staff, Manny Roman, graduated
a few years ago. He throws open the metal doors of a
storage shed to show off a boat he built, Snow, a sleek
white craft, the wood planks of its hull falling in neat
slopes under the varnished gunwales. Manny wears
Adidas cleats and baggy jeans flecked with paint, his
sinewy arms festooned with tattoos, and his black hair
pulled tight into a neat bun. There is pride in his eyes.
He attended a technical high school, which should have
fed his hunger for construction and engineering know-
When school lets out, students
flood the Rocking the Boat shop
in Hunt’s Point (opposite).
A student (left) refurbishes a
Whitehall, a classic American
design.
One of the boats built this year
was named for Mellissa Mulcare
Boatswain, a former student
who died last year. Her husband,
Nigel (right), attended the launch.
Hand-drawn plans for a
Whitehall (below right).
Adam Green (below) founded
Rocking the Boat in 1996. “I
thought, okay, I officially got in
way over my head,” he says of the
program’s early years.
how, but he was way ahead of the other students, and
the boredom was becoming destructive. So he found
his way here. He says he wants to build a house for himself one day, like his grandfather did.
Two boats sit in the middle of the yard like sculptures in a garden. The Boatswain is a 14-foot Whitehall,
a classic American design—a simple, tidy rowboat with
a 4-foot beam and seats for four people. Whitehalls
are the typical project for new students at Rocking
the Boat. The Boatswain is an original work, built by
hand, from scratch, these past few months, right here
in the shop. The other, the Fowl Play, a 12-foot duck
boat rigged for sailing, had been damaged in Hurricane
Sandy, and the students in the program have worked to
restore her strength and beauty. When it’s time for the
launch, the band collects in front of the boats and roars
into “When the Saints Go Marching In.” The students
gather around each craft, watching one another for
cues, their faces serious and excited.
Here we go.
FOUR MILES NORTH
of the brick-and-dirt
headquarters of Rocking
the Boat sits the Bronx High School of
Science, a prestigious, specialized public high school
that counts among its graduates an impressive number
of Nobel and Pulitzer prize winners. Just about every
kid who graduates goes on to a four-year college, many
to the Ivy League. Adam Green, straw-haired and
earnest but with a rebellious streak running through
him, enrolled at Bronx Science in 1987, one of the few
New York City schoolchildren to be accepted among the
25,000 who apply each year. He hated it. He transferred to a private school and hated that too. He felt he
was getting a curriculum, not an education. “This was
the best society had to offer, and it didn’t do much for
me at all,” he says. “I thought, screw this. I’m not going
to do anything I don’t want to do again.” During college
a teacher friend who worked with an environmental
educational group asked Green if he would volunteer to
help some students build a boat. It sounded like fun,
and in doing it, Green noticed that the kids picked up
some math skills in the designing and building of a
boat, skills they hadn’t gotten from textbooks or
standardized tests.
In 1996, Green founded Rocking the Boat.
It was glorious. To Green, the program was an alternative school, his rebuke to a public-school system
that fails the children who need it most in places like
Hunts Point, which comes in 67th out of 69 New York
neighborhoods in crime and safety, and where the child
poverty rate is the highest in the United States. Many of
the kids who showed up that first year didn’t know how
to use a ruler, let alone the principles of basic geometry required to make something like a boat. When
asked what half of a half is, more than one answered,
F
HOW TO
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ANYTHING
PG. 80
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09.2014
“Three.” Now Green was teaching them engineering
skills, math, physics, woodworking, tool safety. But
then something astonishing happened: Almost immediately, these kids started opening up to Green, telling
him about their lives. There is some powerful alchemy
in this transaction—of teaching and being taught—that
can be transformative in the lives of both teacher and
student. Especially in a place like Hunts Point. And
Green soon realized that his modest after-school boatbuilding program might double as a form of therapy
for these very poor, sometimes deeply troubled kids.
This was wonderful in theory, but Green wasn’t trained
as a therapist. In the first year alone, three different
girls told him on different occasions that they had been
sexually abused by their mothers’ boyfriends in their
own homes. “I thought, okay, I officially got in way over
my head,” he says. Rocking the Boat soon hired its first
social worker.
