The Malden River Works project was born of a combination of grass roots river cleanup initiatives, urban studies highlighting the Malden River as a key resource worthy of focus and investment, and a number of individual and organizational river champions. Though the path to this project is more nuanced and involved than can be provided on one web page, here are a few milestones leading up to its launch.

• 2012 Friends of the Malden River was initiated by community organizations Tri-City Community Action Program (Tri-CAP), the Mystic River Watershed Association (MyRWA), environmental and urban justice advocates, and Tufts University’s interdisciplinary graduate program in Water: Systems, Science & Society (WSSS).

• 2017 Open Space and Recreation Plan initiated by the City of Malden) have documented widespread interest in the river as a future civic asset from Malden residents and local stakeholders. The Malden River Greenway Plan, in particular, outlines a contiguous greenway network connecting riverfront open space in Malden, Medford, and Everett.

• 2018 Commercial Street Corridor Framework Plan initiated by the City of Malden and the Malden Redevelopment Authority (MRA),

• 2018 Malden River Greenway Plan initiated by the MyRWA

• In 2019, Malden River Works was awarded the first ever Leventhal City Prize from MIT’s Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism, focused on supporting innovative urban design and planning approaches for equitable resilience.