Miquela Craytor on Industrial Policy, Green Jobs, and Economic Mobility

Greg sits down with Miquela Craytor, Senior Advisor (former interim Executive Director, Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (SBIDC), founder of Craytor Strategies, for a conversation about planning, power, environmental justice, industrial policy, and what it takes to build real economic opportunity in New York City.Miquela reflects on her path from Oregon to New York, from waiting tables and working as a corporate paralegal to becoming a planner, advocate, and economic development leader. She shares lessons from her time at Sustainable South Bronx, NYCEDC, NYC Small Business Services, and her current work supporting climate and industrial-sector clients through Craytor Strategies. Her work has included environmental justice, the South Bronx Greenway, industrial policy, advanced manufacturing, workforce strategy, stakeholder engagement, and helping legacy businesses connect to emerging opportunities in offshore wind, building electrification, and the green economy. Greg and Miquela also dig into the complicated work of community engagement: how good ideas can fail when communities are not heard, why trust and truth-telling matter, and how development projects can better connect infrastructure investment to local jobs. Along the way, they talk about the Bronx, Brooklyn’s working waterfront, green jobs, worker cooperatives, housing, manufacturing, climate resilience, developers, public-sector decision-making, and why environmental justice and economic justice must be understood as deeply connected. Produced by: Manhattan Neighborhood NetworkPublished by: New York City Employment and Training CoalitionTopics: workforce development; economic development; environmental justice; economic justice; green jobs; climate jobs; industrial policy; manufacturing; offshore wind; building electrification; South Bronx; Brooklyn waterfront; community engagement; urban planning; worker cooperatives; New York City; infrastructure; inclusive growth; small business; Craytor Strategies