Boston: Community Gardening and Parks Volunteer News

Forum on community gardeningThe Parks Action Resource Center kicks off Boston's forum for the first Plant Yourself in the Park Day, a citywide day of volunteerism June 5. The forum takes place Saturday, May 8, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Bunker Hill Community College, Charlestown,. This half-day forum will include presentations and workshops presented by park practitioners and community advocates and feature keynote speaker Steve Frillmann of the New York City Green Guerillas, an organization that helps grassroots organizations strengthen under-served neighborhoods through community gardening. The event is free and includes complimentary lunch.To distribute an organization's information, friends group information or to attend the forum, contact Shannon Meehl at 617-426-7980, ext. 106, or e-mail smeehl@greenspacealliance.org.



Park Partners work toward a greener city


Throughout Boston's neighborhoods, groups and individuals have been teaming up with the city's Park Partners program for more than 20 years to help maintain and improve local greenspace.

The partnerships forged through the program, administered by the Boston Parks and Recreation Department, range from the adoption of planters to well-established friends groups such as the Friends of the Public Garden, Boston Common and Commonwealth Avenue Mall that undertake fund raising, wide-scale cleanups, planting and planning.

Sixty-four groups now work with the city at sites varying from small "pocket parks" to 10 urban wilds including the recently opened Puddingstone Garden in Roxbury and Condor Street Urban Wild in East Boston.

The roles that the Park Partners play are equally varied. First and foremost, they act as they "eyes and ears" of the Parks Department, providing pro-active updates on maintenance needs and any other issues pertinent to their local open space. Park cleanups are arranged with the Parks Department providing equipment and the Park Partners providing volunteer "people power."

Fund-raising bake sales and silent auctions supplement the city's budget for open space resources. Plantings can be arranged with materials supplied by the Parks Department, and special events promoting positive use of city parks are always encouraged and supported. In keeping with the community focus of Park Partners, Boston's parks are also home to neighborhood family and children's activities.

Among the materials and services offered by the Parks Department through the Parks Partners program are tools, sand, loam, mulch, bulbs, compost, fertilizer, and the technical assistance of arborists, horticulturalists, landscape architects and the maintenance staff.

For more information on the Park Partners program, call the Boston Park and Recreation Department at 617-635-4505, ext. 3030.













Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index