C. Meranda Flachs-Surmanek, Why Wow Studio

Manager of Programming at the Lowline 

The Lowline was a public place-making organization advocating for the development of an underground, year-round community and cultural space in Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Lowline imagined transforming the currently abandoned Williamsburg Trolley Terminal employing emerging solar technology to reactivate it as a lush, community-centric park.  
In my work with the Lowline, I supported the establishment of the Young Ambassadors Program (YAP), an  education and leadership development program for teens on the Lower East Side focused on experiential learning, civic engagement, and social activism. Teens explored a range of science, tech, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) careers and supported the Lowline’s broader efforts to care for and connect people to community green spaces. Following a 6-month paid internship, Young Ambassadors made ripple effects in the community — developing their own neighborhood greening projects and mentoring neighborhood youth.

With the YAP, I helped initiate a collaboration with The New York Public Library’s Lower East Side Oral History Project. Young Ambassadors were trained in deep listening, narrative arc, and other best practices. They then conducted oral histories with older adults through partnerships with neighborhood settlement houses to discuss community resiliency, gentrification, and the importance of public space. The oral histories can be found on this website.

In addition, I helped produced 50 public programs that fostered dialogue on the Lower East Side’s multifaceted history and contemporary social struggles, innovations in tech and design, and sustainability initiatives such as aeroponics and rooftop gardening. Through programs and collaborations, we sought to develop a community-centered vision for the Lowline park with a diverse group of community residents and stakeholders.