Brooklyn School and Nonprofits Unveil Plans for Seven-Acre Experiential Learning Campus at Historic Floyd Bennett Field

Campus’ facilities and programs will empower students and community members to build pathways to green jobs and develop solutions to climate change, food injustice, and systemic racism

On Friday, May 5, Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School (Launch), its nonprofit partners, and elected officials unveiled for a seven-acre experiential learning campus with a new high school and world-class facilities where students and community members will build pathways to green jobs and develop solutions to climate change, food injustice, and systemic racism. The new high school, Launch at Floyd Bennett Field, will open in 2026. The campus and nonprofit partners will eventually offer programming for hundreds of public schools across New York City.

Developed collaboratively by Launch, SCAPE Landscape Architecture, Architecture Research Office (ARO), Colloqate, and Launch’s network of nonprofit partners, the plans envision a 21st-century campus organized around a series of connective outdoor hallways that knit together buildings and learning landscapes—a model for experiential learning in New York. 

Located at the former site of New York City’s first municipal airport, along the tidal shores of Jamaica Bay, the campus will support education, climate action, sustainable food systems, and workforce development programming for students and members of the broader community. The school’s experiential learning model is threaded throughout the vision which features a refurbished and modernized central building, a three-acre farm and outdoor classroom, a harvest and sensory garden, a greenhouse with hydroponics, a ropes course and series of sport courts, community amphitheater, and spaces for outdoor art, teaching, performance, and exploration.

“Launch at Floyd Bennett Field is an unprecedented opportunity to build a world-class educational ecosystem for communities that have historically been denied access to such resources,” said Geoffrey Roehm, Executive Director of The Launch School. “Alongside our partner organizations, we look forward to providing learning experiences that prepare students and community members for green jobs and empower them to build a better world.”

To provide wide-ranging learning experiences at the campus, Launch is partnering with local education, environmental, and arts nonprofit organizations, including The Campaign Against Hunger, EL Education, Transcend Education, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, New York Sun Works, Billion Oyster Project, Solar One, NYC Outward Bound Schools, Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation, and Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. Programs will include marine biology, sustainable agriculture, career training in solar energy and other emerging fields, construction of hydroponic and aquaponic systems, and African dance.

Since 2012, Launch has operated a middle school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, where many community members have been systematically excluded from opportunities leading to green jobs and access to world-class educational resources. Launch is currently raising funds to ensure it can complete its vision for Floyd Bennett Field and bring these transformational opportunities to Brooklyn families.

“I am certain the innovative campus of the Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School located at the historic Floyd Bennett Field will be a world-class, state-of-the-art facility which will help inspire generations young Brooklynites to pursue their academic dreams and achieve to the highest levels right here in District 46,” said New York City Council Member, Mercedes Narcisse (District 46). “I look forward to welcoming the inaugural class in 2026.”

“As a working parent in Bed-Stuy, it’s been incredible to collaborate with a local school taking on big societal issues with such heart, tenacity, and dedication to its students’ futures,” said Alexis C. Landes, Managing Principal of SCAPE. “Working alongside our stellar design team and the Launch community has been a true meeting of the minds—with reflections I know will reverberate throughout our studio for many years to come.”

Floyd Bennett Field, in southeast Brooklyn, was once the starting point for the world’s first international flights, but it has been in a state of decline for nearly 50 years. With over 1,300 acres of open space in the middle of New York City, the site offers one of the city’s most historic community redevelopment opportunities of the last 100 years. 

Launch’s announcement event was held on EL Education’s Better World Day, a national awareness day showcasing students’ contributions to a better world, and included remarks of support from New York City Council Members Mercedes Narcisse, Farah Louis, and Chi Ossé, and New York State Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman. Eighty Launch sixth graders, who will be part of the new high school’s first class, participated by cleaning up the Jamaica Bay beach and created large canvas paintings envisioning Floyd Bennett Field’s educational future. The student activities were led by Jamaica Bay Rockaway Parks Conservancy and Transcend Education.

About Launch Expeditionary Learning Charter School

Founded in 2012, Launch is a charter school serving approximately 300 students in grades 6-8 in Central Brooklyn. As part of the NYC Outward Bound Schools network, Launch emphasizes teamwork, field trips, and social action. Launch is committed to serving all students through the thoughtful implementation of EL Education Core Practices. Launch gives students opportunities to learn with purpose, develop their character, and unleash their potential through compelling hands-on learning and a deep sense of belonging and personal agency. The school has a restorative justice approach to discipline, which is a community-based approach to build, repair, and restore relationships. With individualized high school admissions support, Launch graduates attend high schools with an average graduation rate of 90 percent. To learn more, visit www.launchschool.org.