In order to build a more diverse membership and increase the breadth of reach of Roots & Shoots New England, 8 mini-grants totaling $4,800 were given to youth groups representing underserved communities. Priority for funding was given to groups that planned youth-led service projects. The recipients' group leaders submitted project reports to the Roots & Shoots online database indicating that 321 youth volunteered 2,355 hours of service time to these projects; at the Independent Sector value rate of $24.29 per volunteer hour, that is equal to an in-kind donation of $57,203. Two youth groups chose to do fundraisers: New England SCORES Roots & Shoots raised $450 for children with cancer and BOLD Teens raised $1,000 for the Roots & Shoots national campaign "ReBirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow." We encouraged youth groups to address the theme "Promoting Engagement in World Harmony." This is based upon a recent initiative of the New England Youth Leadership Council; they seek to translate a vision of World Harmony into speech, art or action. Three categories of mini-grants were awarded: 1. World Harmony Mini-Grants General world harmony mini-grants included projects that: -
Incorporated the unique talents and interests of the youth involved. -
Addressed important local or global issues. -
Promoted harmony with or among animals, the environment and the human community. Three World Harmony mini-grants were awarded: Barnard Roots & Shoots used their mini-grant to implement the West River Clean-up; New England SCORES Roots & Shoots used their mini-grant to convene youth for the Shout! Day of Action; and the Science Club for Girls Roots & Shoots group used their mini-grant to hold Green Building Tours 2. Rebirth the Earth, Trees for Tomorrow Mini-Grants Two mini-grants were given to groups participating in "Roots & Shoots ReBirth the Earth, Trees for Tomorrow", the Roots & Shoots national youth campaign. The goals of this campaign are to plant trees locally while raising funds for tree nurseries in Tanzania, in order to reforest chimp habitat. Two groups, BOLD Teens and the Holliston Roots & Shoots/Epiphany School partnership planted trees. Further, BOLD Teens collaborated with the Roots & Shoots New England Youth Leadership Council, hosting a tree planting event that convened teen Roots & Shoots groups from urban and suburban communities. 3. Peace through the Arts Mini-Grants Three award recipients took part in "Peace Through the Arts," the New England regional youth campaign. This campaign inspires people to live peaceful lives within their own communities, as well as promote peace globally. Communication and action is implemented through visual and performing arts projects. City Year Young Heroes painted a tent to be delivered to Darfurian refugees in Chad; Riverside Roots & Shoots created materials for their play about environmental sustainability, and Growing Green Roots & Shoots purchased materials for their eco-theatrical presentation Living the Green Dream. Click on a project below to learn more.
Planting Trees in Dorchester MA and in Tanzania Plant Trees and Sow Peace Shout! Day of Action Tent of Hope for Darfurian Refugees and Park Clean-Up Suburbanality Zoo Living the Green Dream Cleaning Up West River Green Building Tours
Planting Trees in Dorchester, Mass. and in Tanzania
BOLD Teens is a teen peer leadership group made up of youth ranging in age from 14 to 19. Group members represent 10 different Boston high schools. BOLD Teens was awarded a mini-grant from Roots & Shoots New England to purchase trees, plants and tools for two community tree planting events. BOLD Teens was awarded the largest of the 2008 Roots & Shoots mini grants because their project addresses not only the neighborhood's environmental issues, but its social concerns as well. This project helped to foster community spirit, reduce air pollution and shade area homes in the summer by planting trees and plants around the Codman Square area of Dorchester. Dorchester has the second highest rate of asthma in the City of Boston, due to the more than 150,000 vehicles traveling through the community each day. This figure includes vehicles on Interstate 93, which cuts right through the neighborhood. Trees not only improve air quality, but are also known to enhance residents' quality of life and lower crime rates. Before planting trees, BOLD Teens went door-to-door around the neighborhood to: -
Offer trees to residents and non-profit organizations. -
Get landlords' permission to plant trees. -
Educate residents and get pledges from residents to care for the trees. BOLD Teens' first event focused on planting trees and flower beds and painting the fence at Wainwright Park. During the second event, they hosted 30 teenagers that teamed up to plant 18 more trees in the Wainwright Park neighborhood of Dorchester. These young people were members of BOLD Teens and three other Roots & Shoots groups: Medford High School, Winchester High School and Mass Audubon's Wildwood Camp. The other Roots & Shoots groups appreciated the collaboration and learning from one another. "Planting trees really makes communities more beautiful and meeting other people who care about the environment is always fun," said Nicole Coakley of Medford High. BOLD Teens also raised $1,000 for the ReBirth the Earth campaign. They approached several local community groups including the Codman Square Neighborhood Council, Family Inc. and others. They requested donations, after talking to them about Roots & Shoots and their Trees for Codman Square and Tanzania project. They presented the check at the New England Regional Youth Summit on September 20.
