Newburgh Tools is an initiative to launch a community tool library in Newburgh. The project proposes the construction and operation of a tool lending facility and community resource hub on an underutilized urban lot, centrally located in the city’s historic core. The facility will be built by volunteer architects in partnership with other local organizations, and its design and performance will be documented as a prototype for low-cost, low-tech urban placemaking.

When operational, the facility will gather and lend tools among Newburgh residents, serve as a practical resource and information base, and support other existing community service efforts.

We’re gaining support and raising funds for a facility launch in Spring 2026, and starting this fall, we plan to use our host site, on Chambers between Broadway and First, as a platform for information and events. With minimal resources, we can do an initial mini-project on the prominent site to help us advertise and raise awareness for the project, demonstrate small-scale resilient design and community organization, and take meaningful action towards nourishing a neglected urban block, all at the same time.

Over the next two months, we’ll clean our vacant lot of debris and overgrowth, rebuild the collapsing chain link fence and gate that front the property, and then organize and host a Tree & Tool Drive public event. The fence will be well constructed from natural materials, providing security and access for our site, and will carry informational signage promoting the project. The event will happen in October, coordinated and cross-advertised with the relaunch of the Newburgh Repair Café and Archtober 2025. In coordination with our neighbors, we’ll use a weekend to plant trees in existing unused sidewalk planting zones all up and down the surrounding block, and we’ll engage the larger community at the same time by hosting an all-day information session and soliciting tool donations for our future inventory.