But craftsmanship was and has remained the
primary focus. The Whitehall is a simple but not
uncomplicated boat. The long planks that create the
hull’s skin are fastened to sturdy ribs spaced out every
6 inches from bow to stern. The shallow keel runs the
length of the hull, extending into a slim skeg, a sort of
fin sticking down into the water beneath the transom.
Duck boats like the Fowl Play have a centerboard, a
board stuck down through a slit in the center of the bottom of the boat once it’s under way, steadying the craft
the same way a keel does. The centerboard on the Fowl
Play was badly damaged in Hurricane Sandy, and one
student, Tito Columbie, 16, a Rocking the Boat apprentice (he graduated from the basic boatbuilding program
and is now working with the instructors), undertook to
repair it with a dutchman patch. He carefully cut away
the fragments of mahogany along the top edge, fit in a
new section of wood, and screwed and glued the new
piece on before fairing it into its hydrodynamic shape.
Long before they know how to dutchman a piece of
shattered wood, the students—boys and girls—learn basic
skills. First, they learn tool safety. They build their own
toolboxes from white oak and cedar, the same wood
the boats are made of—sides and bottom of cedar for
strength, the rest out of oak. Building the boxes teaches
them the properties of each kind of timber (oak is easier
to drill than cedar), and they ease into skills such as nailing and measuring. They decorate their boxes however
they like, and the row on the workroom shelf is a homemade hodgepodge of painted stripes and doodles, even a
hand-drawn Transformers logo.
Soon they learn to make push sticks to keep their
fingers away from the table-saw blade as they rip pieces
of wood. They bend boards using heat and steam, then
plane the planks, forming
the smooth, deep bends
of the Whitehall’s shape.
They learn lofting—deriving
the hull’s full-scale curves
from a set of paper plans.
They calculate angles, they
measure twice and cut
once, they apply paint and
varnish with steady hands.
They hammer nails, mix
epoxy, apply clamps to
joints while glue dries. They
push hand planes carefully
along the gunwales, crafting
straight, splinterless edges.
And slowly, afternoon by
afternoon, they come out
of their shells, these kids.
They help other students
they barely know, because
that’s what you do in a busy
shop. They make friends,
and begin to feel the astonishment one feels when
something that didn’t exist
before takes shape from
Above left, student
your own hand.
Christian Colon on
And slowly the boat
launch day, June 7,
starts to look like a boat.
2014. Above, the
interior and oars of
The Whitehall goes back
the Boatswain.
more than a hundred years
in New York City—it was
once a common recreational rowboat, and before that,
in the 1800s, swarmed New York Harbor, ferrying passengers and cargo from larger ships to shore. But in this
tidy shop in the Bronx, they are tools to coax a sense
of ownership and pride in a real achievement from
nervous teenagers, some of whom have been taught to
be tough, and some of whom have been taught that no
matter how tough or smart or nice you are or how hard
you work in school, it won’t matter, because you will
have nothing to show for it.
The Whitehall is a
14-foot craft with
a wide beam and a
shallow keel.
Clockwise from top left: The potluck
barbecue before the launch; Aristedes
“Tito” Columbie, as the Fowl Play reenters
the Bronx River after a restoration (he
repaired her shattered centerboard);
2014 grad Gianmarco Bocchini. “I drilled
the holes,” he says. “I painted. I put my
heart and soul into it.”
THREE DAYS BEFORE THE LAUNCHES
of the Boatswain and the Fowl Play, Rocking
the Boat was a fever of activity. A dozen
students flooded into the shop in the hour
after school let out, barreling down the bright blue
ramp that leads to the floor of the work area. This was
the final week of Rocking the Boat’s semester, and
nobody needed much guidance at this point. They
knew what to do. There was a stack of oars battered by
years of powering Whitehalls up and down the river,
T
Manny Roman, a
Rocking the Boat grad
who now works there
full-time.
and a few kids grabbed the oars, balanced each one on
an empty worktable, and began sanding them before a
new coat of paint. Deeper in the shop, instructor
Michael Grundman, 28, long-bodied and possessed of a
good-humored patience with the kids, helped a girl
remix a batch of epoxy to make it thinner, less peanut
buttery in its consistency.
