Profiles of Environmental Education Grants Awarded to Organizations in New York
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Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County $40,000
Stephanie Graf, 203 North Hamilton Street, Watertown, NY 13601-2948
http://ccejefferson.org/Exit
Onsite Organics Diversion for Youth Camps
Cornell Cooperative Extension’s project establishes sustainable composting and recycling programs at three rural youth camps that serve low-income populations in northern New York. The program’s camp counselors are trained to educate campers on how to reduce waste, compost and recycle, and why it is so important to do so. Each camp develops an environmental stewardship plan and establishes recycling infrastructure and on-site composting systems. Under this project, approximately 3,800 campers participate, most from low-income families, guided by 60 camp counselors.
Syracuse University $91,000
Amy Graves, Office of Sponsored Programs, 113 Bowne Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244-1200
http://www.syracuse.eduExit
Using the Thanksgiving Address to Advance Environmental Literacy and Environmental Stewardship
Through this project, Syracuse University focuses on teaching students about the Onondaga Lake watershed in a way that includes Haudenosaunee history and cultural attitudes toward nature as a complement to scientific environmental knowledge about the physical world and as an activating force toward cultivating gratitude, responsibility and stewardship. Educational materials and tools are developed that allow students of various ages to compare traditional and scientific teachings about species and landscapes native to the Onondaga Lake watershed. The students are also provided opportunities to gather their own information about these topics. Faculty at Syracuse University test the developed materials at a summer workshop attended by 20 teachers.
Queens College $91,000
Mr. Peter Schmidt, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11367-1597
http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Pages/home.aspxExit
Metropolitan Monarch Alliance (MMA) Project
The Queens College Metropolitan Monarch Alliance project establishes and conducts a community-based program to study and protect Monarch butterflies in New York City. Queens College presents Monarch-butterfly workshops to 150 elementary school teachers and 100 community members and establishes Monarch butterfly “way stations” at five EE centers in Queens, Brooklyn, and The Bronx. Queens College also helps teachers from 25 schools to establish Monarch butterfly way stations that will involve students in learning about and caring for Monarchs.
Warwick Valley School District $91,000
Mr. James Yap, 225 West Street Extension, Warwick, NY 10990-0595
http://www.warwickvalleyschools.com/Exit
The Envirocation Project: Environmental Education in the Warwick Valley Central School District and Community
Warwick Valley Central School District partners with the non-profit organization Sustainable Warwick to reach at least 900 students with “The Envirocation Project: Environmental Education in the Warwick Valley Central School District and Community.” This two-year project develops and implements new curricular units, offers new classes for students, and implements two major initiatives: a comprehensive recycling program and a composting program in every district school building by August 2017.
Syracuse University $200,000
Mary Ellen Gilbert, 113 Bowne Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244
Syr.edu
Generating a Replicable Environment Education Network in Puerto Rico
Generating a Replicable Environmental Education Network in Puerto Rico (GREEN-PR) will work toward three main goals: (1) launching an Environmental Education (EE) Stewardship Program in PR schools, (2) establishing four model EE Network Hubs, and (3) facilitating an EE Stewardship Mini-Grant Program.
Onondaga Environmental Institute $134,392
Edward Michalenko, 102 West Division St., Third Floor, Syracuse, NY 13204
Oei2.og
Watershed Community Mapping and Environmental Planning Education
This project has the goal of reviving Onondaga Lake and Watershed through a community-based, experiential environmental education model for raising awareness, enhancing critical thinking, and promoting expanded and improved stewardship.
Teachers College, Columbia University – $149,930
Natasha Guadalupe, 525 West 120th Street, P.O. Box 151, New York, NY 10027
Designing Community Projects: Region 2 Sub-Grant Initiative
The Center for Technology and Social Change at Teachers College, Columbia University, in partnership with the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation at Columbia’s Earth Institute, is conducting s a sub-grant program to advance hands-on environmental education in kindergarten through grade 12 classrooms. Sub-grants are awarded to educators’ schools in New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to implement community-based projects. Teachers College awards a minimum of 19 grants for projects in which students are engaged in hands-on community-based learning. The program includes a Leadership Summit to support the sub-grantee, monthly webinars to effectively support the environmental education projects, and a blog to document progress and facilitate communication among stakeholders. Participating schools commit to a sustainability plan. At the end of the program, a culminating conference for awardees, state leaders and others in EE is held to share project news and to provide a forum for discussing implications for EE at the policy level.
Rochester Institute of Technology $40,000
Ms. Katherine Clark, One Lomb memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623-5603
Rochester Institute of Technology
The New York State Pollution Prevention Institute at Rochester Institute of Technology will conduct a series of programs for pregnant or parenting middle and high school students and their parents and pregnant women and their partners. The goal of four workshops is to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to reduce the risk of exposure from toxic chemicals found in household and children’s products; reduce exposure of parents, children, and unborn babies to environmental health hazards; and enable parents to make informed decisions about household products. Four workshops will address toxics found in childrens products, toys, the home, and nurseries.
Syracuse University Main Campus – $131,050
Mark Lichtenstein, 113 Bowne Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244
Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Materials Management Education Sub-Grants
The Center for Sustainable Community Solutions of Syracuse University is awarding sub-grants to fund community projects. The sub-grants, conducted in partnership with local school districts, fund projects to implement pollution prevention initiatives in kindergarten through grade 12 schools in New York, New Jersey and Puerto Rice and connect "lessons learned" to more positively impact communities. The projects either implement green infrastructure technologies or create sustainable materials management programs, which addresses both stormwater pollution and sustainable materials management issues in the local communities. The projects connect students and educators with these two critical topics and teach them the skills and information necessary to become effective environmental stewards. In addition, the sub-grant projects bring schools and neighborhoods together, in partnerships, to address pressing environmental issues at a local level.
Yorkshire Pioneer Central School District, Inc. $30,573
Marylou Genaway, County Line Road, Box P. O. 579, Yorkshire, NY 14173-0579
Pioneer Project to Safeguard Waterways and Restore Wildlife Habitat
Yorkshire Pioneer School District, in rural western New York, is undertaking a program to prevent non-point source water pollution. High school students, community members and local farmers will take part in habitat restoration projects such as installing vegetated filter strips on a land parcel the school district owns. The strips will also restore wildlife habitats that were lost when small farms were consolidated into large ones. Field trips, classroom instruction, off site environmental and leadership training, active engagement in water quality improvement projects, and other community based experiences are designed to both improve environmental quality and foster a commitment to environmental stewardship amongt student and community participants.
Beczak Environmental Education Center $14,648
Clifford Schneider, 35 Alexander Street, Yonkers, NY 10701
EPA Environmental River Clubs
The mission of the Beczak Environmental Education Center is to educate people about the ecology, culture, and history of the Hudson River, Saw Mill River, and the Bronx River through interactive educational experiences. One way the center is continuing its mission is by hosting EPA Environmental River Clubs, after-school environmental clubs designed to cultivate environmental stewardship among children in the Yonkers Public Schools. The Yonkers Public School system was selected as a partner because it serves a high percentage of students from low-income families who are less likely to have the opportunity to visit the Beczak facilities and participate in the activities than students from private schools and more affluent public schools. During this program, students have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities aligned with the Yonkers school district Three Rivers Curriculum. Students participate in a 90-minute weekly after-school program that gives students a sense of stewardship and civic responsibility for the rivers while supporting New York State's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education initiative.
Cornell University Cornell Lab of Ornithology $121,953
Nancy Trautman, 115 Day Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853
Collaborative Conservation Through Birds and Citizen Science
The Collaborative Conservation Through Birds and Citizen Science project seeks to train fourth- through eighth- grade teachers in collaborative, inquiry-based learning about migratory bird conservation in cities across the county. Teachers are provided with the tools and resource to engage theri students through various activities and new web-based collaborative learning tools. To accomplish these goals, the Cornell Lab collaborates with seven science education organizations across the country to provide teacher workshops and ongoing local support. This support ensures teachers have the appropriate training and resources needed to effectively incorporate classroom materials and collaborative technologies in their classroom. The project builds on existing BirdSleuth curriculum developed at the Cornell lab and develops a new BirdSleuth module entitled "Connecting through Migratory Birds." Using this module, classes focus on conservation of birds and habitat by conducting schoolyard inquiry investigations, participating in the Lab's eBird citizen science project, and communicating via the Internet with classes in other settings. During participation in eBird, students' data is put to use addressing real-world issues of local and global concern. The project's key partners are Yonkers Public School District, the Ward Museum, Sciencenter, North Florida National Refuge Complex, Saint Louis Zoo, Trinity River Audubon Center, and Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science (Petaluma, CA).
Genesee County Youth Bureau $9,843
Jocelyn Sikorski, 3837 West Main Street, Batavia, NY 14020
Enviro Champs Program
The Genesee County Youth Bureau has partnered with Genesee County Park to conduct a week-long program that is enhancing local youth's knowledge of what it means to be environmental stewards, why it is important to become a steward, and how they personally can be stewards through both immediate actions they can take and the future career choices available to them. The students selected to take part in the program are middle school students, the Genesee County Youth Bureau, and members the County Parks identified as a group that is under-served in environmental education opportunities. Each day, participants learn about a different environmental issue such as water conservation and the impact of humans on wildlife habitats. In addition to participating in activities aimed at increasing their awareness about environmental issues, students increase their knowledge of environmental careers by attending daily presentations by environmental professionals. When they have completed this program, participants are invited to practice their newly learned stewardship skills and knowledge through community projects.
Groundwork Hudson $23,746
Rick Magder, 6 Wells Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701
Integrating, Strengthening and Evaluating Science Barge Instruction
Groundwork Hudson's Science Barge is a floating educational facility on the Hudson River. Using rainwater for irrigation and powered by solar panels, wind turbines, and biodiesel, it is an environmental education resource on sustainable technology for teachers and students. This project reinforces, expands, and builds on the current 3-hour programming provided to visiting classes. The project targets two high school and two middle school classes in Yonkers schools where one-third of the students live below the poverty level. Integrating, Strengthening and Evaluating Science Barge Instruction provides three follow-up in-school sessions and gives teachers additional support materials. The classes participating in this project also identify a project to improve local sustainability in their school or neighborhood, develop a project to address that need, and carry it out. A resource center is devised providing students, teachers, and visitors with additional resource materials on sustainability.
Syracuse City School District $30,651
Michael Puntschenko, 725 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NY 13210
Addressing Climate Change
Students, teachers, administrators, and staff are involved in a program focusing on energy conservation and energy use management. Teachers take part in professional development sessions that enable them to incorporate hands-on, inquiry-based instruction on energy and the environment in science, mathematics, and language arts classroom instruction. The classes provide middle school students in seven Syracuse schools, a district where 75 percent of its student population lives in poverty, with the knowledge and skills to conduct energy audits in their buildings. The Addressing Climate Change project provides professional development for educators and addresses a community-based stewardship issue. The program increases student and community understanding of climate change, its connection to energy use, and ways to decrease the school's carbon footprint. Project based learning applied to solving energy conservation problems in their school buildings develops students' observational, analytical, and decision-making skills and is part of the district's efforts to raise local education goals.
Cornell Cooperative Extension $14,200
Anne Lenox, 6064 State Route 22, Suite 5, Pittsburgh, NY 12901
Creature Caretakers
This project supports a garden-based environmental education program in a county school using Access Nature, a standards-based National Wildlife Federation curriculum. Hands-on classroom- and garden-based activities and field trips give participants an understanding of wildlife habitats including how wildlife habitats can be cared for to prevent pollution, and how individuals can become stewards of their local wildlife's ecosystems. In addition, science teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 receive in-service training on the importance of environmental education, wildlife habitats, and landscaping to prevent pollution.
Elmsford Union Free School District $13,498
Sandra Calvi, 98 South Goodwin Avenue, Westchester, NY 10541
Education for Sustainable Living
The Elmsford Union Free School District project, Education for Sustainable Living, fosters ecological literacy and stewardship in grades kindergarten through 12. The project includes professional development for educators and age-specific hands-on activities for students. The Greenburgh Nature Center and Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) are partnering with the district to provide staff development and classroom support for educators. Junior and senior high-school earth science and living environment students focus on biodiversity and are provided hands-on activities and field work centered on developing schoolyard habitats. Also as part of this effort, the Village of Elmsford works with district schools to implement a recycling program. The overall goal is to produce a school community committed to environmental stewardship and sustainable habits.
Hudson River Park Trust $12,000
Lauren Donnelly, 353 West Steet, Pier 40, Suite 201, New York, NY 10014
Teaching the Hudson River
The Hudson River Park Trust, in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, sponsors eight 6-hour teacher workshops. Workshops use teaching materials from field-tested environmental education programs, including the Hudson River Park Estuary Initiative and Projects Learning Tree, Project Wild, and Water Education for Teachers (WET). Topics include watershed ecology, water quality, invasive species, combined sewer overflows, and water pollution. Teachers develop a better understanding of how they and their students can protect the Hudson River and the environment in general. Their understanding fosters environmental stewardship. Preparation for the annual "Day in the Life of the Hudson River Estuary" is an integral part of the workshops.
New York Restoration Project $45,500
Nik Charov, 254 West 31st Street, New York, NY 10001
Million Trees NYC Stewardship Education Program
New York Restoration Project is partnering with Million Trees New York City to deliver educational programs in elementary and middle New York schools in neighborhoods with fewer than average street trees and higher than average rates of asthma among students. The program includes classroom and field instruction, a schoolyard survey, and a greening day when students plant trees and flowers in their schoolyards. This program enables students to become the stewards of their newly developed urban green spaces. The overall goal is to combine tree planting and education to strengthen the positive health-related impact of trees in economically disadvantaged and underserved communities.
Surprise Lake Camp Teva Learning Center $22,199
Alexandra Kuperman, 307 7th Avenue, New York, NY 10001
Environmental Stewardship in Schools, Congregations, and Communities
The Teva Learning Center offers a Bring it Back to Our School program, which is being expanded to educate middle school students on ecological and environmental issues at congregations. The project is a broad environmental program where students make the commitment to become better stewards of the environment. The program includes waste reduction, energy audits, school gardens, compost bins, elimination of plastic ware and paper products from lunchrooms, and paper reduction initiatives. As students are educated on a variety of environmental issues, they are encouraged to use their knowledge at home and in their community. In addition, the school hosts three community events to help the public learn more about the environment and the community's role in keeping the environment healthy.
The River Project $10,552
Nicole Sahady, Pier 40 Houston and West Street, New York, NY 10014
New York Harbor Underwater Exploration DVD
The River Project, a marine science field station, produces a documentary about the underwater habitats and marine life of New York Harbor. The documentary provides an understanding of ecosystems that cannot otherwise be seen and the issues that face these ecosystems. It promotes a critical thinking process, taking viewers through the complex issues impacting the harbor flora and fauna. Several points of view and proposed solutions are presented, enabling viewers to think about and make their own decisions about the problems depicted. The River Project distributes this documentary by providing it in a DVD format. The DVD is widely disseminated at no cost to educators, community leaders, and other groups in the New York Harbor area. The documentary is also available on the River Project's Web site.
Town of Ithaca/Cayuga Lake Waterfront Intermunicipal Organization $14,800
William Foster, 215 North Tioga Street, Ithaca, NY 14850
Trout in the Classroom (TIC)
This project expands a successful Trout in the Classroom (TIC) pilot program to more schools near the southern end of Cayuga Lake. TIC is an environmental education program in which students raise trout from eggs in tanks and monitor the tank water quality. The program also engages students in stream habitat study efforts. As students grow to understand ecosystems, they develop a sense of stewardship for the area's streams. The program also includes (1) creation of a public event for the local community to showcase the students' experiences and (2) establishment of an online resource center for educators and volunteers.
Wildlife Conservation Society $94,963
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Online Teachers Academy for Environmental Education
In an effort to improve access to environmental education training, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is creating an on-line academy for teachers. The academy hosts college-accredited courses and a variety of free programs. The program enables WCS to provide all teachers in kindergarten through grade 12 with access to EE training and serves as a model for other environmental organizations. The academy is directed toward teachers across the U.S., with an emphasis on teachers with limited access to EE education resources. The on-line courses are designed to provide a series of recorded mini-lectures that present the formal instructional content. In addition, the courses involve a series of interactive lessons and readings that are adapted from the WCS curricular program. Teachers participate in group work and communicate with instructors through electronic bulletin boards. Before the academy is hosted on line, WCE sets up the Web site to host the on-line academy and provides potential students with background information. WCS also trains instructors of the academy in distance education design and instruction. The training provided by the academy focuses on energy, conservation, and climate change. In addition, the courses explain how teachers can effectively present ecological concepts to students and provide a balanced view of key environmental issues.
Alfred University $12,000
Michele Hluchy, 1 Saxon Drive, Alfred, NY 14802
Environmental Science Training Workshop
This Alfred University project enables undergraduate education students (pre-service teachers) and current (in-service) teachers to provide the materials and skills to teach students about the role humans play in degrading and protecting the environment. Educators (both pre- and in-service) take part in workshops to learn how to use the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program, a well-respected, scientifically oriented and environmentally focused program. Teachers and their students participate in a field day at Alfred University using the GLOBE protocols for studying soil, water, and land use with assistance from the workshop leaders. This program fosters environmental stewardship as both the current and future teachers who participate in this program implement ongoing environmental classroom and field activities.
CEC Stuyvesant Cove, Inc $10,000
Christopher Collins, 24-20 FDR Drive Service Road East, New York, NY 10010
The Green Design Lab
The Green Design Lab teaches high school students to assess energy, water, waste, and food flows in the Manhattan Comprehensive high school building. They create a detailed proposal for how to “green” the school, including a plan for capital renovations. This project uses existing curricula and resources to pioneer a new environmental educational strategy that incorporates science, art, design, community stewardship, and career development, with an emphasis on creativity, applied problem solving, and career training.
City Parks Foundation $34,200
Jessica Lerman, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Seed to Trees
City Parks Foundation works to improve New York City’s neighborhood parks by providing free, high-quality parks programs, particularly in underserved areas, that appeal to the diverse interests of New York City residents. This funded project, “Seeds to Trees,” includes classroom lessons and parkland field experiences for students and workshops and ongoing assistance throughout the school year for teachers at participating schools. Program units include forest ecology, urban wildlife and human impact, geology, decomposition and waste reduction, and water conservation. Students and educators develop the awareness, knowledge, skills, and understanding to become stewards of their local environments and urban parks.
