On a stark gray afternoon atop a co-op building in Flushing, Queens, workers donned bucket hats and sunglasses, armed with brushes and rollers, to paint a white coat across the black roof.
This initiative, part of a city government program, is designed to create what is referred to as a cool roof — a strategic method to combat the oppressive summer heat.
Domonique Clotter, one of the painters, explained, “It’s really for it to keep the roofs cooler, and it also makes the whole building cooler as well. It’s very effective, especially during the summer.”
The white paint serves a crucial purpose, reflecting sunlight rather than absorbing it, which is characteristic of standard black roofs.
This reflection results in a twofold effect: it lowers surrounding air temperatures and significantly reduces indoor temperatures, enabling residents to use less energy for air conditioning.
As a result, not only do residents enjoy lower air conditioning costs—potentially up to 15% savings—but their reduced energy consumption also alleviates strain on the electric grid while decreasing carbon emissions.
Since 2007, the city has successfully installed over 12 million square feet of cool roofs, with an ambitious goal to reach one million additional square feet annually. However, more than half of the city’s flat roofs remain unpainted.
“Cool roofs are important, one of our major strategies to keep cities cooler and reduce the urban heat island effect,” noted Mehdi Pourpeikari Heris, an urban planning professor at Hunter College. He studies New York City’s cool roof initiative, emphasizing the overall benefits—public health, energy savings, and enhanced comfort for residents.
The city’s effort aligns with workforce development through the HOPE Program, a nonprofit dedicated to training jobseekers like Clotter, equipping them with vital skills.
This program, funded by the city and the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, aims not only to train individuals but also to significantly enhance their neighborhoods by improving building energy efficiency and housing quality.
Tracey Capers, the Executive Director, stated, “It is an opportunity not just to train people, but also to make a difference in neighborhoods by improving the housing stock… and improving the financial outcomes of the residents in the buildings.”
The Department of Small Business Services partners with the HOPE Program and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice to provide Cool Roofs at no cost to nonprofits, community centers, affordable housing, and certain qualifying property owners.
For other flat-roof buildings, while eligible for the program, property owners may need to cover the cost of materials, with HOPE supplying the labor.
On the Flushing roof, the current project marked the fourth installation for the HOPE crew this season.
Clotter, expressing pride in her work, showed off her tan lines acquired over weeks of labor and a tattoo featuring her 1-year-old son’s name.
Having joined the HOPE Program with aspirations of entering the construction field, she is on track to earn OSHA and CPR safety certifications plus training in customer service and financial literacy.
Clotter shared, “I’m learning everything they teach in class. I’m picking it up, trying to put it in my professionalism. I’m trying to take this serious, finish out strong, get a great job so I’m able to provide for my family and hopefully get a career path out of it.”
For now, she focused on completing the roof, which would require at least another coat.
Her supervisor, Gary Lambert, had once been a participant in the HOPE Program as well. He now aims to launch his own landscaping business but returned to HOPE for a full-time role, mentoring others in the program.
“I got more out of the program than I ever thought, and it still aligns with my career goals,” Lambert explained.
He has painted over 100 roofs in his four years at HOPE, emphasizing the social and environmental impact of their work.
The importance of painting roofs white, he added, is to help reduce carbon emissions in New York City.
Research conducted by Heris, along with his students and researchers at Penn State University, indicates that about 40% of flat roofs in New York City have been treated with reflective paint.
Nevertheless, to achieve a goal of 100% cool roofs for flat-roof buildings, approximately 500 million square feet still need addressing, necessitating action from building owners beyond the city’s efforts.
As the city grapples with extreme heat risks—averaging 580 heat-related deaths per year—the cool roof initiative emerges as a quick and cost-effective solution. New York City is already affected by the urban heat island effect, and climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem, resulting in longer, more frequent heat waves.
Different neighborhoods experience varying levels of vulnerability to the heat due to socio-economic factors and environmental attributes, such as tree coverage. Many HOPE Program participants come from the city’s most heat-vulnerable areas, where approximately 70% of the implemented cool roofs have been installed.
On the rooftop in Flushing, assistant crew supervisor Rasheem Purcell checked in with his team.
Having started as a participant in the HOPE Program in 2021, Purcell initially didn’t fully grasp the significance of their work installing cool roofs.
Now, he actively teaches current participants about sustainability and teamwork required to complete their tasks.
“You might look at it like, ‘Oh, it’s just paint, and we’re just painting on a roof,’” he remarked, “but there’s much more to that.”
The efforts of the HOPE Program not only contribute to environmental betterment but also assist individuals in finding viable career paths while enhancing their communities.’
image source from：https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/05/27/cool-roofs-paint-climate-change/
