Clean, green neighborhoods play a big factor in the quality of urban life people live. This belief is what pushed actress Bette Midler to put up the New York Restoration Project (NYRP), an organization that seeks to restore New York City's decaying and declining landscapes and neighborhoods to its former pristine glory.

Founded in 1995, Bette Midler recruited friends and family members to start cleaning up Fort Tryon Park and Fort Washington Park, eventually leading to the establishment of NYRP. The group's initial efforts soon gained local, then national attention, as the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation recognized NYRP's impact on the city. Aside from cleaning, NYRP rallied to save 114 community gardens that the New York City government wanted to sell in 1999, all of which remain to be public spaces until now. The group has also worked with the NYC government in planting trees, bushes and flowers, as well as maintenance of these community gardens in order to keep the city beautiful and green.