Friends of Van Cortlandt Park $15,000
Christina Taylor, 124 Gale Place, Apt. GRA, Bronx, NY 10463
Summer Environmental Internship Program
The Friends of Van Cortlandt Park runs the Summer Environmental Internship Program for New York City high school students. The program provides hands-on summer employment within Van Cortlandt and other parks in the city. The summer environmental interns obtain first-hand experience maintaining and learning about the ecosystems in urban parks, in the process developing an understanding of the need to protect the natural environment and the ways visitors to a natural area affect its ecosystems. Students work with staff and volunteers from environmental and natural resource providers, agencies, and organizations to acquire increased knowledge of career opportunities in the environment as well as basic job skills. By working in this urban ecosystem, participants acquire environmental knowledge and skills and undertake tasks reflecting their commitment to environmental stewardship.
National Audubon Society, Inc. $120,000
Judy Braus, 700 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Climate Change "Train the Trainers" Workshop and Pilot
Under this project, the National Audubon Society helps community and educational leaders across the country acquire the knowledge, skills, and resources to educate people about climate change issues and assists in developing the skills to make decisions about reducing their carbon footprints. Audubon uses a “train–the-trainers” online conferencing workshop for individuals selected from various Audubon centers and their partner community-based organizations to enhance their knowledge about climate change and develop scientifically accurate and educationally sound programming to engage the target audiences. In the workshop, the leaders learn how to design new programs as well as components about climate change that can be embedded into courses that their organizations already offer. Workshop participants are provided with materials that can be used for local outreach and programming. After the workshop, Audubon pilots the development, implementation, and evaluation of climate change programming, with the objective of reaching new audiences and capturing best practices for dissemination among Audubon’s entire network of centers and partners. Results of this project include education leaders who are better trained and equipped to educate people across the country about what they can do to affect climate change, citizens who are more aware of how their actions affect climate change, and a model for climate change that can easily be replicated in other regions. The key partner in this project is the National Wildlife Federation, along with a variety of community-based organizations.
The Point Community Development Association $15,000
Maria Torres, 940 Garrison Avenue, Bronx, NY 10474
The Jackie and the Beanstalk Project
This program serves children in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx in New York City. It fills a need to educate fourth, fifth, and sixth graders about the environmental health issues in the South Bronx that directly affect them, especially asthma. Centered on an interactive live performance of “Jackie and the Beanstalk,” the program includes a pre-performance classroom component and a follow-up civics lesson as student learn about the factors that affect air quality. Students learn about the ways to minimize the risk of asthma (its incidence is elevated in this community) and preserve good health for themselves and their community. They discover how they can interact with members of the public, community, and government who, along with them, can take action to improve air quality. This immediate and meaningful topic promotes environmental stewardship as students take steps to improve local air quality.
Wildlive Conservation Society $19,949
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Voyage from the Sun
Voyage from the Sun is an online training course for middle school teachers in New York and across the U.S. The course focuses on the links among energy, ecology, and conservation as well as climate change. The online course is directed toward teachers across the U.S., with and emphasis on those without ready access to advance state or local education reform goals. The project promotes environmental stewardship by equipping educators with the means to teach students how use and extraction of energy-related resources affect ecosystems and effective approaches to ameliorating those impacts.
Bronx River Alliance, Inc. $19,875
Anne-Marie Runfola, One Bronx River Parkway, Bronx, NY 10462-2869
Bronx River Classroom
The Bronx River is a rich learning laboratory, providing youth and adults with a local natural area to explore and opportunities to engage in real-life environmental assessment, monitoring, and restoration projects. Through the Bronx River Classroom project (BRC), the Alliance Education Program provides teachers and community-based educators with training, curriculum consulting, lesson plans, equipment, supplies, and in-field support to help them become more aware of the local environment and understand its importance and how it can be protected. The goal is to enable educators to take the knowledge and skills gained from the BRC and use the river and its watershed as an outdoor classroom. By bringing youth to the river, educators not only give students a tangible place to learn about the environment, but also an opportunity to contribute to their community. These experiences create an aware, involved community and foster development of stewards to protect and improve the corridor and watershed.
Clearpool, Inc. $15,000
Stephanie R. Bergman, 33 Clearpool Road, Carmel, NY 10512
Dual-campus Resource Investigation for New York City Kids (DRINK) Program
The DRINK program provides opportunities for students in three partner schools to engage in experiential learning to better understand watershed issues in the greater New York City area. Students explore watershed ecology of both the local, urban environment and at a preserved 350-acre campus to discover ecological processes in these systems, learn how human impacts can affect the health of a watershed, and find out what they can do to mitigate these impacts. The DRINK curricula support the New York state and city curriculum, targeting specific key ideas and performance indicators, through hands-on, inquiry-based learning in the out of doors. Students who participate in this program increase their science achievement while they develop the knowledge, skills, and commitment to integrate an environmental ethic into their lives. Additionally, students develop skills to communicate effectively and coordinate action with others.
Groundwork Yonkers $17,878
Rick Megder, 6 Wells Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701
Eco-Awareness and Imagination in the Outdoor Classroom
Under this project, Groundwork Yonkers develop materials and train educators to use a new, comprehensive schoolyard garden with multiple learning environments. It is the first such teaching resource in Yonkers, the state’s fourth-largest city. Over the last 2 years, this organization has developed the garden at an elementary school with the largest enrollment of immigrant families. With students and volunteers, including senior citizens from the community, a blighted schoolyard is being turned into a vibrant, outdoor learning space. The project supports a local school by making the garden a true resource with teacher guides, teacher training, interpretive signs, and hands-on demonstrations. Groundwork Yonkers is adapting and synthesizing existing materials on schoolyard habitat and urban ecosystems for this purpose. Themes related to pollution reduction, ecological literacy, and natural life cycles are emphasized. Once it is established, this outdoor classroom at Fermi will become a resource for educators throughout Yonkers.
Wildlife Conservation Society $14,260
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Wild Explorations
Wild Exploration addresses the EPA goal of “educating teachers about environmental issues to improve their environmental education teaching skills.” It shows teachers how they can effectively introduce ecological concepts, with an emphasis on predator-prey relationships and reintroduction of carnivorous species; provide a balanced view of the issues involved; and capture the imagination of students, motivating them to pursue a study of the environmental sciences. The project is directed toward teachers and museum educators working in communities throughout Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana that are adjacent to the Yellowstone National Park and where the study of carnivore reintroduction is especially pertinent. A network of educators has been equipped to provide relevant environmental education, focusing on reintroduction issues for high school-level learners. The goal is a model program that could be emulated by other museums in areas where reintroduction of carnivores is being considered or has been completed. Yellowstone-area students will be prepared to participate in discussions of environmental issues related to ecology and conservation and motivated to understand how conservation efforts, including predator reintroductions, affect ecological and human-wildlife relationships.
2006 Grants
City of Kingston $10,356
Kevin Gilfeather, 467 Broadway, Kingston, NY 12401
Kingston Parks: An Outdoor Classroom
The Outdoor Classroom project provides teachers and students with a hands-on interactive approach to environmental studies by using local parks as the location for field experiences. These experiences involve local land uses, water quality of the Hudson River, and the role of communities and nature centers in protection of endangered species. The program is correlated with state core curricula. Teacher workshops prepare educators for the programs at the parks and will include pre- and post-trip materials. Students take part in field trips to the parks and participate in activities that help them understand the history and ecology of the site. This grant provides fee-free stewardship to build educational experiences to Kingston students in kindergarten through grade 12.
Long Island Regional Envirothon, Ltd. $8,801
Sharon Frost, 423 Griffing Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901
Long Island Regional Envirothon
Participation of high school students in New York’s Nassau and Suffolk Counties in an annual environmental education competition is supported through this grant. Students prepare by studying various topics and issues, such as aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and current environmental issues. They then compete by responding to questions and challenges on these environmental topics, demonstrating what they have learned. Their involvement in the program fosters interest in environmental careers and develops environmental stewardship.
Rochester Institute of Technology $13,614
Katherine Clark, 141 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623
Sustainable Product Design and Development: Initiation of a Minor Program
Rochester Institute of Technology offers a minor in sustainable product development (SPD). The SPD program teaches students to consider the complete lifecycle in product development. The program involves technically oriented students interested in the relationship among engineering, technology, and sustainability. Traditional classroom instruction, Web site development, student participation in a speaker series on environmental themes, and site visits to natural and industrial sites are included in the course. As these students learn about SPD, they understand the importance of minimizing the environmental impacts of products they will develop during their careers. They also understand how to be more responsive to human impacts on the environment, find ways to mitigate those impacts, and develop the habit of environmental stewardship.
Rocking the Boat, Inc. $35,000
Adam Green, 60 East 174th Street, Bronx, NY 10452
Rocking the Boat Education Program
Two programs focusing on the Bronx and East Rivers are conducted for high school-age students in New York City. Students in the Out-Of-School-On-Water program meet twice a week after school for a 13-week semester, and four days a week for seven weeks during the summer. Using wooden boats built by their peers, they conduct river water quality studies, including data collection, research, and physical restoration of the Bronx River. Students who participate in the Community Environmental Program also take part in a similar program during the school day. Rocking the Boat educators work with classroom teachers in the community education program to develop projects where students combine classroom learning with field experiences on the rivers. Both projects promote environmental stewardship, as students are involved in implementing conservation and restoration projects.
Trout Unlimited $15,000
Rochelle Gandour, c/o NYDEP, 59-17 Junction Boulevard, 19th Floor, Flushing, NY 11373
New York Trout in the Classroom Teacher Conferences
By raising trout and managing their in-classroom water environment, teachers and students who participate in Trout in the Classroom (TIC) learn about the importance of clean, fresh water. They also learn about the human impacts on watersheds, how water conditions affect living things and human drinking water supplies, and how to care for this vital ecosystem. This grant agreement supports three teacher conferences where educators gain the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate TIC fully into the classes. Kindergarten through grade 12 teachers are the target audience, but their students also learn how to care for the environment and develop environmental stewardship attitudes and skills.
2005 Grants
Capitol District YMCA Camp Chingachgook Outdoor Center $5,000
Brian Leibacher, 1872 Pilot Knob Road, Kattskill Bay, NY 12844
Food Source Reduction and Composting
The goal of this project is to reduce Chingachgook’s food waste, create a useful compost product, and educate participants in the annual program on the ease and benefits of Food Source Reduction and Composting. The target audiences for this project are school children, summer campers, and adults and family members from diverse backgrounds. These participants are taught about the value of waste reduction and the amount of energy that is required to produce a meal from “grow to throw.” Students and campers weigh food waste and learn to separate out composting materials. Source reduction and composting is also incorporated into Chingachgook’s free semiannual teacher training day and camp food and maintenance conferences.
Friends of Crotona Park $9,878
Rosemary Ordonez, c/o Philipps CDC, 1591 Fulton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457
Crotona Park Intern Opportunity
The Crotona Park Intern Opportunity program provides college-aged participants with useful training that prepares them for careers in the environmental field. As interns, these participants assist with education programs designed to increase environmental stewardship and appreciation of the Crotona Park in South Bronx. They achieve this goal through community environmental programs and through hands-on, inquiry-driven methods to teach park visitors, youth, and children in after-school and camp programs about freshwater lake ecology and wildlife. These programs also address other issues, such as urban ecological restoration, energy conservation, park protection, and water pollution.
Friends of Van Cortlandt Park $10,000
Christina Francis, c/o Van Cortlandt Park Golf House, Bronx, NY 10471
Environmental Internship Program
The Environmental Internship Program is intended to educate high school student interns about human health, the environment, and potential environmental careers. The interns learn through use of the local environment and ecology, hands-on activities, workshops, field trips, and guest speakers from environmental organizations. The interns then teach younger children from the Riverdale Neighborhood House after-school program and the broader community about both local and global environmental issues. This project promotes environmental stewardship by teaching students about ways they can protect human health and environment.
National Audubon Society $15,230
Andrew Mackie, 200 Trillium Lane, Albany, NY 12203
Aububon New York's For The Birds!
Audubon New York’s For The Birds! program is offered to elementary school students in New York (Utica, Syracuse, and Queens). Trained community volunteers and graduate students provide participants with hands-on studies in the surrounding natural environment, focusing on bird habitats. The goal of this program is to promote environmental stewardship by forging a connection between elementary school students and the local environment. Bird habitats are used to facilitate an understanding of how humans can improve and preserve habitats, especially in the natural environment near their homes.
Onondaga Lake Cleanup Corp $9,995
Edward M. Michaelenko, 102 West Division Street, Third Floor, Syracuse, NY 13204
Testing the Water
Testing the Water is a pilot project that incorporates basic water quality testing of local creeks as a platform for enhancing teaching skills while providing students in grades 5 and 6 an outdoor experience that integrates environmental education with New York State Intermediate Science Core Curriculum Standards in area schools. The project develops in-class teaching skills during student activities on water quality testing, aquatic food webs, and an introduction to the local watershed. School groups visit area streams during 12 field trips and learn through classroom activities. Students learn to test water quality, collect and analyze scientific data, and exercise critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Queens College (CUNY) and Research Foundation $25,000
Dr. Allen Ludman, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Flushing, NY 11367-1597
Queens College Research
The primary focus of this project is to improve the teaching abilities of kindergarten through grade 12 teachers by training them in the content and pedagogic skills needed to make the schools centers for authentic environmental research. Teachers who represent 10 Queens and 10 Bronx schools attend 5 days of workshop training, where they learn to carry out rigorous scientific protocols appropriate for their students’ developmental levels. Teachers learn to use GPS receivers, various scientific instruments and the Internet, and stimulate and maintain student inquiry.
Wildlife Conservation Society $90,771
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Project POWER (Protecting Our Wetlands with Educators and Regulators)
Building on a successful program developed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the New York Aquarium in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), Project Protecting Our Wetlands with Educators and Regulators (POWER) expands the delivery of courses focusing on conservation regulations and wetland ecology. The 1-day Tidal Wetland course is targeted at violators of New York State’s tidal wetland laws. The goal of the course is to foster an understanding of the importance of wetlands and the laws that protect them as well as to prevent repeat violations. Penalties for participating violators from the New York City area are reduced upon their completion of the Tidal Wetland course. Another goal of the project is to assist the participating state regulatory agencies and environmental education centers such as zoos, nature preserves, and aquariums in replicating the training for their organizations. Representatives of participating organizations attend a 2-day Project POWER Leadership Seminar that focuses on workshop development logistics, course content, and teaching strategies. WCS and its partners also provide technical support for the organizations that implement the internal training, including making resources available online. Key WCS partners in Project POWER include the New York Aquarium and NYSDEC.
2004 Grants
American Littoral Society $5,000
Don Riepe, 28 West 9th Road, Broad Channel, NY 11693
Junior Bay Ranger Program
The Junior Bay Ranger Program is a career development initiative for middle school students in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City. The program promotes environmental stewardship and educates the students about environmental issues related to the preservation of Jamaica Bay. The students are encouraged to explore and investigate environmental issues as well as related careers through a series of workshops, field trips, and lectures. The students gain a greater appreciation for nature while learning about potential careers in the environmental field.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation $5,000
Kirsten Munro, 1000 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11225
The Water Conservation Initiative
The Water Conservation Initiative provides assistance for development of school gardens as part of community planting projects. The long-term goal of the project is to help students and teachers in Brooklyn's underserved neighborhoods gain a greater understanding of the importance of water resources to the environment and of environmental stewardship. The focus of the project is to teach students what they can do to conserve water in their daily lives and communities. To implement this project, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Corporation (BBG) is conducting an ongoing educational initiative for young people and their teachers. BBG is producing age-appropriate materials on water conservation for 600 students and 20 teachers and is providing water conservation kits to 10 classes that choose to create school gardens. The materials and kits help to link the students with community resources that can be used to help sustain the gardens. BBG’s goal is to sustain the project beyond the grant period so that it becomes a continuing part of the organization’s educational programming.
Buffalo Society of Natural Science $20,796
Cheryl Spengler, 1020 Humboldt Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14211-1293
Authentic Learning Communities
The Authentic Learning Communities program is a partnership between the City of Buffalo School District and the Buffalo Museum of Science/Tifft Nature Preserve. This program uses the theme of natural and human communities as a unifying concept for environmental education. Combining examination of authentic specimens, research, problem-solving, and real-world experiences, the program engages students in an inquiry-based citizen science project that focuses on invasive species. The students’ environmental literacy and stewardship are developed through use of new technologies, data collection, and study of current and past ecological health issues.
City Parks Foundation $22,486
David Rivel, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Green Girls
Green Girls introduces seventh- and eighth-grade girls in East Harlem and the Bronx to career opportunities in the sciences and supports the girls’ academic achievement. The City Parks Foundation in New York City provides these middle school girls with after-school, weekend, and summer activities to promote environmental stewardship. The Green Girls program encourages the girls to consider careers in the sciences, enriches their understanding of science by introducing the girls to successful female scientists who share their knowledge and love for the field. The program also exposes them to environmental and social issues that affect their communities. The girls also become familiar with New York City’s educational resources and develop their critical-thinking, leadership, and teamwork skills.
Cornell University $21,671
Jeff Corbin, 120 Day Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853
Environmental Careers Skills Program
The Environmental Careers Skills Program focuses on ecosystem protection. This program provides college students with the skills and knowledge they need to become better environmental stewards and to explore potential environmental careers. Program participants learn about field sampling techniques, study environmental issues, are introduced to environmental career paths, and learn leadership and team-building skills that improve their ability to work with others to protect the environment. In addition, students attend a 3 to 4 day training workshop that teaches them strategies for networking with professionals and their peers.
Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies $4,600
M'Lis Bartlett, 444 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019
Environmental Science Literacy Training Project
The Friends of the High School for Environmental Studies (HSES) offers professional development programs for HSES teachers to increase their environmental literacy and understanding of environmental stewardship. These interdisciplinary programs are designed to help teachers feel comfortable in incorporating environmental issues into any subject area. HSES is implementing a project to support science literacy efforts as a means of promoting understanding of environmental issues. This project offers training to both English and science teachers through inquiry-based discussions of environmental readings that reinforce concepts taught in high school science classes.
Hofstra University $5,000
Dr. Russell Burke, 144 Hofstra University, 200 West Library Wing, Hempstead, NY 11549-1440
Hofstra University Environmental Education
Diamondback terrapins are the most abundant reptiles at Ruler's Bar Hassock in the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This project uses the ecosystem and factors that impact the interactions between the components of the ecosystem as a context in which to teach about ecosystem balance and management. The project offers the general public and high school teachers an opportunity to become involved in researching this problem. Teachers are encouraged to have their classes participate in volunteer activities around the refuge that comprise the study project. A university graduate student is coordinating volunteers to explore environmental education methods and pursue wildlife research.
Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks $74,180
Valerie Trodeau, P.O. Box 897, Tupper Lake, NY 12986
Loon Migration: Linking People and the Environment
The loon is used as an educational topic for this project because of its popularity in this region. The project teaches the public about environmental factors, such as mercury pollution and acid rain, that affect aquatic ecosystems in eastern North America. Through this project, the public gains an understanding of the links between loon breeding, migratory, and wintering areas and learns how environmental issues in one area can affect wildlife species, such as the loon, throughout their migratory range. Various delivery methods, including an interactive web site; public programs; curricula about loon natural history, loon migration, and environmental impacts on loon populations; teacher training programs; and media materials, are used to actively engage students, teachers, and the general public in the project. The audience for the project includes Adirondack Park residents, visitors, school children, and teachers as well as members of the general public along the eastern United States who live in the migratory and wintering range of Adirondack loons. Partners collaborating on the project include the Adirondack Cooperative Loon Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, BioDiversity Research Institute, Audubon Society of New York, and U.S. Geological Survey.
Oceanside School District $5,000
Ed Wilensky, 3160 Skillman Avenue, Oceanside, NY 11572
Shipboard Marine Science In-Service Teacher Course
This 30-hour, in-service course enables science teachers to improve their students’ skills in collecting ecological data and it provides teachers with materials on marine science careers for their students. The course immerses participants in maritime experiences that they share with their students. The teachers become adept and share their training in measuring water temperature, density, transparency, depth, salinity, and pH; collecting plankton samples; and conducting other data collection activities. The course includes a field trip to a marine study area in the Oceanside estuary and a working trip on a fishing vessel.
Pace University $12,095
Fred Zalcman, 78 North Broadway, E-House, White Plains, NY 10603
Power Scorecard and Education Outreach
The Power Scorecard education program, a web-based educational tool, is designed to empower consumers to buy cleaner, greener electricity supplies. Pace University, in partnership with local community organizations in Texas, conducts workshops through local roadmapping activities to make Power Scorecard educational resources available to retail electricity consumers. One purpose of the workshops is to build a network of partner organizations that will conduct grassroots education efforts to encourage consumers in their communities to purchase cleaner, greener, renewable electricity.
Prospect Park Alliance $5,000
Carol Giangreco, 95 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Midwood Green Team Project
The Prospect Park Audubon Center's Midwood Green Team Project engages 20 pre-teens in hands-on study, restoration, protection, and interpretation of Prospect Park's Midwood, a natural habitat. The project is intended to improve the development and implementation of ecological programs for underserved youth. Project participants design, produce, and install educational signage to encourage environmental stewardship among park visitors.
The Horticultural Society of New York $5,000
Jennifer Klopp, 128 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
GreenHouse/Green Team
GreenHouse/GreenTeam is a career development project that educates inmates on Riker's Island, a correctional facility, about environmental issues and stewardship. The project participants learn about the environment as they develop skills in landscape design, installation, and maintenance. The project stresses environmentally sound systems of design as it helps the inmates develop an appreciation for the natural world. The inmates work in gardens, a greenhouse carpentry shop, and a classroom on Riker's Island to gain knowledge about ecology as well as plants and animal behavior. The Horticultural Society of New York works with the inmates both while they are incarcerated and after their release to help them develop the work skills and discipline they need to find and hold permanent jobs. After their release, GreenHouse/GreenTeam participants maintain public library gardens and design and install gardens as requested by public and private customers.
Workforce Investment of Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties $5,000
Alice J. Savino, 209 Elizabeth Street, Utica, NY 13501
Workforce Investment Board Science and Technology Education Partnership
The Science and Technology Education Partnership (STEP) is an innovative pilot effort to provide hands-on, interactive environmental education for students in grades 9 through 11 who live in traditionally underserved areas of Utica, New York. The students learn about local brownfield sites and the interventions required to make the sites useful again to local communities. The program is designed to give students a sense of environmental stewardship and to assist them in their transitions from high school to college to careers. STEP supports efforts to increase the number of young people from disadvantaged families and at-risk neighborhoods who are pursuing careers in environmental science. The program provides both a summer learning experience and support during the school year to maintain students’ interest in environmental science and improve their academic achievement.
Wyckoff House & Association $12,095
Philip Forsyth, 5816 Clarendon Road, Brooklyn, NY 11203
Wyckoff Farmhouse Community Demonstration Garden
The goal of the project is to establish an organic market garden that serves as a dynamic community center for sustainable living. The garden is used to educate community members about issues associated with urban land use, food access, and the environment, with a focus on development of sustainable local food systems. Interns from local high schools and volunteers learn about sustainable organic gardening and related environmental issues. Garden staff members conduct free workshops on sustainable gardening and the environmental significance of urban agriculture that provide the participants with first-hand experience in sustainable food production.
2003 Grants
Arm-of-the-Sea Productions, Inc. $5,000
Patrick Wadden, P.O. Box 175, Malden-on-the-Hudson, NY 12453
"Thinking Like a Watershed" Arts & Ecology Workshop
"Thinking Like a Watershed" is a participatory arts and ecology workshop for students of ages 11 through 16. The project is a partnership of three community-based organizations that host summer camp programs for urban youth. This project begins by developing the students' understanding of their role in the environment. Introductory sessions focus on watersheds and how they work, including the water cycle, groundwater movement, and nonpoint source pollution. The students then use multimedia materials to create paintings, sculptures, and masks depicting community environmental concerns. The students’ creations are displayed as part of a pageant for other campers and the community. The pageant is also videotaped for viewing by future audiences.
Beczak Environmental Education Center, Inc. $4,000
Cynthia Fox, 35 Alexander Street, Yonkers, NY 10701
After School Environmental Club
The Beczak Environmental Education Center, Inc., brings children to the Hudson River to experience its beauty and learn about its history, science, and ecology. This after-school environmental club teaches students about the environment and what it means to be an environmental steward. The program targets students from the Yonkers neighborhoods with the lowest mean incomes. The fourth and fifth graders take part in interactive projects as they investigate both the river and their school environments. The students produce a poster display and a school-wide environmental improvement plan to share what they have learned with others.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden $5,000
Kirsten Munro, 100 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Sustainable Gardening - Phase II
This project is an initiative of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's (BBG) community horticulture program, "Brooklyn Greenbridge." In this project, BBG extends sustainable gardening from pilot community gardens into surrounding underserved neighborhoods in New York City's five boroughs. The project expands use of native plants, facilitates partnerships between community gardens and community-based organizations, and involves community members in the environmental issues that they face. In addition to developing the understanding and skills required to improve their neighborhoods with sustainable gardens, the project participants develop the leadership skills needed to become more effective environmental stewards and leaders in their communities.
Catskill Center for Conservation and Development $10,000
Tom Alworth, P.O. Box 504, Route 28, Arkville, NY 12406-0504
The Catskills: A Sense of Place
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development is training teachers in the Margaretville Central, Fallsburg Central, and Onteora Central School Districts to implement the lessons and activities found in five modules of "The Catskills: A Sense of Place." The modules are as follows: (1) Water Resources, (2) Geography and Geology, (3) Human History, (4) Culture and the Arts, and (5) Ecosystems. They are designed to teach students in grades 4 through 12 about the environmental and cultural assets of the Catskill region. The modules promote environmental stewardship as students learn about their watershed and the impacts that people have on watersheds and associated communities. Teachers learn how to incorporate the module lessons into their classroom curricula and correlate those lessons with New York State Learning Standards. In addition to workshops, the program provides ongoing support for the teachers.
Friends of Crotona Park $10,000
Samantha Stone, 1591 Fulton Avenue, Bronx, NY 10457
Crotona Park Watershed Public Education Campaign
This public education campaign focuses on Indian Lake in Crotona Park. The project combines a service-learning component for middle and high school students with outreach to the public. Students from the Phipps After School Program are studying lake water ecology and are conducting research on the microbiotic and macrobiotic biology of the lake and the New York City water supply system. These students also are developing a display based on their investigations for the Crotona Park Nature Center. Students from the Bronx Outreach High School are studying the New York City water supply system and are developing a display for the nature center that highlights human activities and their impacts on the watershed, Crotona Park, and the lake. The displays and other outreach materials developed by the students are used by summer camp volunteers to educate park visitors about important water issues.
Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District $4,900
Elizabeth LoGiudice, 907 Greene County Office Building, Cairo, NY 12413
Creekside Classroom Program - Phase 1
The Greene County Soil and Water Conservation District is partnering with the Catskill Middle School and the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County to design and implement an interdisciplinary program focusing on Catskill Creek. The program involves 40 teachers at the middle school. A core group of teachers and the partners are developing lesson plans based on existing environmental education resources and are correlating the plans with New York State Learning Standards. The selected lessons and activities focus on riparian buffers, water quality, and biodiversity. Teachers and students are designing and planning a creekside celebration to share what they have learned with parents and community residents.
Guilderland Central Schools $9,000
Alan Fiero, 6072 State Farm Road, Guilderland, NY 12084
Native Plant Restoration Program
The Pine Brush, an inland pine barren located near the Guilderland Central Schools, has lost significant acreage as the result of development. More than 850 students in grades 2, 7, 8, and 9 are restoring the native plant population to the Pine Brush by raising the plants in their classrooms and working in the community to place the plants in local gardens. The older students mentor the younger students and work with their teachers to increase public knowledge and understanding of the Pine Brush Preserve. The purpose of establishing native plant gardens in the community is to return native species to the Pine Brush ecosystem. Students study and survey the ecosystem to determine the progress of habitat restoration. Their written reports are submitted to the Pine Brush Preserve Commission.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. $4,874
Christopher Bowser, 112 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Teacher Training for the Urban Estuary
This project provides 35 New York City teachers with methods and materials that they can use to teach their students about environmental issues associated with New York Harbor. The project includes a workshop to introduce teachers to the Hudson River's cultural and natural history as well as the ways that people have used and impacted the river's ecosystems. The teachers explore ways to apply what they have learned to their classroom curricula. Next, teachers attend a 1-day workshop in which they participate in small-group, interactive sessions focusing on the biology, cultural history, and current environmental problems of the Hudson River. At a follow-up meeting with each teacher, project staff help to customize studies of the Hudson River for the teacher's classroom curricula. This process includes establishing correlations with the New York State Learning Standards and identifying ways to help students improve their neighborhood environments.
Old First Ward Community Association, Inc. $5,000
Laura Kelly, 62 Republic Street, Buffalo, NY 14204
Community Environmental Education Demonstration
The Community Environmental Education Demonstration project educates the children and teenagers in the traditionally underserved areas of the Old First Ward community about ecological problems such as pollution, contaminated soils, and numerous Brownfields associated with industrial development in their neighborhood. The Old First Ward Community Center is conducting workshops that include field trips to the nearby Tifft Nature Reserve, local greenhouses, grain elevators, and polluted industrial sites along the Buffalo River. The workshop participants focus on community garden projects as a means to explore various environmental practices that can improve their quality of life and lower their contribution to Buffalo River contamination.
Pace University $14,000
Fred Zalcman, 78 North Broadway, E-House, White Plains, NY 10603
The Pace Energy Project: Power Scorecard and Education Outreach
The Pace Energy Project uses the Power Scorecard educational program to provide information about the electrical power industry and to encourage people to choose safer, more environmentally sound forms of energy. This program provides the public with information about their electricity options, such as “clean, green” electricity service. The Power Scorecard is a web-accessible educational tool that local organizations can access. Pace University is holding workshops to provide organizations with the opportunity to teach the public how to use the Power Scorecard. To implement the project in New York, workshops are held to discuss environmental issues in the community and electricity resources available to consumers. The objectives of the project are to establish web pages about the Power Scorecard that are specific to New York, train members of appropriate organizations, and develop a manual of existing information to assist consumers.
South Street Seaport Museum $18,000
Yvonne Simons, 207 Front Street, New York, NY 10038
Marine Science for Visually Impaired Students
This project teaches visually impaired students in New York City about marine ecology and science. Students attend workshops aboard the South Street Seaport Museum's educational vessels, the Pioneer and Wavertree, to learn how people and pollution affect ecosystems. The sixth, seventh, and eighth graders participate in interactive learning processes and receive hands-on science instruction. As a result of the project, students develop a greater understanding of marine ecosystems and have a greater sense of stewardship. They learn problem-solving skills, analyze environmental information, study the factors involved in population growth, and are better able to draw conclusions from data. The overarching goal is to help the students become active members of their communities.
Teachers College $56,202
Michael Bitz, 525 West 120th Street, P.O. Box 139, New York, NY 10027
Alternative Pathways to Environmental Learning
The Alternative Pathways to Environmental Learning (APEL) project uses the arts as a pathway for educating inner-city students in grades 4 through 8 in New York City schools about important environmental issues affecting their communities. Direct and interactive programs for children and workshops for instructors are conducted to teach children about their environment and then design art and stories that demonstrate their understanding of environmental concerns. The stories present the information in a way that will interest other children. The materials generated are distributed in after-school programs and community outlets such as public housing developments, schools, and community centers. The partners for the APEL project are the Center for Educational Pathways and the After School Corporation.
Teatown Lake Reservations, Inc. $13,280
Gail Abrams, 1600 Spring Valley Road, Ossing, NY 10562
Teatown Lake Reservations, Inc., Water Quality Education Program
This program teaches public middle and high school students in Westchester and Putnam Counties about water quality issues associated with their local streams. The program focuses on the Croton Watershed, which provides part of New York City's water supply. Teachers learn how to collect and analyze water quality data in order to identify troubled areas. Students and teachers then visit watershed streams to gather and assess the water quality information. As students learn about the watershed, they also discover their role as environmental stewards. The program includes holding a student conference and publishing students' water quality data.
Wildlife Conservation Society $10,000
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Project Creek
Project Creek Restoration, Exploration and Education in Kings County (CREEK) is a partnership between the New York Aquarium and John Dewey High School. Project CREEK teaches students about environmental careers, environmental science concepts, marine science, tidal wetland ecology, and wildlife conservation. High school students attend a 1-day habitat restoration workshop, where they study endangered species and habitat loss in Brooklyn, New York. They study the environmental issues in Coney Island Creek. The program is geared toward a large, ethnically and socio-economically diverse school population.
2002 Grants
Adirondack Council, Boy Scouts of America $5,000
Michael R. Martin, P. O. Box 2656, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Development of Ecosystem-Based Education Modules for Residence Camp
The Adirondack Council of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) develops educational programs for summer camps. Focusing on the ecosystems of the Adirondack Mountains, the modules cover acid rain, accelerated eutrophication in lakes due to human activity, nonpoint source pollution and the impact of introducing non-native species into the Adirondack ecosystems. The modules are designed to interest girls and boys in grades 3 through 5 at BSA and Girl Scouts of the USA residence camps. The program materials encourage young campers to understand their place within ecosystems. The modules are interactive and ecosystem-based, which makes them suitable for use at most residential camps.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) $5,000
Kirsten Munro, 100 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
The Internship Initiative
The Internship Initiative expands a successful Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) program for high school and college students that increases their understanding of horticulture and introduces them to career opportunities. The initiative provides students, many from underserved communities, with a variety of intellectual resources, a positive peer environment, and caring, career-minded mentors. Interns who are Children's Garden instructors learn both gardening basics and the educational needs of youngsters. Science apprentices, who work with BBG staff mentors, use scientific methods and practices to learn more about a research topic. The school program interns rotate through BBG's education, horticulture, and library departments. Participants in the initiative are active environmental educators and learners while they explore career possibilities.
City of New York Parks and Recreation $80,000
Sara Hobel, 1234 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029
The Natural Classroom: Education Reform Using New York City Parks
The Urban Park Rangers mission is to link urban dwellers and city school children to the abundant natural world in the 28,000 acres of New York City parkland. Incorporating materials collectively called "The Natural Classroom," the project focuses on teacher workshops to train school administrators and teachers. The programs apply key environmental education concepts to an urban setting and offer students the opportunity to make scientific and environmental observations; collect, record, and analyze data; and develop conclusions about the park ecosystems. By bringing environmental education into the city’s parks, the project enables New York City schoolchildren to meet city-mandated performance standards. Key partners are the Urban Park Rangers, the City of New York Board of Education, and the National Geographic Society.
Constitution Marsh Audubon Center & Sanctuary $5,000
Eric Linc, P. O. Box 174, Cold Springs, NY 10516
Environmental Education and Steward Internship
This grant supports participation by college students in an intensive summer field ecology internship program at Constitution Marsh, a 270-acre Hudson River tidal marsh in Garrison, New York. Interns receive on-the-job training focused on developing their teaching skills, increasing their knowledge of natural history, and providing experience with day-to-day work in a wildlife sanctuary. Interns rotate through several areas of the sanctuary's operations while they learn about providing effective environmental education, perform tasks in wildlife and sanctuary management, and handle nature center administration. In addition, interns design and implement a research or education-based project during their tenure.
Council on the Environment of New York City $5,000
Michael Zamm, 51 Chambers Street - Room 228, New York, NY 10007
Training Student Organizers to Implement Energy Conservation Action Projects
Training Student Organizers is an action-oriented program that educates students about environmental issues, helps them develop citizenship skills, and provides opportunities for them to make positive contributions to the quality of life in their neighborhoods. The Council on the Environment works with the Manhattan Center for Mathematics and Science, a public high school in East Harlem, on a program involving 150 students. The students learn about energy sources; production, delivery and consumption; study strategies for conservation and alternative energy use; design classroom and school lighting conservation programs; and develop plans for strategies and projects to motivate others to play an active role in conserving energy.
Genesee Valley Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) $13,784
Robert Lynch, 27 Lackawanna Avenue, Mount Morris, NY 14510
Environmental Justice for Migrant Farmworker Students
The Geneseo Migrant Center partners with other migrant education agencies to develop a course for migrant farmworker high school students. The goal is to educate these students about the environmental health concerns that they and their families face. The environmental studies course includes topics such as pesticide use in the workplace and the health impacts of substandard housing and sanitary facilities. The project involves the development and dissemination of a portable 2-semester course for high school credit that students can pursue as their families pursue work in agriculture. The course meets state standards. Students are assisted by a cooperating teacher/mentor.
Ithaca City School District $4,992
Elizabeth Wolf, 400 Lake Street, P. O. Box 549, Ithaca, NY 14851-0549
Danby School of Agriculture and the Environment High School and Elementary Watershed Education Program
This project educates Ithaca High School and Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) high school students about watersheds and encourages them to pursue environmental careers. Students conduct a comparative study of the local watershed by studying stream chemistry and the physical components of the ecosystems, and through plant and animal identification. They conduct their studies under the guidance of Cornell University faculty, scientists, environmental business people, and professionals involved in water-related environmental fields. These high school students share their observations with students around the world through the Global Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. They also teach fourth-grade students about watersheds at a half-day workshop.