Plant Trees and Sow Peace
Holliston Roots & Shoots of Holliston, Mass., used their mini-grant to Plant Trees and Sow Peace in support of the ReBirth the Earth national youth campaign. Holliston Roots & Shoots partnered with students of Epiphany School of Dorchester, Mass., to plant two 8-foot indigenous red maple trees. Especially fun for them: getting rid of a large dead root with a pickaxe, walking Rudy (Holliston Roots & Shoots leader's dog), watering the holes, the trees and themselves. Holliston Roots & Shoots leader Michelle Tate said: "By including children from two diverse economic and racial groups in the planting of the trees, we engender peace and harmony. The maple trees are a symbol of our project together."
Shout! Day of Action
New England SCORES Roots & Shoots works to empower students in urban communities using soccer, writing, creative expression and service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, the out-of-school time programs of New England SCORES inspire youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities. New England SCORES Roots & Shoots used their mini-grant to celebrate the positive community impact of the service projects of the youth from their afterschool programs at the following Boston public schools: Hennigan Elementary, McKay Elementary and Lee Elementary. Students from each program site gave presentations about the service projects they performed. There was an audience of over 400 students at this season-end program event. They shared the following stories, carrying important messages to their peers and acting as role models of personal and civic responsibility. Hennigan Elementary: Students raised money and awareness for children with cancer. They sold orange bracelets and fresh fruit smoothies during lunchtime. They held a toy drive and collected donated gently used toys, which the students delivered with handmade cards. $450 was donated to Dana Farber and the Jimmy Fund. McKay Elementary: Troubled by global warming effects, students began a recycling campaign. They created handmade posters explaining the recycling process and how easy it is to reuse items, rather than throw them away. Lee Elementary: The students considered what they could change in their community. Concerned with a growing generation gap, they visited Kit Clark Center. Students met with senior residents and exchanged addresses and birthdates in an effort to form pen pal relationships. One student initiated a conversation with an elderly man. The senior realized through this serendipitous interchange that this boy was his great-grandson, whom he had not seen since the boy's infancy! The boy said his great-grandfather began crying and hugging him. The experience offered all of the children new connections and taught them that there is a lot to be learned from creating respectful relationships with older generations.
Tent of Hope for Darfurian Refugees and Park Clean Up
City Year Young Heroes Roots & Shoots split their mini-grant for two projects: In support of the "Peace Through the Arts" youth campaign, the eighth-graders involved with their program were shown a video surrounding the issues in Darfur, allowing them to make a connection to their service project. A workshop was developed and implemented dealing with the issues of human rights giving the Young Heroes the opportunity to think critically and learn about the Universal Declaration of Human rights. The last activity allowed students to experience some of the thoughts and feelings connected to being a refugee. Then they painted a canvas tent to be sent to Chad to be used as shelter for Darfurian refugees. The sixth- and seventh-grade Young Heroes participated in curriculum that was composed of a Sports Jeopardy activity, a discussion on the importance of community, and a Visual Thinking Strategies activity. After this, they did a cleanup at Town Field, operated by the All Dorchester Sports League in the Fields Corner neighborhood of Dorchester, Mass.
