The Bronx is Blooming Community Engagement Program (2018-19)
Support the Bronx is Blooming's Community Engagement Program, allowing us to work with Bronx school and community groups.
Leader
Jennifer Beaugrand
Location
Grand Concourse Bronx, NY 10451
About the project
We are planning to raise $16,000 through this match to help support our Community Engagement programs, allowing us to work with middle and high school aged groups in various locations throughout the Bronx. We will host weekday and weekend service events, working to equip Bronx youth with green vocational skills and knowledge of key environmental principles. Our Community Engagement programs also help us to build relationships in Bronx communities. With IOBY funding, we will focus on engaging community volunteers in the environmental care of Bronx parks through the pruning, mulching, and care of park and street trees, removal of invasive species, and planting of native species.
The Bronx is Blooming (BiB) leverages the resources of the Bronx to build community by restoring local habitat. Our mission is to create a culture of environmental stewardship in the Bronx. BiB accomplishes this in several ways including:
-
The Program for Leaders Advancing their Community’s Environment (PLACE) that provides local high school and college aged student leaders with leadership skills to lead restoration projects and engage communities in the care of their parks.
-
Community Engagement in the form of volunteer events offering community members the opportunity to participate in the environmental stewardship of their green spaces, facilitating the beautification and revitalization of neighborhood parks.
-
Corporate Engagement with volunteers from companies such as Morgan Stanley, Barclays, 21 Century Fox, and more that provide opportunities for our staff to engage with and educate volunteers from outside of the borough on the importance of parks revitalization and care for the environment.
Since its founding in 2011, BiB has brought more than 13,000 volunteers to conduct 66,000 hours of restoration work to 17 Bronx community parks, which is the equivalent of 4.5 full-time staff working each year.
The Steps
BiB focuses on key Bronx environmental and public health challenges (air pollution and asthma, water pollution and its effects on health, and access to recreation and its effects on obesity) through direct action and through education.
By stewarding park trees and caring for native species, our work will contribute to a denser, healthier canopy in our parks, minimizing the impact of air pollution on environmental and public health for generations to come. A mature tree absorbs more than 48 pounds of carbon monoxide each year and gives off oxygen (ArborDay). These trees can help to mitigate the effects of air pollution on the public health of the Bronx, potentially reducing the high asthma rates and deaths associated with diseases related to air pollution.
In addition, mulching these trees and plant beds help them to absorb more rainwater, reducing the effects of urban runoff and subsequent combined sewer overflows (CSOs), the leading water quality issue in New York City. CSOs also have an impact on public health: bacteria and other pathogens introduced into New York’s waterways from sewer overflows and contaminated runoff make thousands of New Yorkers sick every year. (Waterkeeper Alliance) BiB Community Engagement projects help to reduce water pollution and its impact on public health.
Why we‘re doing it
The Bronx is Blooming’s Community Engagement projects create more opportunities for communities to be active, including coming out to help revitalize their neighborhood park. The Bronx has the city’s highest rate of obesity, with residents facing an estimated 85 percent higher risk of being obese than people in Manhattan. One in four children in the South Bronx is overweight or obese. Furthermore, while the Bronx is 24% parkland, much is consolidated in some large parks on the periphery of the borough, which are harder to access for many Bronx residents, exacerbating challenges related to obesity. With a focus on community volunteers and smaller neighborhood parks, our projects not only help community residents to take direct action in their parks – as the stewards of trees and the planters of new native gardens - but by beautifying and increasing exposure to neighborhood green space, we encourage regular park usage and physical activity.