Mohonk Preserve, Inc. $20,565
Glenn D. Hoagland, P. O. Box 715, New Paltz, NY 12561
The Hudson Watershed Environmental Justice Project
The Mohonk Preserve and the Hudson Basin River Watch are working with the Youth Resources Development Corporation to address water quality and environmental justice issues with inner-city youth. The project targets seventh- and eighth-grade students from underserved communities. Program staff teach them about watershed issues in general, as well as about the importance of watersheds in the communities in which they reside. Students learn about how individual and community actions impact water quality. They investigate the water quality of a Hudson River tributary on Mohonk Preserve lands and water quality in their neighborhoods. Students gain a better understanding of the processes underlying water's movement, how pollution moves through a watershed, and how to determine stream health. The project combines in-school and field study components.
Research Foundation of the Plattsburgh State University of New York $5,000
Dr. Melinda Wu, P. O. Box 9, Albany, NY 12201
Exotic Species: What Local Governments Need to Know
The Technical Assistance Center at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Plattsburgh, New York, and the Center for Earth and Environmental Science conduct a 1-day workshop for local officials on Brownfields and exotic, non-native species. This workshop is offered to administrators in towns within the Adirondack region of New York, one of the largest tracts of wilderness in the United States. The workshop provides local officials in smaller communities with an understanding of the legal, financial, and environmental issues involved in redeveloping Brownfield sites. The workshop also focuses on the ecological consequences of, and strategies needed to deal with, exotic plant species invasion. The workshop enables administrators and managers to make informed decisions when responding to the effects of human interactions with the environment.
Research Foundation of the Plattsburgh State University of New York $5,000
Dr. Catherine Joyce, P. O. Box 9, Albany, NY 12201
Acid Rain and Exotic Species
The Center for Earth and Environmental Science, the Department of Elementary Education and the Technical Assistance Center of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Plattsburgh State are conducting a workshop on acid deposition and exotic species for junior and senior high school teachers in the Adirondack-Lake Champlain region of New York. The workshop updates regional educators on the continuing acid deposition problem in local ecosystems, helps teachers understand the nature and consequences of invasive species on ecosystems, and provides classroom activities to educate students about these environmental concerns. As a result of the workshop, participating teachers and students are better able to ascertain the consequences of these ecological challenges.
The Horticultural Society of New York $5,000
Jennifer Klopp, 128 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
GreenBranches Workshops
GreenBranches provides support for gardens at public library branches, especially those in low-income neighborhoods. The program provides the community with a green space that can be used for library programming, outdoor reading, and community networking. GreenBranches provides professional architects and designers who create a garden for the particular library branch. This project supports activities to increase neighborhood members' participation in the GreenBranches workshops. Participants learn about stewardship of the library garden and then apply what they have learned to other neighborhood environments. The workshop provides strategies to help participants practice horticulture in the large and small spaces in the city that are a part of their daily lives.
The Horticultural Society of New York $5,000
Jennifer Klopp, 128 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
GreenHouse Project
The Horticultural Society of New York is partnering with the New York City Department of Correction to work with female and male inmates at the Rikers Island correctional facility. This program includes two components: classroom sessions during which inmates learn about environmental issues, soil science and botany; and hands-on experience in horticulture and landscaping. The program also seeks to prevent recidivism by providing education and training in job-seeking and job-retention skills. These efforts have a successful track record. Recidivism for inmates in this program stands at just 6 percent compared to the average inmate rate of 65 percent. The program stresses environmentally-sound and natural systems of horticulture.
The Horticultural Society of New York $5,000
Jennifer Klopp, 128 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
Apple Seeds Teacher Training Workshops
The Apple Seed program provides hands-on environmental and horticultural workshops to teachers. Participants return to their schools equipped to conduct classroom activities that strengthen students' critical-thinking skills and self-esteem while improving their math and science literacy. Development of the Apple Seed Dozens Reference Guide, a supplement for the Apple Seed program, help teachers implement the program more effectively by providing additional teaching strategies. The reference guide is a part of the educational materials teachers learn to use as part of Apple Seed workshops.
The River Project, Inc. $5,000
Diana Dos Santos, Pier 26 North River, New York, NY 10013
Estuary Exhibit
This project educates the public about environmental issues associated with the Hudson River Park Estuarine Sanctuary and its relationship to the New York Harbor and the Hudson River Estuary. As part of its public education effort, the River Project develops an educational outreach kiosk. The materials selected provide a wide range of resources. The public has access to general information about the environment, specific materials relating to the Hudson River Estuary, government documents addressing local environmental programs, suggested activities for ways to improve the health of the estuary, and information about environmental educational resources for teachers and students.
Tompkins County Soil and Water Conservation District $2,516
Sherry Forgash, 903 Hanshaw Road, USDA Service Center, Ithaca, NY 14850
Soil & Water Quality Assessment: A High School Educational Program
This program educates high school science students and teachers on how to perform soil and water quality assessments. Workshops for teachers and students familiarize them with the background information, monitoring procedures, equipment that will be used, and techniques for monitoring and data collection and interpretation. Each school designates a monitoring team, selects sites, and develops a monitoring schedule. Stream testing takes place at locations identified by the Tompkins County Water Resources Council and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's Priority Waterbody List. Soil testing takes place at urban and rural sites. Students summarize their findings in a final report.
York College, the City University of New York (CUNY) Research Foundation $16,700
Antoinette Sumter, 94-20 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11451
York College Environmental Stewardship Academy
York College has established an Environmental Stewardship Academy to encourage minority students to pursue careers in science, math, and technology. The academy focuses on environmental science. York College recruits actively in the community to enroll 20 junior high school students in a 2-part course of study. A 6-week summer program provides the seventh- and eighth-grade students with a total immersion experience in environmental science and career exploration. During the academic year, Saturday Environmental Stewardship Academy expands on the summer program by focusing on environmental stewardship and community service. Literacy, research skills and career exploration are combined in studies of waste management, biotechnology, urban wildlife, entomology, pesticides, and asthma.
2001 Grants
Adirondack Park Institute $21,720
Linda Bennett, P. O. Box 256, Newcomb, NY 12852
Hudson Basin River Watch: Headwaters Project
The Adirondack Park Institute, which supports environmental education programs at two interpretive centers in the Adirondack Park in northern New York, works in partnership with Hudson Basin River Watch. Together, the two organizations provide workshops for elementary, middle, and high school teachers in all school districts within the Adirondack Park reaches of the Hudson River watershed. The training enables teachers to incorporate authentic field-based programming into their curricula by using students’ interest in local water quality as a starting point. In addition to the workshops, the project includes mentoring support for participating teachers. Other partners in the project are the New York State Adirondack Park Agency; school districts in the Adirondack Park area; and the Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Saratoga, and Essex County Board of Cooperative Educational Services.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden $5,000
Ellen Kirby, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
The Sustainable Garden Project: A Project of Brooklyn GreenBridge
The project, a new component of Brooklyn GreenBridge, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s community horticultural program, targets members of community organizations in Brooklyn’s low-income communities. The project teaches participants about developing abandoned sites and converting them into sustainable gardens and green spaces. The project includes on-site workshops, special plant kits, updated educational materials, and on-site support for the efforts of 12 community organizations to develop gardens. Participants who have not previously learned about environmental stewardship develop the knowledge and skills they need to restore and maintain environmental balance as they learn about native plants, water conservation, drought-tolerant gardening, and wildlife gardening.
City Parks Foundation (CPF) $5,000
Deborah Landau, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Mary Leou Excellence in Science Teaching Award
The project supports an award program for elementary school teachers in New York City. CPF solicits applications from teachers through its partnerships with the New York City Science Coordinators Network and the New York City Board of Education for awards that recognize innovative teaching about the environment. The award program, named after a long-time director of CPF, provides funds to enable recipients to purchase materials or services to support the implementation of their environmental education ideas. In addition to receiving the cash award, the teachers participate in two full-day workshops to prepare them for the following semester’s program of environmental education, enhance their teaching skills, and trouble shoot implementation of their plans. The project actively encourages the teachers to build networks with one another and to participate in professional programs and workshops.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Monroe County $22,315
Brian Eshenaur, 249 Highland Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620
Great Lawns/Great Lakes
Great Lawns/Great Lakes expands a pilot project that reaches homeowners throughout Monroe County. The project helps improve water quality by reducing fertilizer and pesticide runoff to waterways through an education program that motivates homeowners to reduce the amount of fertilizer and pesticides they apply to their lawns. In partnership with the Monroe County Department of Health and in cooperation with other Extension Service programs, Great Lawns/Great Lakes uses radio, television, and print media; community workshops; and educational programs to teach homeowners how to determine an appropriate level of fertilization that reduces their costs while improving their lawns and the environment. The program also provides education in the use of integrated pest management to eradicate pests, while reducing the amount of pesticide used. The lawn care education project is an element of a large-scale watershed plan for Lake Ontario and the Genesee River.
Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology $5,000
Michael Lenetsky, 159 Sapsucker Woods Road, Ithaca, NY 14850
Classroom Feeder Watch Workshop Leader Training
The workshop trains educators to be workshop leaders and uses an interdisciplinary curriculum and standards-based resource kit. The workshop is held at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology is a membership institution, the mission of which is to interpret and conserve the earth’s biological diversity through research, education, and citizen science focused on birds. (Project in Utah)
Immaculate Conception Environmental Club $4,800
Lisa Jacobsen, 16 North Broadway, Irvington, NY 10533
Outdoor Environmental Laboratory
Under the project, teachers and students in kindergarten through grade 8 use a natural space environment to learn about living things. Concepts drawn from the National Wildlife Federation’s Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program were used in developing the program. The project includes planning, developing, and maintaining an outdoor nature laboratory and nearby compost area as a learning center. Students work in teams and use problem-solving strategies as they create a wildlife habitat. Students also become guides for students visiting from other schools. The project conforms to state standards for mathematics, science, and technology and is designed to help students understand the value of wildlife and the importance of natural ecosystems.
Mohonk Preserve, Inc. $5,000
Glenn Hoagland, P. O. Box 715, New Paltz, NY 12561-0715
Watershed Education Program
The Mohonk Preserve, the largest non-profit, member-supported nature preserve in the state of New York, works in partnership with AmeriCorps in the mid-Hudson Valley to educate youth about watersheds. A pre-trip classroom visit by an educator is followed by a four-hour field study at the Mohonk Preserve. The classroom work focuses on water pollution, the watershed, use of water resources by humans, and the effects of human activities on those resources. The field study engages students actively in testing for water quality. Teachers use prepared materials to conduct a post-trip class that challenges students to apply what they have learned to their everyday lives. The project targets students in grades 7 and 8 in urban schools, as well as their teachers, parents, and guardians.
Museum of the Hudson Highlands $5,000
Jacqueline Grant, P. O. Box 181, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY 12520
Science Institute Audience Expansion
The Museum of the Hudson Highlands Science Institute provides professional development for teachers in kindergarten through grade 5. The purpose of the training is to enable the teachers to provide their students with environmental education experiences at outdoor sites at the museum. The project is adapted from the program pilot, with the original program revised and expanded so that teachers can use the workshop lessons at other local outdoor areas in the Hudson Highland region. Educators in schools and informal educational organizations within a 45-minute drive of the museum are the focus of the program. The expanded project provides those educators three workshops during which the newly revised and adapted lessons can be used.
New York University (NYU) School of Education $5,000
Mary Leou, Office of Sponsored Programs, 15 Washington Place, Apartment 1H, New York, NY 10012
Web Site Development for Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education
The Wallerstein Collaborative for Urban Environmental Education is developing a web site that provides resource materials and information about professional development opportunities for students and teachers in environmental education. While initially focusing on students in NYU’s pre-service teacher education and conservation programs, the program also targets educators at informal science education institutions. An effort supported by a partnership with two departments at NYU (Teaching and Leaning and Humanities and Social Sciences in the Professions), the New York City Board of Education’s Science Coordinator’s Network, and the Environmental Education Advisory Council, the collaborative’s web site disseminates quality environmental education programming to the education community.
Research Foundation, State University of New York/College at Oneonta $5,000
Tracy Allen, P. O. Box 9, Albany, NY 12202
New Island Greenway Environmental Education Project
New Island is an undeveloped 82-acre riparian lowland located along the banks of the Susquehanna River. Through the project, students of environmental science at Oneonta College are conducting a detailed study of the river’s riparian zone ecosystem, interpreting elements of the ecosystem to the public, and advising the Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway Development Committee about the biological resources available for public enjoyment. The students’ findings are delivered to the Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway Development Committee at two public meetings. Students also design ecostations for the Greenway Nature Trail.
Waterman Conservation Education Center $4,281
Eileen Shatara, 403 Hilton Road, P. O. Box 377, Apalachin, NY 13732-0377
Raptor Environmental Education Program
The Waterman Conservation Center, which serves the southern tier of New York and northern Pennsylvania, uses a resident red-tailed hawk named Redmond to teach students in kindergarten through grade 12 the importance of conservation of raptor species. Using approaches designed to develop critical-thinking skills, Waterman staff conduct classes on a range of topics to build the students’ knowledge of conservation, as the students design their own conservation projects. After learning to identify characteristics of Redmond and other raptors, students also learn the value of such birds to the environment and examine the various threats to their survival. Older students explore falconry to learn how humans have interacted with raptors. Students in all classes learn the importance of environmental conservation, both to themselves and to wildlife.
Wildlife Conservation Society/The New York Aquarium $15,017
Merryl Kafka, Boardwalk and West Eighth Street, Brooklyn, NY 11224
Project POWER: Protecting Our Wetlands with Educators and Regulators
The New York Aquarium, in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, is conducting a community education course on wetland law and ecology in each of the boroughs of New York City. The project targets adults in communities located in environmentally sensitive wetland areas. Linking the educational resources of the Wildlife Conservation Society with the technical expertise of the Department of Environmental Conservation, and combining the community outreach networks of the two organizations, Project POWER develops an innovative and collaborative workshop program designed to teach the public about wetlands and their ecology and the regulations that protect them. The project seeks to increase the number of citizens who, having gained an understanding of the nature of wetlands, will care for wetlands and prevent violations of regulations governing wetlands.
2000 Grants
Council on the Environment of New York City, Inc. $9,940
Michael Zamm, 51 Chambers Street, Room 228, New York, NY 10007
Environmental Health Education Projects in the South Bronx
The Council on the Environment, in partnership with Bronx Regional High School, educates high school students about environmental issues through its Training Student Organizers Program. The program, integrated into regular course work, moves four high school classes from an awareness of issues, through education, to action. Students work with educators to develop and conduct outreach and improvement projects that target the general public, schools, and groups in the school's community. More than 100 students are reaching out to a community that is culturally diverse and experiences a high incidence of asthma, lead poisoning, and noise-induced hearing impairment.
Guilderland Central Schools $5,000
Alan Fiero, State Farm Road, Guilderland, NY 12084
Pine Bush Project
Farnsworth Middle School is a partner with the Albany Pine Brush Preserve Commission in conducting an environmental education and ecological restoration project that focuses on the nearby Pine Brush Preserve. Students work on research projects with area scientists and, during the summer, conduct their research and share their work with the community. Students conduct workshops for teachers from the middle school's and others in neighboring school districts on such topics as ecological restoration, native plant gardening, and butterfly restoration. Students, trained as guides in the Pine Bush and the school's gardens, raise community awareness about the Pine Bush, biodiversity, and ecological restoration.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater $4,522
Chris Bowser, 112 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Discovery Watershed Initiative
The program focuses on lessons learned on shore about the effects of pollution on the entire watershed. The Hudson River Sloop Clearwater's On-land Discovery Program teaches elementary students about the beauty of the Hudson River, its diverse organisms, and the complex environmental issues that affect it. The Discovery Watershed Initiative continues to reach more than 1,000 students in grades 3 through 7. It includes a classroom visit and a shoreside field trip during which students participate in hands-on riverside investigations. The initiative expands the program by providing a follow-up classroom session to reinforce the shoreside experience, focus on the importance of river stewardship, and encourage students to think about the river and its surroundings as one entity.
North Country Workforce Partnership $99,700
Sue Fletcher, 185 Margaret Street, Plattsburgh, NY 12901
Establishment of Youth Conservation Corps
With the establishment of the Adirondack Youth Conservation Corps, crews of 14- to 17-year-olds are learning about environmental science and conservation by participating in environmental restoration projects being conducted in Adirondack Park. Drawn from four neighboring counties, selected youth are involved in such projects as restoration and maintenance of trails, reforestation, watershed restoration, and wildlife restoration and maintenance in an area affected by several recent federally designated disasters. A typical week for the crews includes two half-days a week in classrooms, one half-day on field trips, and the remaining three and one-half days at work sites in Adirondack Park. The purpose of the project is to deliver a high-quality environmental education curriculum in a real-life, problem-solving context. The youth also are exploring potential career options in the field of environmental science and conservation. Supporters of the project include the CVTEC, the Department of Environmental Conservation, the Adirondack Park Agency, the Department of Social Services, the New York State Department of Labor, and the Adirondack School to Work Partnership.
Phipps Community Development Corporation (Phipps CDC) $24,957
Adam Weinstein, West Farms, 43 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
Drew Gardens Environmental Education Project
Phipps CDC provides services to increase the educational and economic opportunities of low-income families in the Bronx. Phipps CDC, in partnership with Community School 214 and through its Early Childhood Education Center, provides professional development programming in environmental education to at least 10 pre-kindergarten through 6th-grade teachers over a six-month period. Drew Gardens, a lot bordering the Bronx River and Community School 214 that was previously strewn with debris, has been transformed as a living laboratory-garden site for teachers of approximately 200 to 300 children involved in the environmental education program. Teacher education is supplemented by instruction provided by representatives of environmental education and study centers in New York City. The Drew Gardens project enables participating teachers to incorporate environmental education into programming as they use lessons and activities to help students use math, social studies, art, reading, and writing skills in a science program focused on the environment. The environmental studies project also is correlated with the general science curriculum of the local school district.
Prospect Park Alliance, Inc. $5,000
Carl Blumenthal, 95 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Environmental Career Development for Prospect Park Youth Workers
The Prospect Park Alliance, a nonprofit partnership with New York City, continues restoring the 250-acre woodlands area in Prospect Park, a large urban park in Brooklyn. During the summer program, the alliance integrates an educational component into programming for its youth workers. Alliance staff provide on-the-job training in identification of native and invasive plants, erosion control, and techniques of horticulture. The program also includes education on environmental topics, career preparation, and field trips to New York City urban restoration sites and environmental study centers in New York City. Students have opportunities to interact with people pursuing environmental careers and to test their horticultural skills in the field.
