urban+green

toc =Urban Green & Local Poverty= The Urban Green and Local Poverty community services have teamed up this year. While they remain unique in goals, the two community services share team-members, and now a wiki page as well. By all means, please take a look at the two services' respective sections (and past projects) and learn about us.

Well What'd We Do Today?
"Well What'd We Do Today?" will be a recurring feature on the wiki page, detailing the exploits of the teachers and students involved with the Urban Green Community Service, it will be updated once a week (unless I forget or just don't get to it.)

UPDATE - 5/18/2011
We have reinforced the hoophouse with wood so it doesn't wobble, and have been stripping the paint off of the copper pipes so we can eventually start bringing the waste heat from the glass studio to the hoop house. While the likelihood of our being able to complete this project by the end of the year is very slim at this point, however, the next group that takes over this project should be more than equipped to handle the task of finishing the hoophouse.

UPDATE - 3/9/2011
We have successfully constructed the frame of the hoop-house, and stapled plastic sheeting to it. The frame is currently set up behind the art room. However, one problem has arisen: The wind is a constant antagonist to the plastic sheeting. The staples, thus far, have not been able to resist the wind force, however, this has not spurned our collective enthusiasm for this project. We shall prevail. Oh yes, We shall prevail.

Well What'd We Do Today? - December 8th, 2010

 * Aaron's group cut wood and assembled stands for

**Well What'd We Do Today? - November 3rd, 2010**

 * Aaron's group went and looked at a hoophouse to best judge how to eventually create one for the school. Cole's group went to the ministry and stocked shelves.

Well What'd We Do Today? - October 27th, 2010

 * Cole's group went to the crisis ministry and bought dozens upon dozens upon dozens of canned foods for the ministry. On the way back, student Max was subjected to listening to DJ Sammy's (awful) dance hit of the early 2000's "Heaven." Aaron's group looked at a community service project in the Bronx and raked leaves.

**Well What'd We Do Today? - October 20th, 2010**

 * Aaron's group raked leaves, and measured out the area the hoophouse would take up, marking it with a combination of sticks, buckets and yarn. They also mused about how to convert heat from the glass studio into heating for the hoophouse. Cole's group organized new food donations at the Crisis Ministry.

**Well What'd We Do Today? - October 13th, 2010**

 * Aaron's group re-arranged the compost bins to a new location, reconfigured the wire compost bins and moved the compost from said bins into a new location. Cole's group went to the Crisis Ministry and met the staff. They split into two groups, groups A and B. Group A stayed and rearranged the food store room, Group B went shopping so they could replenish the store room.

**Well What'd We Do Today? - October 6th, 2010**
 * Today, Aaron took students Evan, Ben, Izzy, Deshawn and popular-social-butterfly-of-a-dog Kasey to Holod's Hardware on Germantown Avenue to get an idea of how much supplies for the hoop-house would cost. After meeting Mike, a friendly worker who accommodated the demands- or rather, requests of Aaron, the group found that the total cost of the supplies from Holod's (not counting the supplies we would buy used) would be around eighty-six dollars, if not slightly more than that. Meanwhile, Cole had students Nate, Jana, Josh, Emily, Max and Lindsay shave down PVC pipe and prepare information for upcoming food and clothe drives. They also have started collecting soda can tabs, for reasons that have not been disclosed yet, but I'm sure that'll change.

=**Urban Green - H****oo****p-House Project**= With a new year of community service, Urban Green has undertaken a whole new project - that of creating a "hoop-house". A hoop-house​ is a greenhouse made o ut of plastic sheeting, PVC pipe, and a variety of other cost-efficient materials. The Urban Green community service hopes to have a hoop-house constructed at the Crefeld school before the year's end. Currently, though, the community service is engaging in fundraising efforts in order to pay for the low cost of materials.

This section will be updated with photos and video as time progresses.

=Local Poverty= As a group, we recognize that poverty does not necessarily mean homelessness. Many of the people who we help or are aiming this service towards, in fact are working but need some assistance to provide shelter, food, utilities, and healthcare for their families. We work with a few local organizations that differ in each of their individual goals, but all fall under the spectrum for what we are trying to accomplish... which is making a dent in Philadelphia and surrounding areas poverty issues one family at a time. We hope that through our work we can educate the greater community about this problem, and also help inform those in need what resources are available to assist in providing an adequate standard of living.

This section will be updated with photos and video as time progresses.

=Green Spaces - 2009's Community Service Project= Crefeld students at the memorial garden, Haddington, Philadelphia, working with the Urban Tree Connection

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** Creating a compost at Crefeld **

 **Goals**

Knowledge
Urban Green CSL goals will be looking at the issue of how green space and getting rid local poverty will help to promote better mental health, lower crime rates, save lives, and make the community a better place for everone. At the start of the project, we will focus on looking at studies that have been on going in America and UK/Europe, some for the last 30 years. Cornell University study (Project Green Space), done by Susan Lang, will be used to start the dialogue with the CSL students.

Service
On Wednesdays we will develop a neighborhood composting project that will let us prepare for growing plants and trees for planting in Philadelphia. The initial project will focus locally before we expand to further areas. We will work on making local connections with any residence or business that will help by giving us their compost materials.

The long term goal is to be able to provide the service of green to any neighborhood who would like plant service that meet the criteria of need. Students will develop a way of finding and determining neighborhoods in need who would like this service. We will also be planning and working with Crefeld's Local Povrey community service in these effors.

Empowerment

 * Students will be taking over the editing and composing creative control of this wiki page.
 * Students will set their own goals for this project and determine measures for assessing success.
 * Students will define their calendar, determining how they will spend their time to obtain the goals they have set.
 * Students will determine which projects are a priority, which will in turn set the pace and agenda for this project.
 * Students will do their best to start a chain reaction in the community in which their working.

Reflection
O ver the course of the year students will create podcasts on GarageBand for self-reflection to document projects and personal growth and to help fine-tune and take responsibility for the CSL.

Activities
= = Group discussions centered around articles about green space in the urban setting Build a neighborhood list to contact for a compost project Build a composting area Pick up compost, weekly Contact local groups and individuals to target project areas in Philadelphia Visiti neighborhoods to meet and plan for greening Research plants for project Obtain saplings and seeds Learn about germination Germinate plants Prepare ground for planting and nursery Transport plants and planting them Visit/volunteer at local shelter and soup kitchen Help with organization fund raising and donation efforts Speak with organization representatives about their initiatives and projects Help with awareness (educating others, writing to reps, etc.) Create budgets based on specific family size and income and take trip to grocery store

Location
= = We will be primarily at C refeld in the first weeks as we develop and create the composting project. also at this time we will target with the help of local organizations and elected officials, neighborhoods that will be interested in using our help to green there spaces and listen to our ideas about poverty.

Images
Students germinating for coming planting with the Urban Tree connection = =

Links
[|Urban Tree Connection] a project dedicated to reclaiming vacant lots in urban settings

= = [|Project Evergreen] non-profit organization dedicated to green awareness

[|Tokyo Green Space] Article about crime and the impact of community gardening--very compelling!

= = [|Green TV] A collection of reviews about television programming dedicated to green efforts

= = [|APA] American Planning Association is dedicated to bringing together community leaders, politicians, citizens, and practicing planners to develop great communities.

= = [|Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health] --"Evidence Based Publlic Health and Practice" A study conducted in the UK "to determine the association between the percentage of greenspace in an area and the standardised rate of self-reported "not good" health, and to explore whether this association holds for areas exhibiting different combinations of urbanity and income deprivation" ([|Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health], 2007).

= = [|Landscape and Human Health] Vegetation's impact on cutting down crime