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Norfolk's Ryan Resilience Lab gains national attention
Norfolk's Ryan Resilience Lab gains national attention

Yahoo

time25-04-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Norfolk's Ryan Resilience Lab gains national attention

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – A trailblazing project along North Colley Avenue in Norfolk is getting national attention. The Ryan Resilience Lab at the Elizabeth River Project was created as a model for urban habitat restoration and serves as a tangible example of how coastal residents and businesses can respond to sea level rise. It opened last summer. Work Program Architects (WPA) designed the $8-million privately-funded building. Back in September, WPA posted to social media that a TODAY show crew with Vicky Nguyen was in Norfolk. But they didn't say why at the time. The Elizabeth River Project broke the details Thursday that they would be on the NBC Today Show Friday morning with architects from WPA. Friday morning, the special report aired on TODAY. You can watch the full report in the video player at the top of this page. Nguyen interviewed several members of the Elizabeth River Project involved in the Ryan Resilience Lab project, and the architects. They highlighted some of the building's unique features, such as the permeable outdoor pavers, which allow rain to drain and helps keep pollution out of the river. The building has carpet made from recycled fishing nets, triple pane windows and even a living roof. Elizabeth River Project to open $8M Ryan Resilience Lab in Norfolk The overall goal of these and many other features at the unique Norfolk structure is to impact the environment by hopefully encouraging the community to incorporate some of the same strategies and techniques in their homes and businesses. The report featured ways to protect your home from flooding: Clear gutters and drains Keep sandbags & plastic sheeting handy Elevate electric panels & outlets At this year's Hampton Roads Association for Commercial Real Estate award presentation earlier this month, the Juror's Choice Award went to the Elizabeth River Project and Ryan Resilience Lab submitted by Work Program Architects. The project also received an Excellence Award for Best Sustainable Project. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens ‘love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir ‘Boat Baby'
NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens ‘love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir ‘Boat Baby'

USA Today

time01-04-2025

  • Entertainment
  • USA Today

NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens ‘love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir ‘Boat Baby'

NBC's Vicky Nguyen pens 'love letter to America,' immigrants in memoir 'Boat Baby' For decades, Vicky Nguyen's immigrant story wasn't one her family often talked about. It was a 'fact of life,' and not something to dwell on, she says. But the NBC News anchor and chief consumer investigative correspondent is ready to change that. Her memoir 'Boat Baby' (out now from Simon & Schuster) tells her story from Vietnam to 30 Rock, bringing readers alongside her parent's immigration journey and her childhood in America with humor and heart. In an interview with USA TODAY, she shares what it was like to turn the investigative spotlight onto her own family story. It takes a village: Nguyen shares family's journey to America Nguyen's family fled Vietnam in 1979, part of the mass exodus of 'boat people' who left the country between 1975 and 1995. Nguyen was just 8 months old. Her parents departed in a small rowboat at night with the help of a smuggler, only a bag each and gold to appease robbers who they'd inevitably come across. They eventually reached the coast of Malaysia safely, where they lived in a refugee camp for 10 months. Nguyen's mother wrote an anxious plea to her American colleagues at Holt International, the nonprofit adoption agency where she worked. Two couples answered, and Nguyen says they 'didn't think twice' about sponsoring the Nguyen family and outfitting them with a furnished apartment in Oregon. Decades later, Nguyen was able to bring those couples to the NBC offices, introducing them to "TODAY" show anchors Savannah Guthrie, Craig Melvin and Hoda Kotb. 'There's so much in our family's journey that is relatable. You don't have to be Vietnamese and a refugee to recognize the love letter to America, the fact that this is a country where so much is possible, and so many people have done incredible things,' Nguyen says. 'It helps to recognize that the diversity and the fabric of our country is what I think makes it so great, and I'm super grateful to be able to share the fact that my family didn't do it alone.' An American childhood Growing up in America, Nguyen recalls being one of the only Asian kids in her school and often the only one 'relatively fresh off the boat.' She faced racist taunts from white kids at the bus stop. Her classmates and teachers never pronounced her name, Yến, right. But even as her English improved, the other Vietnamese girls at school made fun of her formal way of speaking Vietnamese (she often only spoke to her parents), implying she was trying to be 'an American white girl,' she writes. Beyond the struggle to fit in, it was Nguyen's parents who taught her optimism, resilience and grit. Being the 'most American' in the family, her parents trusted and leaned on her judgment. They even let her lead the house's decor, which she writes became 'pure 'Miami Vice'' under her direction, with teals and pastels everywhere. During this time, her dad also wrote and self-published a guide book for other Vietnamese American immigrants with tips on how to open a bank account or deal with the post office. Nguyen says it feels 'eerily similar' to what she does as a journalist, distilling information to help consumers live smarter lives. 'I realize now my dad was the original author in our family,' she says. Nguyen started college as a biology student. With few Asian TV journalists to look up to, she writes that she didn't realize it was a career she could have. In 'Boat Baby,' she recounts meeting another Asian journalism student and everything changing. 'Why not me?' she asks herself, a refrain she often heard from her parents in their early years in America. She was encouraged by mentors, including at Asian American Journalists Association conferences. Diversity, immigrants are 'our superpower,' Nguyen says Nguyen also shares the racism she experienced in her career beginnings, like strangers driving by and saying 'it's Connie Chung' as she worked or emailing the news station to ask 'Why can't she speak English?' even though she was. And though Nguyen says she's 'never been one to lead with my identity,' that changed during the COVID-19 pandemic as anti-Asian hate crimes began to rise. She started reporting on them more, startled by the fact that 'people who looked like our parents (were being) pushed over in the streets, attacked, beaten, killed, because people were wrongly associating any Asian American with the coronavirus. 'When I started reporting on this and felt the support of other people in my newsroom, people in the community, I realized it is important to bring all of the parts of you to the job, whether it's you're a woman, you're a mother, you're an Asian American because it does open doors to communities who will feel more comfortable talking to you,' Nguyen says. 'You can get to the heart of a story better.' Her parents may not seek the spotlight, but it's a story she wanted to tell because, as she puts it, 'My success is their success.' Spanning from the boat in Vietnam to her life as a mother, wife and journalist in New York City, Nguyen's memoir is a testament to her parents' strength. 'America is a tapestry of immigrant stories,' Nguyen says. 'I would argue it is our superpower that we have so many diverse perspectives. We have the gratitude of people who come from another place and don't take this country for granted and recognize that we can improve always, but so many things are possible in America that are not possible anywhere else. That's why people die to come here.' New books to read: 15 March releases, from new 'Hunger Games' to shocking tell-alls Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY's Books Reporter, where she covers buzzy releases, chats with authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram, subscribe to our weekly Books newsletter or tell her what you're reading at cmulroy@

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