Shenendowa Central School District $4,857
Deborah Smith, 970 Route 146, Clifton Park, NY 12065
Outdoor Environmental Laboratory and Wildlife Habitat
Gowana Middle School, part of a 12-building suburban campus, is conducting a program to use a spacious interior courtyard as an outdoor environmental teaching and learning laboratory. Using suggestions provided in the National Wildlife Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program, students are involved in the development of the outdoor environmental laboratory. All seventh-grade students use the laboratory in their life science programs. Sixth- and eighth-grade students use it for interdisciplinary programs. As students participate in developing and learning in the ecosystem, they develop an understanding of what must be done to preserve the environment.
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development, Inc. $20,430
Darlene Downing, Route 28, Arkville, NY 12406-0504
The Catskills, A Sense of Place
"The Catskills, A Sense of Place is the fifth module in The Catskill Center's comprehensive educational program about the watershed that serves local communities in upstate New York and downstate New York City (NYC). The module includes a teacher's manual, a Web site, teacher workshops, classroom visits, and field trips. The unit also provides teachers regionally relevant educational units, as required by the state. Teachers and students in the Catskill region participate in real-life educational experiences related to the complex culture, natural resources, and history of the region. Watershed institutions, educators, parents, and students engage in activities that emphasize the mutual dependency of upstate and downstate communities on natural resources and stewardship responsibilities. Partners include the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, the Youth Resources Development Council, Gilboa-Conesville Central School, and Phoenicia Elementary School.
Victor Central School $5,000
Virginia Diesenberg, District Office Building, Victor, NY 14564
Victor Environmental Education Project
The project focuses on the impact of commercial and residential development on a rural town. Students work in partnership with the Ontario County office of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the town of Victor, and a local developer and contractor. Students in environmental studies classes at Victor High School conduct research on and write environmental impact reports about properties in the town of Victor. The students develop multimedia presentations and report their findings to Victor High School economics classes; the board of supervisors of the town of Victor; and the community, which they reach through the local access cable channel.
West Harlem Environmental Action $61,628
Peggy Shepard, 271 West 125th Street, Suite 211, New York, NY 10027
Environmental Education Training for Teachers and Students
This project improves environmental health and quality of life and secures environmental justice for members of predominantly African-American and Latino communities in New York, New York. The project strengthens ongoing efforts to promote children's environmental health education by: (1) implementing in three schools in Harlem a scientifically sound, culturally sensitive educational model program to improve teaching skills, environmental health literacy, and problem-solving at the neighborhood level; (2) demonstrating the benefits of establishing collaborative partnerships with local school systems to enhance science curricula; (3) encouraging students to pursue environmental careers through a student-scientist mentorship project; and (4) sustaining those activities through several targeted strategies. Initially, train-the-trainer interactive educational sessions and teacher-student environmental field trips are being conducted for a small number of teachers, to be followed by the training of additional teachers. The teachers in turn train students at three high schools in Harlem. Partners in the project include the Harlem Center for Environmental Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Center for Environmental Health in Northern Manhattan, the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, and Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
1999 Grants
Boquet River Association $18,400
Robin Ulmer, P. O. Box 217, Government Center, Elizabethtown, NY 12932
Leaping with Salmon and Trout
This project introduces an interdisciplinary curriculum, Adopt-A-Salmon Family (AASF), in five schools in Essex County and the Lake Champlain basin. Through AASF, students study watershed issues and participate in the rearing and releasing of salmon. More than 300 students in grades 6 through 9, 11 teachers, and the general public, are the audience for student presentations. The program includes a workshop for teachers, field trips for students, electronic information packages, and Internet bulletin boards that link the schools involved in the program. The AASF curriculum is being examined to identify its correlations with standards established by the New York State Department of Education.
Brockport Central School District $4,849
Rosemary Catlin, 40 Allen Street, Brockport, NY 14420
Great Lakes Ecosystem Discovery
The Brockport Central School District is designing a high school science module to engage students in a study of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The module provides students with opportunities to use scientific methods of inquiry to increase their understanding of environmental issues related to the two Great Lakes. The module includes a component to involve parents and provide educators with a program that uses technology to advance students' learning and achievement, in accordance with national and state standards for secondary science, mathematics, and technology education programs.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden $5,000
Leslie Findlen, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Science Apprenticeship Program for High School Students
This program provides high school students in New York City with an intensive, hands-on experience working directly with scientists at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on an urban biodiversity research project, New York Metropolitan Flora. The project targets students in public schools in Brooklyn who are members of groups in the society that traditionally are underrepresented in the sciences. Students receive an in-depth introduction to careers in the sciences; develop and implement their own plant science research projects; experience first-hand learning in taxonomy, ecology, biodiversity, and conservation biology; and collect and analyze data and test computer applications.
City of New York Parks and Recreation $4,715
Linda P. Dockeray, Van Cortland/Pelham Bay Administration, One Bronx River Parkway, Bronx, NY 10462
Birds of the Bronx
A group of seventh- and eighth-grade residents of the Bronx are exploring local environments to develop an understanding of the complexities of local ecosystems and the environmental challenges that confront both humans and wildlife. Visits to natural ecosystems, as well as to those that are built, including a shopping center in a large development built on a wetland, provide an understanding of the needs of wildlife and the effects human activity can have on wild creatures. Community-based experiential education emphasizes the habitat requirements of wildlife, the effects of loss of habitat, and the complex processes involved in environmental decision making. Students apply what they have learned in the field to a research miniproject and present the results at a mock town meeting.
City Parks Foundation $5,000
Danielle Hartman, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Growing Gardens Handbook
This project takes the successful Growing Gardens program into its next phase of hands-on interdisciplinary learning based on gardening. Elementary and middle school teachers from public schools in underserved areas of the Chancellor's District of New York City participate in the program, which integrates lessons in the classroom with field experiences in gardening. The goal of the program is to improve learning and achievement among underachieving students. The program provides resources to participating teachers, helps them adapt and expand existing curricula to meet the needs of gardening programs in urban schools, and conforms to national standards for science education.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County $4,500
Frank Flavin, 125 East Main Street, University Shopping Center, Canton, NY 13617
Radio Farm
This program addresses improper disposal of agricultural waste and the environmental, economic, and health concerns that result from such disposal. Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County is producing 12 radio segments on environmental management in agriculture, each five minutes in length. The programs, produced for public service radio broadcasts, are available on CD-ROM and cassette for use in classrooms and during seminars. The programs, which target an audience of farmers in six northern counties of New York, address burning of plastic agricultural waste and other issues related to disposal practices.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation $145,500
Caroline Crumpacker, 450 West 33rd Street, New York, NY 10001
Wild TV
Wild TV is a television series of 13 half-hour segments designed to engage children 8 to 12 years old in the exploration of nature in the world around them. Wild TV takes the students straight to the environs they know best -- city streets, suburban ponds, rooftops, parking lots, and back yards -- to learn about the ecology of those environs. The process is facilitated by a teachers' guide, a docents' guide for outdoor settings, a World Wide Web component, and workshops for educators. The series explores community issues related to terrain, air, water, flora, and fauna. It will be broadcast in every state in the fall of 2000 and will be accessible to more than 95 percent of households that have television sets. It is estimated that 3.2 million children and adults will choose to watch each week, and numerous repeat broadcasts are anticipated. Outreach materials also will be distributed to thousands of young people. The entire series ultimately may be packaged for distribution to libraries, community centers, schools, and other institutions. The National Science Foundation and various nonprofit groups also are funding the project.
Institute for Economic Growth $4,995
Nick D'Alto, 94 Cove Road, Northport, NY 11768
Project RE-create
Visitors to the Project RE-create exhibit at the Long Island Children's Museum are challenged to develop strategies to reduce the effects of solid waste on Long Island, where it remains a pressing issue. Through the project, teachers and students are developing a museum exhibit program that involves exhibit visitors in hands-on experiences related to the flow of materials. Activities included in the exhibit explore the manufacture, distribution, and disposal of familiar products. As part of a professional development program, 15 teachers are involved in the development of the project. The project includes thinking stations that introduce participants to a variety of decision-making strategies as they work to solve problems in product design, recycling, and reuse.
Mahopac Central School District $5,000
Dr. Edgar Richards, 179 East Lake Boulevard, Mahopac, NY 10541
The Mahopac Middle School Nature Trail Project
This project provides professional development opportunities to enhance the scientific knowledge of teachers at Mahopac Middle School. Participants improve their ability to create instructional materials that challenge students and conform to learning standards established by New York. Development of the nature trail is one aspect of a professional development program that engages teachers in the development and assessment of curricula and projects. Students are involved in the production of a trail guide, design of a World Wide Web site, collection of species, entry of information into a database, and trail design. The partners in the project provide resources to ensure that education programs for teachers are effective and expertise in designing a site that is educational and accessible to visually impaired visitors.
Mohonk Preserve $5,000
Glenn D. Hoagland, P. O. Box 715, New Paltz, NY 12561-0715
Water Quality Awareness Program
This project, which includes studies of watershed and water table models and sampling of the Hudson River and one its tributaries, is designed to engage young people in urban centers in upstate New York in examining issues related to water quality. Students whose experience with issues related to water quality in the state's rivers has been limited, their teachers, and their parents are examining watershed and water quality issues that affect the Hudson River. Participants learn about how water moves within a watershed and through water tables and about the ways in which human activity affects water quality. Students develop hypotheses about water quality and analyze and compare monitoring data from a number of test sites to identify sources of contamination.
Pace University $4,950
Angelo Spillo, Pace University Environmental Center, 861 Bedford Road, Pleasantville, NY 10570
Watershed Awareness
The Watershed Awareness project increases participating teachers' understanding of key environmental issues, enables them to incorporate environmental education materials into their classroom programs, and improves their ability to analyze environmental issues and make informed decisions. Participants focus on water issues in a location in the Croton Reservoir watershed in which urban sprawl and heavy development have put stress on the system. The project emphasizes the development of skills that enable teachers and students to assess problems, develop solutions, and become effective environmental stewards of the watershed.
Seneca Park Zoo Society $33,470
John Scott Foster, 2222 St. Paul Street, Rochester, NY 14621
Amphibian Alert!
Extensive research over the past decade has documented some cases of catastrophic extinction of amphibian species or populations around the world. Many of those population declines are associated with non-point-source pollution, an issue that also affects the quality of human life. This project trains informal educators in zoos, museums, and nature centers and classroom teachers around the country to address the topic of declining amphibian populations and provide community members with problem-solving skills and knowledge of the steps to be taken on behalf of amphibian populations. With its partners, the Seneca Park Zoo Society is developing Amphibian Alert!, a curriculum package that provides a concise summary of the causes of declines in amphibian populations, as well as teaching strategies, activities, population assessment tools, and audiovisual materials to be used in presenting the issues to school-age children. The primary audience of the package is the 184 educators at zoos throughout the country that are accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZAA). Zoo educators have the potential to reach millions of people who visit zoos each year. Amphibian Alert! also will be made available to all informal and classroom educators who wish to incorporate the information into their educational activities.
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe $5,000
Ken Jock, Rural Route 1, Box 8A, Community Building, Hogansburg, NY 13655
Environmental Education/Solid Waste and the Pace University Energy Project
The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe, in partnership with the Pace University Energy Project, is implementing a solid waste and energy education program. Building upon previous work, the project increases the community's knowledge of proper practices in the management of solid waste and energy-efficient measures for preserving natural resources. Telecommunications, fact sheets, radio broadcasts, and 10 cartoon strips to be distributed to local newspapers form the core of the multimedia program. The project targets the Native American community of approximately 5,200 who live on the St. Regis Mohawk Indian Reserve.
Wildlife Conservation Society of New York /The New York Aquarium $22,500
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Upriver, Downriver Education Program
Two New York school communities, the Dover Union Free School District and Community School District 22 in Brooklyn, join with The New York Aquarium to study two vital wetlands: the Great Swamp (upstate in Dutchess County) and Jamaica Bay (downstate in Kings County/Brooklyn). In both communities, teachers of grades four through six participate in workshops on conservation of wetlands and peer training (which extends the program to an additional 20 to 30 teachers). Through the program, 260 students engage in field investigations and interschool exchanges, share scientific data and stories, and participate in a mentoring program with kindergarten and first-grade students. By participating in the program, students in two communities improve their understanding of their common need to practice wetland conservation.
1998 Grants
Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, Inc. $5,000
John C. Muir, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY 11215-99921
Future Teachers, Scientists, and Mathematicians -- SciMat3
The goal of the Future Teachers, Scientists, and Mathematicians -- SciMat3 program is to involve high school and elementary school students in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn in careers in science, mathematics, and teaching, with an emphasis on environmental issues. Students from two high schools study such local environmental issues as lead poisoning, soil contamination, and water quality. Those students are paired with elementary school classes for which they act as teachers and mentors for a 10-week period. The high school students give elementary students first-hand experience in examining environmental issues and meeting the challenges of mathematics and science.
Centers for Nature Education, Inc. $4,836
Wayne Gillespie, P. O. Box 133, 4007 Bishop Hill Road, Marcellus, NY 13108-0133
Teacher Environmental Workshop
During this project, a curriculum guide is used to incorporate environmental studies into classroom programming. The curriculum includes new educational tools, such as computer software and the Internet. Regional workshops are held for teachers in Syracuse and Onondaga County schools to introduce and review the curriculum and provide hands-on experience with the units. During an evaluation phase, teachers' responses to a follow-up questionnaire are used to improve the workshops and test the effectiveness of the program.
Citizens Committee for New York City $24,481
Michael E. Clark, 305 Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001
The Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute, Queens Chapter
The Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute (NELI) targets grassroots leaders of low-income communities in Queens, New York, one of the most diverse of New York City's five boroughs. More than 100 residents of those communities take part in an interactive train-the-trainer program on environmental issues and leadership and organizational development skills designed to enhance their problem-solving, critical-thinking, and decision-making skills. The program enhances the teaching skills of the informal educators, who return to their communities to provide environmental education and assistance in implementing grassroots projects.
County of Westchester $5,000
Kay Eisenman, 407 Michaelian Office Building, White Plains, NY 10601
Natural Resources Inventory
This project facilitates the development and updating of natural resource inventories (NRI) in Westchester County communities. Using the New York State Department of Conservation's Natural Resources Inventory: A Guide to the Process, the County of Westchester provides a course for environmental management councils, conservation advisory councils, county and local municipal officials, and citizens of the county. The purpose of the program is to educate the public, board members, and members of communities about the natural resources of the area by developing an NRI and using it as a resource to support decision making.
Environmental Action Coalition $5,000
Paul Berizzi, 625 Broadway, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10012
East Harlem Neighborhood Education Network
Together with neighborhood residents and classroom teachers, the Environmental Action Coalition (EAC) is implementing a community-based environmental stewardship program. Two pilot programs have been developed, one targeting youth and the other adults. Members of EAC's East Harlem Women's Environmental Leadership Program play an active role by visiting block and tenant associations, churches, and schools throughout the neighborhood to help residents of the community implement the stewardship program. Lesson plans appropriate for students in grades 4 through 6 are posted on EAC's World Wide Web site.
Hobart and William Smith Colleges $5,000
John D. Halfman, Dept. of Geoscience and Chemistry, Geneva, NY 14456
Herbicide & Pesticide Awareness in the Finger Lakes
Hobart and William Smith Colleges integrate into various environmental, geoscience, and chemistry courses field and laboratory investigations of the source, fate, and alleviation of Atrazine (a widely used herbicide) in Seneca Lake. Students determine the source and fate of the herbicide by sampling vertical and horizontal gradients in the lake and by testing targeted tributaries. For such courses as hydrogeology and organic chemistry, the colleges provide classroom and laboratory exercises that use students' findings. The findings also will be presented to local watershed associations that focus on protection and preservation of the watershed of Seneca Lake.
Hudson Valley Materials Exchange, Inc. $5,000
Sarena Marrero, 207 Milton Turnpike, Milton, NY 12547
Learning with Leftovers, an ECOrriculum of Interdisciplinary Lessons
This project examines the sources, uses, content, and fate of reusable business and industrial waste materials that are collected and made available at the Hudson Valley Materials Exchange (HVME). A curriculum and teacher training are provided for 11 schools in the Newburgh City School District. The course of study includes teaching units, evaluation tools for teachers and students, and a video tape that demonstrates the value of recycling and reuse, as well as the operations of the HVME. The lesson plans conform to New York State learning standards.
Long Island Traditions Inc. $5,000
Nancy Solomon, 619 Brooklyn Avenue, Baldwin, NY 11510
South Shore Estuary Maritime Culture
Building on a New York state mandate for education about local history, this program seeks to build stewardship among local fourth graders for the maritime community and ecosystem of the Long Island South Shore. The program includes classroom presentations by local baymen and anglers, field trips to local sites that are affected by pollution, hands-on experience at wetlands and fish habitats, and audiovisual materials for presentation in the classroom. Development of writing, oral communication, research, and analytical skills is a focus of the project. A staff-development workshop enables teachers to incorporate studies of the south shore estuary's maritime culture and lessons about the environment into science and social studies programs.
Niagara Aquarium Foundation $4,875
Nancy Chapin, 701 Whirlpool Street, Niagara Falls, NY 14301-1094
The Lower Niagara River Environmental Education Project
This project, which targets non-point-source pollution and toxic contaminants, provides students and teachers in formal and informal settings with three ways to learn about the environment of the lower Niagara River. The program includes staff development workshops, an interpretive exhibit, and hands-on activities for students. The aquarium works in partnership with Cornell University Extension's New York Sea Grant Program and the Great Lakes Program of the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo to focus on environmental education experiences for students and educators in Niagara and four adjacent counties.
Shenendehowa School District $5,000
Lenore Reber, 1581 Crescent Road, Clifton Park, NY 12065
Okte Elementary Wetland Project
In partnership with the Saratoga Lake Conservancy and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the Okte Elementary School teachers provide fourth graders with hands-on educational experiences in local wetlands. Students research and study a local wetland ecosystem, studying an assigned square-meter plot throughout the school year. Students research the flora and fauna and other characteristics of the wetland ecosystem. The students' findings are to be presented in a hyper-studio interactive program and in presentations to community groups.
The River Project $10,913
Dina Santos, Pier 26, North River, New York, NY 10013
The River Project's 1998-1999 Internship Program
Located on the North River in the borough of Manhattan, the River Project is dedicated to the protection and restoration of estuarine wildlife through research, education, and hands-on programs in urban ecology. The project establishes an improved internship program called Young of the Year. In partnership with Stuyvesant High School, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the City of New York Department of Health, the environmental organization Baykeepers, the Hudson River Park Conservancy, the High School for Environmental Studies, and the Stewardship Program of the New York City Soil and Water Conservation District, the internship program provides young people, under the supervision of environmental scientists, with field experience in the local environment through science projects focused on the waterfront habitats of Manhattan.
Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary, Inc. $5,000
Jonathan Teyan, 134 Cove Road, Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Migratory Bird Initiative
This project builds on the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary's migratory bird program and outreach to educators on Long Island and their students. By tagging and following the migration of a local osprey, students are able to track a migrating bird and participate in an international environmental research project. Staff of the Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary share their expertise with participating teachers through workshops. Students and teachers become familiar with the environmental issues associated with migratory birds in general and the tagged osprey in particular.
Wildlife Conservation Society $21,328
Lee Livney, 2300 Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10460
Promoting Environmental Education in Rural Schools
In partnership with the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), a consortium of 18 school districts in rural, underserved areas of northern New York state, the Wildlife Conservation Society provides a training program in environmental education for elementary school teachers. The program, a component of a BOCES reform effort, is designed to improve science education in the elementary schools by focusing on wildlife to promote interest among students in pursuing environmental studies. An intensive six-day seminar is followed by a technical assistance program that features Internet on-line chat rooms and bulletin boards, a toll-free consultation hotline, and newsletters to further support environmental science content, teaching methods, and peer training.
1997 Grants
Cities in Schools - New York, Inc. $5,000
Donna Goodman, c/o Metropolitan Corporative Academy, 362 Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Education Reform
This project creates a comprehensive environmental science program based on the urban ecology of Brooklyn for students at a public alternative high school in Brooklyn. The project links and expands an environmental science curriculum and a summer woodlands restoration program conducted in Brooklyn's Prospect Park. The project also meets requirements established by the state and city for science programs, gives students experience in scientific research, educates young people to value and protect public parks and woodlands, and provides an introduction to environmental careers.
City Parks Foundation $4,500
Carrie Messenger, 830 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10021
SEED: Schoolyard Environmental Education Directive
This project provides hands-on schoolyard gardens in the Chancellor's district, where a group of the lowest-performing public schools in the city is located. The premise of the program is that engaging students in a hands-on gardening program will help them become more aware of environmental issues. The gardening program also builds self-esteem, reinforces literacy education, increases literacy, helps educators improve their teaching skills, and forges special relationships with the neighboring community. For many of the students in the first targeted schools, the project provides their first opportunity to experience the natural world. The project is conducted by the City Parks Foundation under a new partnership with the New York City Board of Education.
Community Environmental Center $24,000
Richard M. Cherry, 22-09 Queens Plaza North, Long Island City, NY 11101
Preparing Youth to Create a Better Environment
This project integrates environmental education into community service projects for New York City teenagers. Supervised groups of teenagers design, implement, and evaluate community service projects focused on urban environmental health. Community workshops examine the environmental health issues that affect economically and ethnically diverse communities in Manhattan and Queens. In addition, staff of partner organizations are trained in environmental education and urban environmental issues. Partners in the project with the Community Environmental Center are the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the Jacob Riis and Grand Street settlement houses.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County $4,687
Laurel R. Gailor, Schroon River Road, HCR 02, Box 23B, Warrensburg, NY 12885-9601
Warren County Watershed Education Program
The Warren County watershed education program conducts outreach efforts and provides educational activities to improve public awareness of the importance of water quality in Warren County. The program accomplishes that objective through a two-day workshop for representatives of the lake association. The workshop focuses on the hydrology of the region and teaches strategies for fostering cooperative efforts to resolve issues that affect the watershed. Another 10 workshops are designed to provide the specific information that local government officials need to support effective decisions about such issues. In addition, county science teachers attend a one-day workshop to learn about planning issues related to the watershed. Partners in the project include the Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County, and the Warren County Water Quality Strategy Committee.
Council on the Environment, Inc. $5,000
Michael Zamm, 51 Chambers Street, Room 228, New York, NY 10007
Training Students to Organize - Academy of Environmental Science in East Harlem
The Council on the Environment educates high school and intermediate school students to organize environmental improvement projects in their schools. The council provides its Training Student Organizers program to the Academy of Environmental Sciences, a public school in East Harlem for grades 7 through 12. The project educates students and their teachers to organize projects to teach other students, parents, community leaders, and the public about the threats to human health posed by environmental pollution, especially the effects of such pollution on young people.
High School for Environmental Studies $5,000
Robert Maslow, 444 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019
High School Course in Environmental Justice and Decision Making
The High School for Environmental Studies (HSES) provides a one-year course in environmental justice to high school students. Subjects included in the course are environmental history, economics, ethics, politics, racism, decision making, urban planning, and urban design. The project also makes available a curriculum guide, a textbook, and a list of resources for the study of environmental justice and decision making, as well as an annual publication, Environmental Justice, which is written and edited by students. A network of supportive organizations and individuals outside the school serve as resources to provide insight into environmental careers, politics, and economics. Queens College is a partner in the project.
Institute of Ecosystem Studies $14,586
Martha Ched, Box R, Route 44A, Millbrook, NY 12545
Building Watershed Bridges
Building Watershed Bridges establishes a network of schools and resource partners to develop, coordinate, and sustain watershed education in the mid-Hudson Valley. The project also develops an organized and accessible clearinghouse of educational resources related to watershed issues. Resource partners provide workshops and other support for educators working to involve students in watershed stewardship projects. Students in rural, suburban, and urban schools share their experience, as well as information about issues related to the watershed, and collaborate in conducting watershed stewardship projects.
Jewish Community Center of Staten Island, Inc. $5,000
Lewis Stolzenberg, 475 Victory Blvd., Staten Island, NY 10301
Forever Green: Lessons to Live by from the Staten Island Greenbelt
Forever Green improves the environmental knowledge and teaching skills of camp staff, enabling them to understand issues related to the protection of habitat as they affect open areas and natural resources on Staten Island. More than 30 counselors learn how to integrate hands-on environmental activities into their camp programs. They also learn how to engage campers in testing of soil, water, and air quality; restoration of native plants; and nature identification games. The program is designed to improve the young people's ability to apply critical-thinking skills to issues related to the interrelationships among living things and the role of the greenbelt in the urban ecology of Staten Island. High Rock Park, a public park on the island, is a partner in the project.
Lake George Association $5,000
Mary Arthurbeebe, P. O. Box 408, Lake George, NY 12845
Reaching New Heights, Floating Classroom
This project improves a program designed to educate every seventh grader in the Lake George area in stewardship of the lake and science topics related to the lake's environment. The program, which combines on-shore learning and hands-on activities on the lake, teaches students basic limnology and gives them an understanding of the importance of the watershed that surrounds Lake George. Students learn about nutrient cycles and the oligotrophic status of the lake. Through various activities, they come to understand the role of the lake as the source of drinking water for the area and to assume stewardship for the lake. The program takes students through the learning activities during the fall, the optimum time of the year for limnological studies, and teaches the economic and ecological importance of the lake in the lives of area residents.
Nunataks, Ltd./Greenburgh Nature Center $5,000
William Lawyer, 99 Dromore Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583
Riley Pond Community Environmental Education Project
The Riley Pond Community Environmental Education Project educates members of the community of Fairview about the problems and promise of Riley Pond, a polluted natural resource in the heart of the low- to moderate-income, culturally diverse community. The project focuses on environmental justice and community education. It offers young people in the community the opportunity to learn field and classroom research techniques and skills in collection and analysis of data and fosters an intergenerational collaborative relationship between fifth- and seventh-grade students and senior citizens. If results of the community's research effort indicate that revitalization of the pond is practicable, the project will develop a plan for doing so. The Riley Pond project is a partnership effort of the Fairview-Greenburgh Community Center (FGCC) and the Greenburgh Nature Center.
Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services $5,000
Donna L. Schroeter, 200 BOCES Drive, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Environmental Education Kits
The Putnam/Northern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) provides five environmental kits, each focused on a different ecosystem and supported by a strong teacher training component. The kits include extensive instructional and educational materials and a teachers' guide that suggests activities that help students learn about the value of ecosystems, the roles humans play in bringing about change in ecosystems, and issues that affect ecosystems. An advisory committee made up of teachers, curriculum specialists, project coordinators, and a member of the staff of the project's partner organization oversees development of the kits. The kits are used by district schools and in training sessions and are distributed to teachers on request. The Center for Environmental Education is a partner in the project.
Rachel Carson Intermediate School $5,000
Lauren Gezzi, 46-2 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355
A Family Affair: A Source-Reduction Educational Program
This project uses environmental education to nurture and develop critical thinking and problem- solving skills as students, parents, and members of the community learn how to avoid toxic substances commonly found in the household. Graphs and charts support the effort to reach first-generation immigrant children and families who have poor English language skills. The families receive information about household toxins and alternative products they can choose. Cooperative learning, team teaching, and learning through drama are employed to help students discover the hazards of household toxins and develop a personal responsibility strategy.
Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History $5,000
Mark Baldwin, 311 Curtis Street, Jamestown, NY 14701
The Training Partnership Project
The Training Partnership Project provides staff development in nature and environmental education for pre-schools, child care centers, and kindergartens. The project disseminates the NaturKind training model, which features methods of teaching about the environment and nature in age-appropriate ways, through workshops for early childhood educators. The instructors in turn strive to prepare local training associates who then organize workshops for their peers. The NaturKind workshops target Headstart centers, subsidized children's centers, and state pre-school programs in northern Chautauqua and southern Erie counties. The Roger Tory Peterson Institute and Pacific Oaks College are collaborators in the project.
Seneca Nation of Indians $4,950
Lionel R. John Health Center, P. O. Box 500, Salamanca, NY 14779
Asthma Education and Prevention
The Asthma Education and Prevention Project of the Seneca Nation Health Department (SNHD) focuses on the training of health-care providers, health educators, and asthma patients and their families. The goal of the project is to increase awareness among patients and their families of effective means of preventing and managing asthma. Training in prevention and management of asthma is provided to medical staff and health-care professionals. An Asthma Education and Prevention Day at each SNHD center focuses on prevention and management, as well as issues related to indoor air quality. The SNHD maintains a referral system for arranging for the conduct of environmental assessments, as well as a resource library on the subject.
State University of New York (SUNY) at Morrisville $4,987
Douglas J. Nelson, P. O. Box 901, Morrisville, NY 13408
Developing Environmental Decision-Making Skills for Urban Youth
This project provides an environmental decision-making workshop for 9th and 10th graders from the Syracuse metropolitan area. Approximately 75 youths participate in a one-day workshop that involves them in identifying local environmental issues and the data needed to support decisions about those issues. Workshop participants demonstrate their understanding of the effects of releases of pollutants into selected environments and use the critical-thinking skills they have developed by taking part in a public meeting. The Central New York Regional Minority Access Consortium is a partner in the project with the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Agriculture and Technology at Morrisville Environmental Training Center.
Surprise Lake Camp $5,000
Adam Benderson, 50 West 17th Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10011
Camp Staff Training Program
The Camp Staff Training Program supports a camp training program for Jewish residential camps in the eastern United States. The project is designed to increase environmental expertise among counselors and nature specialists by teaching them how to conduct environmental education programs. The informal educators who staff the camps attend workshops led by experts in the field, who train the participants in delivery of programs and activities. The participants also learn to integrate environmental ethics into various aspects of camp life. They receive information about practical lessons and activities, a manual, and a song book to help them implement the programs in their camps.
The Croton Arboretum & Sanctuary, Inc. $5,000
Evelyn H. Singer, P. O. Box 631, Croton-on-Hudson, NY 10520
Environmental Education: Water Monitoring
This project, part of a more extensive effort to provide an innovative outdoor learning environment, focuses on a threatened wetland on the grounds of the arboretum. The program recruits and trains the trainers who learn the skills and knowledge needed to deliver effective educational experiences. Through training workshops and seminars, community leaders, teachers, faculty, and students learn to collect and interpret data from established sampling sites in the biologically diverse wetland. They also develop wetland education programs and train new participants as they enter the program. The project expands the arboretum's collaborative partnership with the local school district and establishes a new partnership with municipal environmental boards and commissions.
1996 Grants
Beaver Lake Nature Center $4,295
Bruce W. Stebbins, 8477 East Mud Lake Road, Baldwinsville, NY 13027
Beaver Lake Nature Center Educational Activity Guide
Funding will be used to develop the Beaver Lake Nature Center Educational Activity Guide and its related teacher workshop and to compile an environmental education reference library. The activity guide and workshop will provide teachers with activities before, during, and following visits to the 596- acre natural area that receives 400 class visits each year. The guide and workshop will increase the abilities of participating teachers to take fuller advantage of the center's diverse collection of natural resources. The reference library will provide needed environmental education resources for the local educational community.
Boys Harbor, Inc. $5,000
Dr. Robert Wallace, 1 East 104th Street, Room 578, New York, NY 10029
Environmental Education Workshops For Parents
The Environmental Education Workshops For Parents project is reaching out to the parents of the children in its East and Central Harlem community to help them learn more about their children as they discover the ways in which their lives are intertwined with the environment. This program will consist of four workshops to teach parents how their children are acquiring math, reading, and writing skills in an integrated environmental science curriculum, how urban ecology impacts their lives, the ways in which city dwellers can change their environment, and how their children use technology in the classroom. The program seeks to enlist adults in their children's efforts to become citizens who take an active role in making well-informed environmental choices.
Brooklyn Center For The Urban Environment $5,000
John C. Muir, The Tennis House, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY 11215-9992
Coming to Grips With Toxics and Water Quality on the Gowanus Canal
Coming to Grips With Toxics and Water Quality on the Gowanus Canal is bringing together the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (BCUE) with the New York City Community School District 15 and the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation to improve teaching skills and instruction. The project is focusing on environmental issues in Gowanus, an old industrialized and residential district in New York City. Impacted by pollution hazards resulting from its use for sewage and industrial waste, the Gowanus Canal will be central to BCUE's program. Teacher workshops, demonstration field-study programs, and a teacher resource package will target 25 teachers in Gowanus schools and 360 of their pupils. In addition, BCUE will reach out to the parents and local community residents through a variety of media.
Cayuga Nature Center $4,995
Janet E. Hawkes, 1420 Taughannock Boulevard, Ithaca, NY 14850
Water Quality Monitoring Network & Teacher
To preserve water quality in the Finger Lakes region by preventing nonpoint source pollution, the Water Quality Monitoring Network & Teacher project targets educators and their students in fourth through twelfth grades to raise their awareness regarding water pollution. Educators who have not previously participated in water quality monitoring will be trained to test the chemical, physical, and biological parameters of water quality. The program also will provide the training and a supportive network for central New York State teachers who are participating in water monitoring projects. It will establish a database of information gathered by new and ongoing class projects.
Columbus Elementary School $5,000
Patricia Wood, 275 Washington Avenue, New Rochelle, NY 10801
Investigating the Impact of Urban Development on Long Island Sound
This project is targeting second and fifth grade teachers and students in its multi-cultural urban population in a project to enable them to accept stewardship of Long Island Sound. Participants will receive training, develop units in English and Spanish, explore the impact of urban development on Long Island Sound, and develop bilingual, interactive environmental education exhibits and multimedia slide shows about Long Island Sound. Materials developed will be available to other New Rochelle schools. The project involves a partnership with the Norwalk Maritime Center in Connecticut.
Dutchess Community College $19,800
Dr. Arthur H. Pritchad, 53 Pendell Road, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
The Dutchess Academy for Environmental Studies
The Dutchess Academy for Environmental Studies is an alternative educational program offering a two-year occupational environmental education program for 36 Dutchess County junior and senior high school students. The project is sponsored by the Dutchess Community College and the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). After spending mornings at their schools in traditional courses, during the afternoon students will take courses at the community college's Norrie Point Environmental Site. The project will provide an educational alternative for students interested in the environment but not stimulated by traditional high school programs. The program will also provide in-service summer training and follow-up support to Dutchess County science teachers interested in infusing environmental monitoring and data collection and entry into their programs.
Homer Central School $4,901
Thaddeus Schug, 80 South West Street, Homer, NY 13077
Homer Environmental Science Program
The Homer Environmental Science Program in rural New York is targeting teachers of secondary biology, chemistry, and general science in schools which have or want to start aquatic study programs. The project is encouraging development of student-driven, open-ended laboratory studies. Four teacher workshops will train teachers in biological and chemical testing, provide instruction on the building of aquatic sampling devices and computer training, and build partnerships with regional districts for experimental aquatic studies through networking and data analysis.
Madison County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) $5,000
Michael Johnston, P. O. Box 189, Morrisville, NY 13408
The Madison County Community Water Resources Education Program
The Madison County Community Water Resources Education Program is enabling a local government unit to initiate an educational program designed to conserve natural resources and prevent nonpoint source water pollution. The program will provide participating educators with resources to study a local water issue. The program enables teachers to either avail themselves of educational support services from the county's Soil and Water Conservation District in the form of classroom visits from staff or receive support to design their own programs to study a local water resource with students.
Phipps Community Development Corporation $5,000
Andrew Hyde, 43 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
The Beacon Environmental Careers Program (BECP)
The Beacon Environmental Careers Program is a year-long initiative to provide teenagers from the South Bronx with an understanding of environmental careers and insight into the environmental conditions of their immediate community, West Farms, and the larger environmental issues of New York City. The project is incorporating pollution prevention initiatives, will educate high school students about careers as environmental professionals, and help students to understand the many-faceted environmental problems and solutions faced in the real world. Community service and outreach, career mentors, laboratory and observational activities, and workshops and meetings with professionals in the field will give young people background and experience with environmental issues and solutions.
Schenectady County Community College $4,979
Edward S. Baker, 78 Washington Avenue, Schenectady, NY 12305
Environmental Science Teacher In-Service Institute
Schenectady County Community College will work with Capital Region Maritime Center and the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to produce a three-week Environmental Science Teacher In-Service Institute for regional educators of sixth through twelfth grades. The program will be fieldwork-based to assist teachers in development of classroom activities from existing environmental science curricula which pertain to local watershed issues and which are consistent with curricula approved by the state Board of Regents. The program will assist teachers in evaluating sites for field trips to develop students critical thinking skills and host a networking conference to enable participants to share their successes in integrating local watershed issues into environmental science curricula.
Schoharie County School Soil and Water Conservation District $4,930
Brenda Weaver, 41 S. Grand Street, Cobleskill, NY 12043
Septic Systems and Nonpoint Source Pollution Education Program
Students and teachers in fourth through sixth grades in six county school districts are the primary focus of the Septic Systems and Nonpoint Source Pollution Education Program. The goal of the program is educating county residents about the significance of septic systems in nonpoint source water pollution. Objectives are to help residents understand the nature of the karst topography of the region, home septic systems and their connection with water quality protection, and principles of water conservation. The program will combine school programs with educational outreach to community groups and local government, encouraging all participants to take action to prevent drinking water contamination through septic system care.