Edges were sanded, and the kids ran their hands over
the boats’ smooth lines. Over the past 13 weeks, their
hands had learned how to discover the shape inside a
piece of wood, and it was satisfying to feel it now. Paint
was being applied—thick coats of glossy marine enamel.
There was hardware to affix to both boats—deck cleats,
bow rings. Tito Columbie checked his dutchman job on
the centerboard. With the pads of his fingers he rubbed
the seams that marked his work like a surgeon skimming
a patient’s disappearing scar. It looked perfect.
In the lobby, Sekou Kromah, a graduate of the program who now works at Rocking the Boat part-time,
was refining his plans to become certified for contracting and construction work. He has comic-book biceps
and a tree-trunk chest. Sekou and his three siblings fled
with their mother from Guinea, a nation that was about
to be swallowed by a violent political coup. Six months
after emigrating, having landed in this forgotten corner of the Bronx, Sekou found his way into Rocking
the Boat. He found Adam Green, and the instructors,
and the social workers Green had hired. He found the
C-clamps and the hand planes and the worn wooden
mallets used to tap the Whitehall’s wooden components into position on the frame. Sekou practices
English in the shop. In a few days he will participate in
the 10th launch of a boat he helped build.
“I’m not gonna lie, I’m a big homey Continued on page 116
How to Make a Boat
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 81
right here,” he says with a wide,
easy smile. He says his family
is only dimly aware of what he
does most afternoons. “They
don’t really know nothing
about Rocking the Boat. They
don’t know that I’m teaching,” he says. His accent gives
sharpness to the consonants
of his English. “I wouldn’t say
we’re not close, but we don’t
get to talking about it. I feel
they aren’t interested in my
stuff.” Sekou knows his secret
life as a craftsman of handmade wooden boats makes him
unusual in Hunts Point. “This is
making me way different from
all my friends. They work in
a clothes store. I build boats.
It’s impressive. I know that. It
keeps me out of trouble.”
He had moved out of his
mother’s apartment a month
ago. He stared hard at the
résumé in his hands for a long
time, going over it and over
it, hoping the piece of paper
would convince an employer
that his six years in the
United States so far had been
well-spent.
A boatswain is a
ship’s officer
responsible for
maintaining the
ship’s hull and equipment—rigging, anchors, and the like—but
that is not where the Boatswain
got its name. A former Rocking
the Boat student and donor to
the program named Mellissa
Mulcare Boatswain died of
cancer last August at age 24.
On launch day, a couple of her
friends from the program
speak about her, remembering
her well. Her husband, Nigel, is
here for today’s maiden
voyage, wearing a Rastafarian
cap, white polo shirt, and
jeans. He will be the first
passenger on this vessel named
for his wife.
Everyone lines up behind
the band for the short walk
to the dock. The boats sit on
rolling dollies, and the students line up, six to a side, to
guide them down to the water,
steadying them on a straight
course over the rocks and tufts
A
of grass. Friends and siblings of
the students run ahead to take
photos and videos with their
phones. Once the crowd reaches
the dock, Hannah Lynch, the
energetic boatbuilding program
director, wearing a brimmed hat
and a work apron, picks up a
bullhorn and quiets the crowd,
her voice scratching out into the
warm city air. It’s one of the first
really hot days of the year after
an unrelenting winter. The program tries to teach the students
to have a voice, to speak up, to
not be shy, but this ceremony by
the water is a little overwhelming for some of them. The
neighbors and the grandmas
and the parents and the local
dignitaries clap, and one by one,
as Lynch calls out the name of
each graduating senior—all of
whom will go to college in the
fall—the students shuffle their
feet in the dirt and smile at the
ground.
Sekou pumps his giant arms
in the air, cheering for each
student whose name fills the air.
His younger brother is with him
today, the first member of his
family to come see what Sekou
has been doing all these days
over all these years.
Lynch scoops some Bronx
River water into a bottle and
pours it over the bow of each
boat, a christening. Then, as the
students ease the dollies into
the calm water at the river’s
edge, you can see the whole of
the last 13 weeks on their faces.