Suburbanility Zoo
Riverfront Roots & Shoots is a youth group led by New England Youth Leadership Council member Emily Rintoul, a teenager in Portland, Conn.. The group is located in a suburban town on the Connecticut River across the river from the city of Middletown. Both Portland and Middletown have significant minority youth populations and youth from impoverished families and neighborhoods. The group reaches out to all of the community by actively recruiting for project participants through groups such as Youth Services, the YMCA, and local arts and community groups. Riverfront Roots and Shoots has conducted a Lose the Lawn performance project for several years. They love to perform in message-based theatre. The mini-grant funded materials for their new performance of an original musical, The Suburbanality Zoo. They are moving to a new level with a touring show and a stronger environmental message. This musical features animals from around the world who tell stories of how they became endangered. An endangered dwarf mussel from New England rubs elbows with a lemur, a red panda, a rhinoceros, a snow leopard and others as they sing about how they became endangered. The play provides a vehicle to teach specific facts about habitat, animal behavior and biology, but it also carries themes about peace, cultural sensitivity and caring for the environment. This show will tour in September. The mini-grant paid for the program and other printed educational materials planned for distribution at the venues where the group tours. These materials include plant lists and ideas for replacing lawn. They will help educate and persuade people to give back their own lawns to sustainable plants that don't require fossil fuels and chemicals and which, in turn, provide animal habitat. In a child-friendly, funny way, this show presents the need for biodiversity. This musical will travel to libraries, community centers, churches and schools.
Living The Green Dream
Growing Green Roots & Shoots is run by Cassie Zito, a 16-year-old student who is passionate about protecting the environment and working with young children. Cassie has been involved with Roots & Shoots for two years and is a member of the Roots & Shoots New England Regional Youth Council. Her Growing Green members are young people from her neighborhood and family. The $300 mini-grant was awarded for educational materials distributed at "Living the Green Dream," a production about climate change that the group wrote and performs at schools, stores and non-profit organizations across the Hartford, Conn., region. Their goal is to involve more youth in all aspects of the production so they can learn the facts about climate change and what can be done about it. Growing Green aims to educate nearly 500 youth before the end of 2008. So far, they have performed at five schools, among other venues. At each performance, the group takes environmental surveys and hands out eco-tips, reusable bags and energy efficient light bulbs. This is an ongoing project. The Roots & Shoots mini-grant has enabled them to propel their project outward, educating and inspiring the adults of tomorrow to make more sustainable choices in their daily lives.
Cleaning Up West River
The Barnard Roots & Shoots group, located in New Haven, Conn., is run by Shari Watson, whose son attends the Barnard Environmental Magnet School. The 20 group members are in sixth and seventh grade. Because the school draws from several New Haven districts, group members come from diverse backgrounds and a variety of neighborhoods. The Roots & Shoots grant was awarded for the group's ongoing river clean-up projects. The members implemented the First-ever West River Clean-up Day on May 3. Despite the rain, 40 students gathered on the banks of the West River in New Haven and collected more than 17 bags of trash from the riverbank and from West River Park. "It was a fun day, I loved finding a snake and learning about things we found," said Jose, a Barnard School student. The West River is located across the street from the school and is home to a small nature center operated by the school. The center is stocked with canoes and tools for environmental observation and data collection accessible to the students. The Roots & Shoots grant enabled the group to purchase tools and other supplies necessary to maintain the clean-up project and make West River Clean-up Day an annual event. These supplies will be kept at the nature center. The group's goals are ongoing: -
Continue to create a nice place for people to bring their families. -
Make the shoreline habitable for wildlife and marine life. -
Create a positive impact on the Long Island Sound.
Green Building Tours
The Science Club for Girls Roots & Shoots group of Lawrence, Mass., meets at Our House, a green building. They are 100 percent Latina. They were given a series of lessons about what makes a building energy efficient and why it is important to conserve energy. Lawrence Architect Bruce Hampton (who designed the building) showed the building's various sustainable design features to the girls. They concluded their place-based curriculum by giving a green building tour to the public. During the tour, they shared their knowledge with community members. The girls incorporated what they learned about insulation, solar panels, and compact fluorescent light bulbs into their tour. They also created posters and pamphlets, describing the building's features, to educate others. Their mini-grant supported the cost of printing, postage, advertising, food and other supplies needed for this event. The mini-grant also purchased recycled pens and compact fluorescent light bulbs for the girls to give to the public at the conclusion of the tour. More than 65 guests were impressed with the girls' delivery and gave them thumbs up! View photos. Read the Science Club for Girls Newsletter. | 