Shoreham-Wading River Central School District $4,986
Dr. Margaret Conover, Route 25A, Shoreham, NY 11786
Learning To Live In The Long Island Pine Barrens Science Museum
The Learning To Live In The Long Island Pine Barrens Science Museum project is enabling educators of fourth through seventh grades to use educational materials concerning the Long Island Pine Barrens, an ecosystem which lies atop a glacial aquifer upon which the drinking water of Long Island is dependent. Teachers are becoming familiar with existing curricula, being provided with opportunities to develop field skills, and are supported in efforts to create a school ground field study site. A program of workshops, field trips, and in-school consultations with a naturalist will enable participants to conduct a week-long interdisciplinary pine barrens unit for their classes. An understanding of the roles played by development, fire, and water in the pine barrens will enable students to make more informed decisions about this ecosystem.
St. Regis Mohawk Tribe $5,000
Ken Jack, RR1 Box 8A, Community Building, Hogansburg, NY 13655
Indoor Air Quality Awareness Program
The St. Regis Tribe's Indoor Air Quality Awareness Program is providing oversight in the development and organization of a series of seminars focusing on indoor air quality and especially its presence in homes on the Saint Regis Mohawk Reservation. The seminars will draw on the expertise of environmental professionals. Radon, environmental tobacco smoke, biological contaminants, combustion heating appliances, household products, formaldehyde, pesticides, asbestos, and lead will be the topics of the seminar. Health effects will be a focus, as well as low cost technology, prevention, and control methods. Available government and institutional resources will be identified and the ability to assist individuals with problems will be explored. The goal is for seminar participants to acquire the skills to resolve indoor air quality problems on their own and understand what actions others can take to assist them.
Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary $4,955
Mary E. Richard, 134 Cove Road, Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Teacher Education Workshops and Environmental Teaching Kits
A combination of teacher education workshops and environmental teaching kits will be offered to educators on New York's Long Island enabling them to bring important local environmental issues to their students. Workshops and kits will include such topics as: pine barrens and groundwater, migratory birds, solid waste, Long Island Sound, and endangered species. Each of these topics has specific critical importance for Long Island residents. The workshops will show educators how to incorporate materials into classroom curricula; the kits will provide all materials needed to involve students in these areas of concern.
1995 Grants
Central Park Conservancy $5,000
J. Lennox Hannan, 10 Columbus Circle, Suite 2155, New York, NY 10019
City Naturalists Institute
The City Naturalists Institute will reach 60 early childhood educators in two, five-day sessions. Institute participants will receive training in using New York City parks as a resource for environmental education and develop original curricula incorporating outdoor activities. A resource manual and curriculum resource guide will assist educators in their efforts to reach young children. This series of sessions will also focus on incorporating environmental education into early childhood language arts.
Chenango County Environmental Management Council $4,400
Cassie Stevenson-Rose, 5 Court Street, Norwich, NY 13815
Lead Paint Abatement Program
The Chenango County Environmental Management Council, whose members are appointed, unpaid volunteers, proposes to educate Chenango County residents about lead. The program will include public service announcements, printed materials, seminars, school education projects, and presentations to local organizations. The education program will include discussions of the health hazards of lead paint, testing, short-term and permanent abatement measures, disposal, local government contacts, and legal implications for homeowners and landlords.
Citizens Committee for New York City, Inc. $148,000
Michael E. Clark, 305 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001
Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute
This project will expand an existing program which trains grassroots neighborhood leaders to work within their communities to reduce the number of New York City residents exposed to harmful environmental pollutants (for example, air and water pollution, lead poisoning, and hazardous wastes). The "Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute" will train more than 700 grassroots neighborhood leaders from low-income and minority neighborhoods throughout New York City, the vast majority of who are Latino, African-American, and Asian, through various leadership and environmental workshops. The expanded program includes new workshops on collaborative environmental problem-solving and environmental equity, and will reach out to residents of the Bronx and Queens for the first time. The project continues to be developed in partnership with the City University of New York and various environmental and community organizations and local government agencies.
City of Syracuse $5,000
Linda DeFrancisco, 419 City Hall, Syracuse, NY 13202
Syracuse Environmental Education Program
The City of Syracuse Department of Parks, Recreation, and Youth Programs; the Syracuse City School District; Year Round Syracuse; and the Alternatives for Reaching Independence Through Services and Engineering (ARISE) group will develop materials using Elmwood Park as a resource for environmental education. Project participants will improve environmental aspects of the park, take students on walking tours, inform the public about the environmental education program, and assist in maximizing accessibility including production of Braille materials. The program is directed towards students from kindergarten through 6th grade also will be made available in several translations reflecting the diversity of this urban population.
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County $5,000
John Scotti, 39 Sound Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901
Long Island Marine Environment-Peconic Bay Estuary Primer
Filling an existing gap in environmental education materials for school-aged children, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County will develop a curriculum and supportive educational resources entitled Long Island Marine Environment-Peconic Bay Estuary Primer. In addition to the curriculum development, the program objectives include involving students in community projects and recreational activities, conducting teacher training workshops, and establishing a resource education team responsible for coordinating the overall program. The Peconic Bay Estuary System has been included in the National Estuary Program since 1992.
Dutchess County Cornell Cooperative Extension; Dutchess County Environmental Management Council (EMC), $5,000
Barbara Kendall, Route 44, Box 259, Millbrook, NY 12545
Waste Prevention Program for Dutchess County
The Waste Prevention Program for Dutchess County will involve the community, educate the public, and undertake problem solving activities. The project will address the twofold problem of waste quantity and waste toxicity in Dutchess County. The project addresses problems posed by the cost of disposing of ash from a county resource recovery facility. The Environmental Management Council proposes to target residential and business communities and government officials to encourage the removal of materials from the waste stream which produce high levels of lead and cadmium. The project would also create models of waste prevention for businesses, institutions, and governments to demonstrate the benefit of waste prevention. Small business and consumer workshops in conjunction with a range of educational materials will be used.
Genesee Valley BOCESBoard of Cooperative Educational Services) $4,955
JoAnn Schlachter, 27 Lackawanna Avenue, Mt. Morris, NY 14510
The Earthling
Children in kindergarten through 3rd grade are the target audience for The Earthling Environmental Literacy Program. The centerpiece of the program is a live performance by The Earthling, symbolizing the environment in a way in which young people can relate. Children participate in an interactive performance in which they learn about pollution prevention. Follow-up materials for school and home reinforce the lessons learned. The program channels youthful willingness to help the environment into a foundation of positive and thoughtful environment attitudes.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. $5,000
Kate Mitchell, 112 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
The Hudson River: An Environment for Learning
Clearwater will offer an accredited course in environmental education methods for educators through the State University of New York at New Paltz. Clearwater's goal is to institutionalize Hudson River studies as part of the regional school curriculum. The six-week course will be held at Clearwater's riverfront education center with an intensive three day session on board the sloop, Clearwater. It will build on previously developed curricular materials and workshops. The program aims to enable participating educators to incorporate Hudson River estuary issues into existing curricula or initiate experiential Hudson River classwork for students.
Institute for Economic Growth Local Development Corporation $5,000
Carol Lutker, 94 Cove Road, Northport, NY 11768
Environment Values and Decision Making for Homeowners
The Institute for Economic Growth's target audience for this project is Long Island, New York homeowners considering remodeling. The objective is to help homeowners consider the environmental impact of their remodeling plans and to make home improvement decisions which both provide energy and resource savings while improving the quality of life within the home. The institute will conduct interactive workshops and provide individual advisement at the Home Improvement and Energy Expo at the Nassau Coliseum.
Long Island Pine Barrens Society $4,935
Richard Amper, P. O. Box 429, Manorville, NY 11949
Executive Director, Considering Remodeling-Pine Barrens Curriculum and Resource Guide
The Long Island Pine Barrens Society seeks to educate Long Island teachers about the newly-designated Pine Barrens State Preserve. The society seeks to educate teachers on the critical drinking water and habitat resources of the Pine Barrens and supply them with materials on this eco-system. The program will cover the hydrological and ecological importance of the Pine Barrens, highlight the role citizen action has played in preservation, and present the new management plan governing acquisition. Materials will be provided to every Long Island district and school.
Montgomery County Water Quality Committee $1,500
Thomas Bielli, 4001 State Highway 5 South, Fultonville, NY 12072-1721
Teacher Training Workshop: Local Water Quality Issues
The Montgomery County Water Quality Committee will hold workshops for 5th grade teachers from the six county school districts. In order to assist them in incorporating water resources related issues into their lesson plans, the program will use a surface water and groundwater model and develop lessons which address county-specific issues. Workshops will be held to train educators in both the lessons and use of the model and make the model available to educators to teach water-related issues.
Museum of the Hudson Highlands $5,000
Charles I. Keene, The Boulevard, Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY 12520
Water Education Program for Middle Schools
The Museum of the Hudson Highlands proposes to implement a project to revise and demonstrate a secondary school water education program on wetlands, water quality, and groundwater. Local information and examples will be the basis of illustrating general concepts. Educators will provide input on the educational materials to focus the materials and design appropriate evaluation materials. The materials will be piloted in the classroom. The program itself will become part of the museum's series of hands-on, interpretive classes provided to the school districts.
New York City High School for Environmental Studies $5,000
Alex Corbluth, 444 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019
Principal, Development of the First High School Environmental Law Course
The purpose of this project is to promote environmental education by developing, in cooperation with the New York State Board of Regents and other appropriate organizations, the first environmental law course designed to culminate with a New York State Regents Exam. The development of a Regents Environmental Elective will promote the inclusion of environmental studies in the course of study for students working towards a New York State (NYS) Regents diploma. The course would also increase the likelihood that schools across the state would offer an environmental elective. The initial target audience will be the juniors and seniors at the New York City High School of Environmental Studies (NYC HSES). The NYC HSES will work with the NYS Board of Regents, NYS and Pace University Environmental Law Center.
New York City High School for Environmental Studies $5,000
Alex Corbluth, 444 W. 56th Street, New York, NY 10019
Principal, An On-Site/On-Line Teacher Training Program
The New York City High School for Environmental Studies (NYC HSES) will implement a training program for educators in New York State interested in teaching a comprehensive course in environmental science. The training program will consist of a two-day workshop at NYC HSES and a permanent "Online Conference" on Econet or Nysernet. The course curriculum models current research on effective teaching and curriculum planning. The online component allows teachers to maintain a dialogue about curricular and instructional strategies after the workshop is conducted.
Patchogue-Medford School District $4,896
Susan Kahl, 241 South Ocean Avenue, Patchogue, NY 11772
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Teaching Water Conservation and Preservation
This project will develop an ongoing program for middle school students to increase their understanding of Long Island water resources. Objectives of the project include: modification of existing curricula to provide an ongoing, interdisciplinary investigation of Long Island water issues, development of an understanding of attitudes towards environmental issues and historical changes beginning with Native American studies, and empowering students to take action to change practices related to water conservation and preservation.
Schoharie County Soil and Water Conservation District $4,910
Brenda Weaver, 41 S. Grand Street, Cobleskill, NY 12043
Nonpoint Source Pollution Education Program
The purpose of this project is to increase the understanding of nonpoint source pollution problems and introduce students and the public to methods which can prevent these problems in Schoharie County. The project is aimed at 4th through 6th grade students and teachers in six school districts, and youth, adult, and community organizations. Participants will learn how nonpoint sources of pollution affect water quality, practices that cause pollution, and ways to prevent this pollution.
The Catskill Center for Conservation and Development $6,720
Janet Crawshaw, Route 28, Arkville, NY 12406
Catskill Water Resource Protection
The grantee will revise and expand curricular materials of the Streamwatch Program, a water quality education and stream monitoring program involving students in grades 4 through 6, their teachers, and community volunteers. Participants become actively engaged in the program through teacher training workshops and student field experience. Environmental groups and New York State and City watershed protection agencies will be partners in this effort to expand a successful program into a five-county area. Training workshops will be held for teachers and volunteers.
Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary $5,000
Mary E. Richard, 134 Cove Road, Oyster Bay, Nassau, NY 11771
International Program with Mexican Students
The Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary will cooperate with the El Secreto del Boque in Santa Rosa, Mexico to increase awareness of declining populations of neotropical birds in Oyster Bay, New York and Santa Rosa. The project will motivate students to take action to solve problems facing these migratory birds. Students in both the U.S. and Mexico will be encouraged to examine the causes and effects of species loss at locations in both countries. Students will generate local solutions to habitat loss issues.
Ulster County BOCES $5,000
Donna J. Moss, 175 Route 32 North, New Paltz, NY 12561
Ulster Board of Cooperative Educational Services Underwater Simulation Planning Project
This program will build on existing curricula for grades 6 through 8 in the Ulster County BOCES and mid-Hudson region. This project will involve development of an environmental education program using telecommunication and underwater simulations. The redesigned program will complement the New York State curriculum Framework for Math, Science and Technology. Using a mobile underwater simulation vehicle, students will learn about Hudson River issues and develop inquiries and solutions drawing upon the science and math skills.
Village of Williamsville $5,000
Teressa Cummins, 5565 Main Street, P. O. Box 1557, Williamsville, NY 14221
Exploration for Grades K-5: Teacher Training
The Village of Williamsville will develop and implement an environmental education program at the Noll Nature Center to improve educators' abilities to teach about the environment and provide training to elementary school educators at Elliott Creek about pond and creek life and the effects of pollution. Four workshops will be conducted for teachers to learn about pond and creek habitats and the effects of human population on habitats and wetlands. Educators will receive training and materials that also enable them to use the habitats and learning laboratories.
Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District $4,600
Dave Wick, 51 Elm Street, Warrensburg, NY 12885
Warren County Water Quality Education Project
The Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Warren County will implement an educational program to raise public awareness about issues related to the ground and surface waters of Warren County. Ground and surface water flow models will be used by an intern working with county students and teachers. The adult population also will be reached through presentations at functions and meetings of appropriate organizations such as planning boards, lake association events, and educational workshops. Emphasis will be placed on prevention of water pollution. The long-term effects should include improved decision making on land use.
1994 Grants
American Lung Association of Nassau-Suffolk $13,200
Madelon Goldberg Givant, Program Department, 214 Marcus Blvd., Hauppauge, NY 11788
Future Workers' Education Project
This project will provide educator workshops for school personnel working with students in occupational education classes in public and private educational institutions in Nassau and Suffolk Counties. The Future Workers' Education Project provides young people and adults entering the work place with the knowledge, skill, and understanding that will enable them to minimize exposure to lung hazards.
Bronx High School Science Foundation, Inc. $20,500
75 West 205th Street, Bronx, NY 10468
Ecology Training Institute
The summer Ecology Training Institute will use the Inwood Hill Park Spartina marsh and Van Cortlandt Park freshwater wetlands as urban habitat themes. New York City(NYC) teachers will receive training on how to design and disseminate NYC-based aquatic ecology lessons and use the parks as outdoor laboratories. This project will establish an Ecology Resource Center for middle school teachers at the Bronx High School of Science.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden $5,000
Ann T. Schwartz, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11220
Brooklyn GreenBridge
This grant will support the pilot phase of a community environmental education program, "Brooklyn GreenBridge." Using gardens as an educational vehicle to create stronger communities also enhances the quality of the local environment. Brooklyn GreenBridge targets school groups in under served urban neighborhoods, bringing them together with community educators to create teaching gardens in vacant lots.
City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation $5,000
Alexander R. Brash, Urban Park Rangers, 1234 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029
Teacher's Guide for the Urban Forest Ecology Center
For this project, a teacher's guide for the Urban Forest Ecology Center and surrounding Van Cortlandt Park will be developed enabling educators to use the park to teach urban forestry and restoration ecology. The guide will support teacher efforts to continue their involvement with restoration of urban natural areas. This model program seeks to draw a more diverse population to conservation-related careers.
Cornell Cooperative Extension $5,000
Ann Herriott, Environmental Issue Team, East Kirkbride Road, P. O. Box 1000, Thiells, NY 10984
Home Composting
This project will educate the community about the environment and encourage citizens, through hands-on learning, to take responsibility for processing most of their yard and food waste through home composting. The project promises to be a model for Rockland County and seeks to demonstrate the economic and horticultural benefits of home composting in a community venture.
Cornell University, Institute on Science and Environment for Teachers $4,873
Arlene Hansen, Office of Sponsored Programs, 120 Day Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853
Aquatic Research Projects and Training
This funding will extend the resources of the Institute of Science and Environment for Teachers by focusing on experimental aquatic research projects and offering regional training workshops, equipment loans, and ongoing support on a computer network. The project supports the teaching of aquatic environmental science using open-ended, student-generated, original empirical research.
Earth Day New York $5,000
Pamela Lippe, 10 East 39th St., Suite 601, New York, NY 10016
Earth Day Education Program
"The Earth Day Education Program" proposes to build a distribution network to disseminate existing curricula and teaching guides and make them available directly to schools at every grade level, in every school, in every state, impacting students across all social and ethnic lines. The program will establish partnerships between schools through a network of Earth Day coordinators, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector. By motivating and instilling an environmental ethic in children, the general public will reap the rewards of their enlightened environmental consciousness in the years ahead.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation $100,000
Rose Tatlow, Foundation and Government Underwriting, Educational Broadcasting Corp., 356 West 58th Street, New York, NY 10019
Nature Trail
"Nature Trail" is a 13-week television series that will appear in 30-minute increments and will educate children about their everyday natural world. The program will demonstrate to young people that they do not need go outside of their immediate environment to experience nature; they can learn about the importance of protecting the environment from suburban backyards, city streets, neighborhood streams, and urban parks. Educational materials will be developed with the series to be disseminated to schools and environmental education organizations.
Friends of the Anderson Program, Inc. $4,974
Helen Krasnow, The Anderson Program at P.S. 9, 100 West 84th Street, New York, NY 10024
Anderson Program
The Anderson Program serves inner city, culturally-diverse, gifted students. The project focuses on wetlands and wetland preservation in and around the Metropolitan New York area. Students do field work including research, observation, and comparison at various estuarine sites. A major aspect of this project involves 4th graders working with kindergarten students cooperatively and as mentors.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc. $5,000
Kate Mitchell, 112 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
Clearwater's Teacher Training Workshops
The overall purpose of the Clearwater's Teacher Training Workshops project is to promote a sense of stewardship of the Hudson River and other waterways. Using A Hudson River Primer, created for workshop use, in partnership with Scenic Hudson, the project will reach educators in the Hudson Valley to improve their understanding of and access to riverfront ecology.