Every nail and screw, every
shaving of wood, every frustration and satisfaction, every
moment of discovery. These
kids made two beautiful boats,
and the boats made these kids.
A small crew of students hops
into each one, and they shove
off into the water. Free. ■
How to Make a Battery
POPULAR MECHANICS (ISSN 0032-4558) is
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form a company and five
more to develop a prototype.
Meanwhile the major battery
makers have been marching
inexorably forward, tweaking existing models to eke out
more energy density. “With
someone like Panasonic,
every year their battery is a
few percent better than the
year before,” says Paul Braun,
a professor of materials science and engineering at the
University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign. “Compound that
over 30 years and that’s significant. With small companies
and universities, the only way
we’re going to make an impact
is if we provide two times or
more better performance.”
Braun is hoping to do just
that, having spun off his
research in porous, or nanostructured, anodes and
cathodes into a company
called Xerion. Though built
differently from Prieto’s, his
battery also relies on the
increased surface area and
pathways for electrons and
ions that come with using
electrodes that aren’t solid
blocks. Braun believes that his
lattice-like anodes and cathodes will provide double or
triple the capacity and power
of traditional lithium-ion
batteries within 5 to 10 years—
a common, and fairly ambiguous, time frame in this
business.
One of the more successful battery startups, Amprius,
is already selling its own
nanostructured electrodes to
phone makers, providing a
20 percent boost in capacity
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to existing smartphones. But
Amprius is currently at the
conservative end of the battery race, using comparatively
modest improvements to compete with established players.
Prieto Battery has a
two-pronged approach to commercialization. Later this year
the startup hopes to begin selling a more traditional drop-in
anode that is safer, has three
times the energy density, and
can be swapped into standard
Li-ion cells. Then there’s
the company’s moon shot:
the 3D battery whose fivefold
increase in total power and
nonflammable design could
completely reinvent lithiumion batteries.
FOR A MOON SHOT
to work, the rockets
need to fire. Or, in
the case of Prieto
Battery, the LED has to light
up. The video that Johnson
had Prieto watch at the Italian
restaurant that night showed
something like liftoff. The
video was of the company’s
3D battery prototype, and it
was incontrovertible proof
that they had cracked the final
problem.
Complications with that
polymer electrolyte—the conductive material between the
anode and cathode layers—
had essentially brought the
battery’s development to a
halt. And all of a sudden the
science was done. “That was
really, really cool,” Prieto
says. “Once we made that
breakthrough in the polymer
electrolyte, I started realizing
that this would actually work.”
But it’s early for Prieto
and Johnson to declare victory. The challenges that
F
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remain are of the daunting,
startup variety. The biggest?
Convincing larger companies to actually build Prieto’s
3D batteries. Prieto has a
head start, though. Her plan
from the outset was to not
only design a battery but
to develop low-cost, highly
modular manufacturing
techniques to make it. The
company has already created
a small pilot production line
in its lab space at CSU. The
goal was to show companies
how to tiptoe into production,
as opposed to investing in a
$40 million plant.
Incredibly, this production line isn’t a miniature clean
room or outfitted with vapor
traps to suck away hazardous fumes. Prieto’s approach
largely avoids the toxic chemicals found in standard Li-ion
batteries—something she says
is “a moral choice.” It’s an
environmental decision that
also has potential economic
benefits, cutting the expense
associated with disposing of or
recycling such materials.
Prieto can’t share the
names of the strategic partners that are showing interest,
but she sees her battery’s
ultrastable chemistry as a
perfect initial match for the
military’s unmanned submersibles, which can’t use standard
lithium-ion packs because
of the fire hazard. And the
company plans to get its 3D
solid-state cells into a limited
number of consumer applications by 2016.
These are the best-case scenarios, of course, and assume
breakthroughs that have nothing to do with science. “You
can imagine why this was challenging to pitch to investors
in the beginning,” Prieto says.
“On the one hand they want
transformational approaches.
But it is very hard to quantify,
in terms of time and resources,
how long it will take to make a
major discovery.” Now there’s
no more guessing. “I’m really
excited,” Prieto says. “The
major discoveries are done.”
Which leaves her nextgeneration batteries where so
many promising technologies
ultimately lie: at the mercy of
the people with the money. ■
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