Layman Lee
Director of Neighborhood Safety Initiatives
Leadership
Layman Lee is the Director of Neighborhood Safety Initiatives at the Center for Justice Innovation. The program is a lead technical assistance and implementation partner in the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety, a comprehensive strategy to enhance public safety and strengthen community well-being in 30 public housing developments across New York City. Funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and Green Space Connections has allowed Neighborhood Safety Initiatives to expand investments in East Harlem, Bronx, and Brooklyn; provide training to residents in community organizing, human-centered design, and placekeeping, and re-envision public open space to support community well-being and safety.
Before this position, she was the Neighborhood Development & Placemaking Manager at Brownsville Partnership/Community Solutions organizing to improve the built environment and neighborhood health through the lens of art and design with residents, community-based organizations, city agencies, and creative experts. She also served as the Creative Director at ORE Design working on projects such as transformations of vacant lots in Brooklyn into small business incubators and community space with shipping containers, and an emergency jacket to aid the homeless. She gained hands-on experience with large art installations at Fung Collaboratives where she helped construct the massive snow and ice sculptures designed by artists and architects including Tatsuo Miyajima and Tadao Ando, and Anish Kapoor and Future Systems. She has traveled to New Mexico to help realize the SITE Sante Fe Biennial: Lucky Number Seven, and to Atlantic City as Project Director for ARTLANTIC, a project aimed at transforming the vacant lots through public art with artists including Kiki Smith and the landscape design firm Balmori Associates. During this time she worked at the environmental nonprofit GrowNYC, supporting the creation and maintenance of community gardens, and other local environmental sustainability projects and campaigns. In her free time, Layman is a multidisciplinary artist and designer working with the belief that every project should be equitable, innovative, and foster positive social and environmental change.