Niagara Falls City School District $5,000
Cynthia A. Bianco, 607 Walnut Avenue, Niagara Falls, NY 14301
Paddle to the Sea: A Great Lakes Journey
The "Paddle to the Sea: A Great Lakes Journey" project is designed to stimulate interdisciplinary environmental education regarding pollution in the Great Lakes using technology and the Internet system. Specific objectives include development of interdisciplinary units for grades 6 through 8. The units will contain techniques for developing projects for each grade and include ways in which teachers can assess performance. The project will train educators in telecommunications and seeks to improve student problem solving strategies and thinking skills.
NYC Board of Education, Community School District 19 $4,892
Anthony DeLucia, 557 Pennsylvania Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11207
Project ECOLE Plus
"Project ECOLE Plus" expands an environmental education apprenticeship for teams of regular and special education classroom teachers. The aspect of the program this grant will fund will develop skills and knowledge teachers need to apply from ECOLE field experiences. Workshops will combine classroom instruction with field experiences for teachers in the East New York section of Brooklyn.
NYC Board of Education, Community School District 75 $5,000
Susan Erber, P.S. 233, Blue Mini Building, 204 Street and 109 Avenue, Hollis, NY 11412
Environmental Recycling for Multiple Handicapped Students
"Environmental Recycling for Multiple Handicapped Students" is an educational program promoting re-utilization of waste materials from school meals at this school that serves 260 severely handicapped students, ages 5 to 21 years. An objective of the program is the development of students' environmental and recycling awareness and skills, such as packaging materials that are taken to recyclers and composting organic waste in the school garden.
Okeanos Ocean Research Foundation, Inc. $4,800
Samuel S. Sadove, 278 East Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays, NY 11946
Marine Ecosystems
This project will provide multi-media, multi-subject programming using current teaching techniques. Concentrating on marine mammal and turtle populations and their ecology in the New York region, materials and activities will be combined with visuals to educate students in grades 4 through 12. The project will investigate how human activities have impacted the marine ecosystem.
Orleans-Niagara Board of Cooperative Educational Services $5,000
Jean K. O'Connell, 4232 Shelby Basin Road, Medina, NY 14103
The Many Fa(u)cets of Water
Four school districts, Lewiston Porter Central, Niagara Falls City, Niagara Wheatfield Central, and Wilson Central, will participate in "The Many Fa(u)cets of Water." This program will educate students about the area's water resources, including nearby Lake Ontario and the Niagara River. In-service workshops and field trips will enable teams of teachers to develop a course of study for use in area classrooms.
Public Policy and Education Fund of New York $5,000
John Stouffer, 94 Central Avenue, Albany, NY 12206
Waste Prevention and Recycling Curriculum
This project will result in the development and publication of a waste prevention and recycling curriculum for public housing projects. Employing participatory educational techniques, the project will identify attitudes towards solid waste issues, test existing materials for suitability, and develop workshops to enable peer educators to work with residents of public housing units.
Rome Teacher Resource Center $4,950
Louis V. Campola, Marine Midland Bank Building, 199 Liberty Plaza, Rome, NY 13440
Open Space, Defining-Assessing-Deciding
The "Open Space, Defining-Assessing-Deciding" project will stress the profound impact current decisions on open space have on the future. The project will involve designing a course to teach open space use principles, present the course to key representatives of the community, and disseminate programs and activities to interested groups. Community representatives will include those from education, business, industry, local government, and special interest groups.
Wave Hill, Inc. $5,000
Marilyn Oser, 675 West 252 Street, Bronx, NY 10471
Wave Hill Project
The Wave Hill project seeks to develop a kit for use by visiting elementary school teachers. Wave Hill educators will work with teachers from New York City School District 11, the Bronx, to develop kits containing materials and instructions. By enabling teachers to bring their own classes through this outdoor learning facility, and not requiring a Wave Hill leader, this outdoor facility becomes more accessible to more students who can benefit from the outdoor educational experiences.
1993 Grants
Audubon Society of New York State, Inc. $4,600
Jean T. Mackay, 131 Rarick Road, Selkirk, NY 12158
Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Schools
The "Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Schools" project integrates conservation practices, habitat enhancement, and environmental education. Teachers, students, and members of the local community will be involved in projects that create sanctuaries for wildlife on school property. As they examine their schools and lives, students will explore ways to enhance wildlife habitats, conserve natural resources, and act on their decisions.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden $5,000
Yvonne Presha, 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG)
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) project will expand its successful "Project Green Reach" to four under-served high schools with a special emphasis on attracting minority and female students to careers in the environment. The project will involve 200 students and eight teachers featuring teacher training, classroom instruction, a workshop, and a tour at BBG and greening projects in the students' communities.
Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment $18,400
John C. Muir, The Tennis House, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY 11215-9992
Environmental Education Teacher Training and Class Field Study Subsidy Program
The "Environmental Education Teacher Training and Class Field Study Subsidy Program" will bring together young children, their teachers, and parents as they explore and enjoy water in the urban environment. Teacher and parent workshops, Environmental Family Days in Prospect Park, and a field study program for early childhood classes expect to reach more than 3,000 participants.
Central Park Conservancy $5,000
Cheryl Best, The Arsenal, 830 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10021
City Naturalists: An Environmental Studies Program for Early Childhood Teachers
The "City Naturalists: An Environmental Studies Program for Early Childhood Teachers" provides preschool through 3rd grade educators with training in science, natural systems, and the environment. Utilization of city parks as environmental science resources will be an integral part of this project which seeks to reinforce the natural curiosity of children with appropriate environmental studies.
Citizens Committee for New York City, Inc. $130,000
Michael Clark, 3 West 29th Street, New York, NY 10001
Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute
The "Neighborhood Environmental Leadership Institute" project will train more than 450 neighborhood leaders from low-income minority neighborhoods throughout New York City to reduce exposure to water and air pollution, lead poisoning, and hazardous wastes. The program includes leadership and environmental workshops for community leaders and the development and distribution of organizing kits for neighborhood groups. It develops a partnership with the City University of New York and the Urban Fellows Program.
City of New York Department of Parks and Recreation $5,000
Alexander R. Brash, 1234 Fifth Avenue, Room 114, New York, NY 10029
Parklands Partnership
The Parklands Partnership is a forest project in an urban environment. Young people and their teachers learn how to care for the forests in their local parklands. This grant will provide for development of a teacher guide to provide additional activities and support teachers who wish to remain involved in restoration projects.
Columbia-Greene Community College $5,000
Ronald S. Payson, Box 1000, Hudson, NY 12534-0327
Habitats of the Hudson River
This project will involve a wide audience in on-site work at local habitats and the Hudson River. Teachers, students, and the general public in these two rural counties will participate in a number of educational field experiences to develop an awareness of ecosystem management and the interconnected nature of the estuarine environment.
Community School District 4 $5,000
Camille Aromando, 319 East 117 Street, New York, NY 10035
Early Childhood Environmental Studies Curriculum Design and Development
The "Early Childhood Environmental Studies Curriculum Design and Development" project will be undertaken by this school district located in East Harlem. The project will develop an early childhood curriculum framework taking full advantage of nearby Central Park as a classroom and laboratory. Students will acquire knowledge of the effects of human choices as they relate to the environment.
Cortland Enlarged School District $12,450
Per Omland, One Valley View Drive, Cortland, NY 13045-3297
Outdoor Environmental Education Classroom
Educational materials will be developed for an Outdoor Environmental Education Classroom. Project coordination, curriculum development, provision of supplies and equipment, and development of a teacher's manual will enable this rural county to provide its young people with a reality-based center of study. Project implementation includes field activity in a community with concerns related to its water supply.
Friends of the Buffalo River, Inc. $5,000
Margaret Wooster, 84 Vandalia Street, Buffalo, NY 14204
Watershed Learning Project
The "Watershed Learning Project" will involve students in the U.S. and Canada in a study of the Buffalo-Niagara River Watershed. Building on an earlier project developed by the Friends of the Buffalo River, this project expands on the pilot to encompass this larger bioregional study. Project materials will be distributed to more than 40 school districts within the study area.
Henry Street Settlement $5,000
Christine Koenig, 265 Henry Street, New York, NY 10002
The Greening Challenge: Youth For Ecology
This grant funds "The Greening Challenge: Youth For Ecology" project, which is a summer education and employment program for young people from low-income families living in Manhattan's Lower East Side. Local environmental groups will be involved in educating area youth and preparing them for careers in the environment. Combining work experience and education, this project facilitates Henry Street Settlement's partnership with the New York City Department of Employment.
Hunters Point Community Development Corp. $5,000
Thomas V. Sobczak, 47-43 Vernon Blvd., Long Island City, NY 11101
Community Recycling Project
Through the "Community Recycling Project" young people will develop and manage a recycling project involving the employees of local businesses. Participants will develop an improved understanding of waste management techniques. The project encourages environmental awareness, business management, communication skills, and respect for members of the local community.
Keuka Lake Foundation, Inc. $5,000
Peter Landre, P. O. Box 415, Hammondsport, NY 14840-0415
Keuka Lake Adopt-a-Stream Program
The "Keuka Lake Adopt-a-Stream Program" will develop an educational program in which local citizens participate in stream stewardship activities on a continuing basis. This project includes development of a three-phase stream adoption process, training educators for outreach programs, a program demonstration on a highly visible stream, and the recruitment of volunteer stream stewards.
Madison County Soil and Water District $1,000
Michael Johnston, P. O. Box 189, Morrisville, NY 13408
Community Water Resource Education Program
The "Community Water Resource Education Program" will increase understanding of water quality and nonpoint source issues and encourage public stewardship of water resources through a student water resource education program. The teachers of Madison County will participate in work sessions to select appropriate materials which will accomplish these goals.
New Paltz Central School District $4,946
Debora Banner, 196 Main Street, New Paltz, NY 12561
School Grounds Water Study Project
The New Paltz Central School District, in partnership with the Mohonk Preserve, will design the "School Grounds Water Study Project". Primarily targeting teachers in grades 5 and 6, workshops will enable teachers to build on field trips to the Mohonk preserve. Students will conduct field studies at wetlands and ponds on their school grounds.
Oneida Indian Nation of New York $9,935
Jane Booher, 101 Canal Street, Canastota, NY 13032
Curriculum Development and Demonstration Project on Native American Environmental Ethics
The "Curriculum Development and Demonstration Project on Native American Environmental Ethics" will use traditional Native American stories and legends to teach elementary school children about the web of life and how humans can live in harmony with and have respect for other species on this planet. Students in grades 4 through 6 are the target audience in three school districts.
Port Washington Union Free School District $3,636
William B. Heebink, 100 Camous Drive, Port Washington, NY 11050
Citizen's Impact on Long Island Sound
Families of all 2nd through 5th graders in the Port Washington School District will participate in family learning sessions emphasizing the citizens' impact on Long Island Sound. Parents and students will learn about the effects their recreational, gardening, and personal habits have on the Sound and discover ways to change them with the Sound's ecology in mind.
Red Hook Central School District $5,000
Michelle Hughes or Sharon Mascaro, Mill Road, Red Hook, NY 12571
Water!
The "Water!" project will integrate the study of water into literature, writing, and mathematics in this small, rural school district on the Hudson River. Students will learn about river and estuary issues from local groups. School science curricula will enhance the project with a study of water as a chemical substance, habitat, and resource.
Research Foundation of the State University of New York $4,773
Ray W. Spear & Robert D. Simon, P. O. Box 9, Albany, NY 12202
Training Environmental Educators Project
The "Training Environmental Educators Project" will develop the environmental teaching skills of secondary education biology majors at SUNY-Geneseo. The students will share problem solving exercises on environmental issues with regional high school teachers. This work will be the foundation for a regional environmental education workshop. (Dept. of Biology, SUNY-Geneseo, Geneseo, NY 14454).
Saratoga-Warren BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) $4,600
John Rizio, 112 Spring Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Teacher Training Program in Outcomes-Based Environmental Curricula
The "Teacher Training Program in Outcomes-Based Environmental Curricula" will provide teacher training for 30 educators in an interdisciplinary, environmental curriculum that promotes reverence and stewardship for the earth. Teacher workshops will focus on the curriculum and its implementation. Participating teachers will then act as trainers for other teachers in the district.
Starflower Experiences, Inc. $4,630
Laurie Farber, 79 Martin Court, Jericho, NY 11753
Here Comes the Water Patrol
An educational experience, "Here Comes the Water Patrol", will incorporate puppets, costumes, rhyme, and rap music with creative dramatics and humor to teach important lessons about water. Information about the water cycle, Long Island's sole-source aquifer, water conservation, and aquifer protection will be taught in an educational experience designed for 3rd and 4th graders.
Theodore Roosevelt Sanctuary, Inc. $5,000
Mary E. Richard, 134 Cove Road, Oyster Bay, NY 11771
Groundwater and Solid Waste Curriculum
This project maximizes field trip and accompanying activities in the classroom to teach environmental education. Ten workshops will familiarize educators with the sanctuary and its educational activities. Three thousand curriculum guides will be produced which will, using the sanctuary as a resource, teach about groundwater and solid waste issues.
1992 Grants
American Lung Association $4,990
Albany, NY 12205
Clean Indoor-Air Super-Sleuths
The "Clean Indoor-Air Super-Sleuths" project involves designing, implementing, and evaluating a program to enhance environmental studies for grades 3 through 5. The curricula developed for this project will focus on increasing awareness of health and environmental hazards in the home.
Board of Cooperative Educational Services (TST BOCES) $4,900
Ithaca, NY 14850
Stream Analysis at TST Boces Middle School
The "Stream Analysis at TST Boces Middle School" project will involve having participants perform water-quality studies at small, urban streams near the middle school. The results of the project will contribute to the integration of science studies into the general curriculum of the middle-school students.
Bolton Central School $5,000
Bolton Landing, NY 12814
Water Monitoring and Analysis of Watershed in Junior High Science
The "Water Monitoring and Analysis of Watershed in Junior High Science" project involves developing a monitoring program for seventh grade students as part of the River Watch Network. Participants of the program will use Lake George as a living laboratory. Sampling equipment will be acquired for the project to monitor and analyze nearby streams, ponds, lakes, river beds, marshes, mixed forest, and urban areas.
Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment $25,000
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Environmental Education Teacher Training and Class Field Study Subsidy Program
The "Environmental Education Teacher Training and Class Field Study Subsidy Program" will prepare Brooklyn school children to recognize and understand issues and concerns related to water-quality management and water pollution. The program will provide training for educators, single and multi-session field trips, and on-going support for educators through follow-on consultations and a newsletter.
City of Rye $5,000
Rye, NY 10580
Rye Nature Center Summer Environmental Science Institute
The Rye Nature Center Summer Environmental Science Institute is a joint venture of the Rye Nature Center and the City School District. The institute will provide educators of kindergarten through 6th grade with a progressive study core curriculum of 42 units that will be suitable for interfacing with middle and high school science programs.
Cornell Cooperative Extension, Ontario County $2,250
Canandaigua, NY 14424
A Citizen's Guide to Water Resource Protection
This grant funds "A Citizen's Guide to Water Resource Protection," which involves enrolling high-school seniors in Participation-in-Government classes. Through this project, participants will develop a better understanding of the environmental, governmental, and economic issues impacting the management of ground water and surface water resources in local communities.
County of Madison $5,000
Wampsville, NY 13163
Waste Reduction and Recycling Education Project
The "Waste Reduction and Recycling Education Project" involves developing and designing a waste-reduction and recycling curriculum for elementary schools. Participants will be involved in the demonstration, field testing, evaluation, and dissemination of the curriculum through workshops for educators held across the country.
Greenbelt Conservancy, Inc. $4,984
Staten Island, NY 10306
Identification and Evaluation of Wetlands
This grant funds a project to research, develop, and implement a pilot program for the identification and evaluation of wetlands. The program will target 3rd through 5th grade students and will focus on evaluating an urban wetland area.
Network for Social Justice $24,961
New York, NY 10003
ACTS: Active Change Through Schools
The "ACTS: Active Change Through Schools" project is sponsored by Innovative Community Enterprises with Community School District #16 with the participation of New York University, the New York City Board of Education's NYCNET, the Crown Height Youth Collective, All Boro Recycling, Inc., and seven Brooklyn members of the Community Recycling Alliance. The project will involve developing an integrated, inter-disciplinary environmental curriculum that will be widely applicable to students throughout New York City.
Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation District $5,000
Canandaigua, NY 14424
WATERWORKS Project
The "WATERWORKS Project" focuses on developing a curriculum for middle-school students with special emphasis on water quality issues. The project will provide training for educators and will involve the participation of water-quality specialists and public officials and field trips. As part of the project, course material will be revised for use in environmental education programs offered in area schools.
Port Washington Union Free School District $3,600
Port Washington, NY 11050
Long Island Sound: A Past, Present and Future Project
The "Long Island Sound: A Past, Present and Future Project" provides experience-oriented learning activities related to the condition and future of Long Island Sound. The project will be cooperative effort with the Science Museum of Long Island and will include field trips on a schooner.
Research Foundation of the State University of New York (SUNY) $5,000
Albany, NY 12201
Computer Simulation of the Environmental Impact of Modern Conveniences
The "Computer Simulation of the Environmental Impact of Modern Conveniences" project involves developing a computer program and accompanying curriculum to educate participants on the impacts to the environment of the use of everyday goods and services such as fossil fuels and electricity and through the production of products such as plastic, paper, and metal.
Syracuse University $5,000
Syracuse, NY 13224
Environmental Issues and the Community
The "Environmental Issues and the Community" project will provide participants with an understanding of the problem-solving skills required to evaluate various environmental issues. The project will consist of a series of seminars involving adults and government employees.
Teatown Lake Reservation $5,000
Ossining, NY 10562
Water Quality Monitoring in the Classroom
This project involves a series of workshops that will provide educators with the skills required to develop a classroom water-quality monitoring program. The workshops will focus on issues related to prevention of water pollution and on techniques for monitoring water quality and evaluating data.
Ticonderoga Central School District $5,000
Ticonderoga, NY 12883
Education/Action: Dual Strategy for Environmental Conservation of Ticonderoga
The "Education/Action: Dual Strategy for Environmental Conservation of Ticonderoga" program aims to enhance environmental education in an economically depressed area. The program will include a course introduction and plans for establishing a Conservation Corps to develop and implement a recycling and energy-conservation program.
Town of Cheektowaga $5,000
Cheektowaga, NY 14227
Town of Cheektowaga, NY, Environmental Education
The "Town of Cheektowaga, NY, Environmental Education" program will use a town park as a laboratory to develop and implement an environmental education program and curricula. On-site training sessions will be held for area educators.