About — Guardians of Flushing Bay

Our Story

Founded by a coalition of dragon boaters, GoFB envisions a future where our Flushing Bay and Flushing Creek are healthy and equitably accessible and our watershed communities feel part of a thriving collective that steward the water and each other.

We accomplish our goals using three key strategies: 1) building and sustaining grassroots coalitions, 2) bonding residents with local ecology, and 3) repairing local habitats.

Grounded in the arts

In 2014, when GoFB was still in its nascent stage as a coalition, Flushing-based social practice artist Cody Herrmann connected with the dragon boat coalition through her research of Flushing Creek. Cody’s early and sustained involvement in the coalition grounded GoFB’s work in the arts. Through Cody’s and other artists' guidance, we continue to leverage art as an organizing tool to envision ecologically just futures and engage residents.

Founded by Dragon Boaters

The bay is home to thousands of dragon boaters, many of whom have relied on Flushing Bay for generations to practice their sport. In 2012, the Green Team of the Empire Dragons NYC (Empire), a dragon boat team of breast cancer survivors formed a coalition of dragon boat teams (including Wall Street Dragons, DCH Dragons and Metro Athletic Dragons) to improve the health of the water and increase access to the public park that abuts it. The coalition started an annual shoreline cleanup, introduced oyster gardening to the waterway, contributed water quality samples to a citywide database and influenced the City’s sewage management plans.

Committed to Environmental Justice

In 2015 the coalition evolved into the ‘Guardians of Flushing Bay’ and by 2018, GoFB was incorporated as a 501c3 nonprofit and hired its first employee. Through the leadership of our locally-based Board of Directors, GoFB’s core programs strive to right the wrongs of past environmental injustices, recognizing that the disconnection between residents and the water is the result of short-sighted planning, environmental neglect and social injustices.

Structured by Community-Driven Leadership

GoFB stewards multiple internal and public-facing consensus-based committees. The committees function as opportunities for volunteers and board members to play a role in GoFB’s decision-making at a granular level, from weighing in on the current and future structure of the organization to developing our seasonal events calendar. In addition to our board, many of our core volunteers serve as members of these committees. These volunteers include dragon boat team members, park users and water quality testers from neighboring communities.

GOFB is incorporated in the state of New York as a non-profit corporation and has obtained federal tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.