Our vision is to help New York City teachers and students bridge connections between our urban landscape, busy, tech-saturated lives, and NYC as one of the greatest cities with a thriving harbor ecosystem—in the world. Learn how to take advantage of our free & low-cost STEM-based and NYC waterfront education resources and embed them within your classroom and school.

When most of us open our textbooks, we learn a version of American history filtered through white narratives. This is particularly true for New York City’s early history. White narratives and colonization are inseparable from our early written accounts, shaping the stories we’ve shared and the ones we’ve left out centuries later–like how expansive and abundant oyster reefs once characterized New York City’s shorelines and dining room tables, or how that extant industry helped build a haven for free Black landowners and a crucial stop on the Underground Railroad.

Where you’ll find the legacy of New York City’s booming oyster industry and the Black oystermen who built it, is in the stories of residents and landmark structures of Sandy Ground on Staten Island–the nation’s oldest continuously settled free black community–five generations later.

Visit Love Ever After in Times Square, a public installation of our work by Pernilla Ohrstedt from February 4 to March 4th!  In partnership with Pernilla Ohrstedt Studio, Times Square Arts, The World Around, The Mermaid Inn, Isco Spirits, Six Point, and LP Seafood and Specialty

In addition to our scientific expertise, hard-working team, and incredible volunteers, our work is rooted in our community partnerships. Together, with the generous support of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Long Island Sound Future Fund (LISFF), our ambassadors, and community scientists, we’ve gathered data at three key locations within the Western Long Island Sound Coastal Watershed: Pugsley Creek (Bronx), Turtle Cove (Bronx), and Powell’s Cove (Queens). After our first phase of data gathering in the fall of 2024, we can now confirm that long-term oyster reef restoration is a strong possibility!

Before attending the Harbor School, Tanasia Swift, Harbor School Alumni Class of 2008, already had a deep fascination and foundational understanding of marine science. Today, she channels that passion into a personal mission: bridging the gap between diverse communities and the world beneath the waves.

Isabella Torres, Harbor School Alumni Class of 2018, a self-proclaimed “shell collector,” initially planned to pursue the arts in high school. That changed when she encountered an open laptop displaying photos of scuba-diving students at a high school fair. Learning that these students attended New York Harbor School on Governors Island immediately sparked her interest, and she decided to apply.

A Staten Island local, Casey Fogarty, Harbor School Alumni Class of 2017, describes himself as the “behind-the-scenes guy” at Billion Oyster Project, ensuring that “everything is running smoothly.” His time at Harbor School was central to his decision to work with us:

Managing the collection and recycling process of oyster shells across New York City for our restoration work isn’t (and doesn’t even sound) easy. From the restaurant to the reef, each step is a crucial cog in our effort to turn a single half-shell on your plate into a new home for 20 juvenile oysters, and divert what would otherwise be waste (2.5 million pounds of it and counting) from our city’s landfills. The shell transfer station is one of those hidden cogs — where shells picked up around the city accumulate for a month before we transport them to Governors Island.