City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization to offer park programs throughout the five boroughs of New York City. We work in over 750 parks citywide, presenting a broad range of free arts, sports, and education programs, and empowering citizens to support their parks on a local level. Our programs and community building initiatives reach more than 600,000 people each year, contributing to the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout New York City.
City Parks Education
Connecting Students, Teachers & Communities to Parks, the City’s Greatest Natural Resource
By educating children and adults about the extensive natural and historical resources in NYC parks, City Parks Education programs hope to help New Yorkers develop a greater sense of personal responsibility for the urban landscape.
Claudia DeMegret, Director of Education and Learning Gardens Educator Geimy Colon were recently featured on NY1 as part of the massive science-in-education initiative, "Connect A Million Minds."
Claudia DeMegret also appeared on CUNY TV's "One to One," hosted by journalist Sheryl McCarthy. Click here to watch the in-depth interview.
Educators, learn more about our Professional Development workshops.
Read what Students & Educators are saying about our programs.
City Parks Foundation Education Goals
- Igniting Learning
- Nurturing Learners
- Sparking Imagination
- Cultivating Environmental Literacy & Stewardship
- Training Teachers
- Creating Lasting Community Connections
CITYPARKS PRODUCTIONS
CityParks Productions are City Parks Education’s multimedia/technology after school programs offering video production training, media literacy, new media, academic support and life skills training. MORE
Launching in February 2004 out of the Red Hook Recreation Center in Red Hook, Brooklyn, CityParks Productions expanded in 2009 to operate in all five boroughs. During the school year, the program is open from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays; in the summer, we conduct an Intensive Summer Institute, four days per week, to train youth in all aspects of production.
Through multifaceted activities, these programs help kids discover their unique talents and aptitudes, while mastering valuable technology skills and exploring careers and workplaces. Participants gain experience in using a broad range of standard and specialized industry software for video and sound editing. These programs provide a safe space where teens can share with one another, develop leadership skills, forge a group identity, and serve their community.
A Few Facts About CityParks Productions
- Over 70 middle school and high school kids, ages 13 to 19, participate throughout the five locations.
- Teens take regular field trips to meet with other youth groups and professionals, attend film and video screenings and youth multimedia festivals, and visit workplaces and cultural institutions.
- Participants learn to analyze popular media and cultural messages as part of their media literacy critiques and work on developing positive, affirming alternatives.
- Participants receive individualized life coaching and support in pursuing their professional and educational aspirations. Youth are guided to view their community through a different lens and to become community leaders who will work towards social justice.
- City Parks Productions emphasize literacy development, and hone public speaking, interviewing, analytical and creative expression skills.
- The program engages family and community members through regular celebrations, and expose youth to a variety of stimulating experiences in and outside their neighborhoods.
Team Leaders
Our Team Leader component catapults a few outstanding students to become peer mentors, serve as teacher assistants, and support overall program activities. In return, Team Leaders receive a modest stipend and advanced training.
Internships for Teens and College/Graduate Students
Through numerous collaborations, CityParks Productions offer students credit-bearing opportunities during the school day and outside of school hours. These professional-level externships allow the youth to acquire solid skills and work experience in return for official school credit.
For more information on CityParks Productions contact Jaime Zelaya, Director for Out-of-School Programs, at (212) 360-2746 or email Jaime Zelaya.
CityParks Productions is generously supported by: Motorola Foundation; The Hearst Foundations; Louise and Ardé Bulova Fund; FJC – A Foundation of Donor Advised Funds; Cultural After School Adventures – NYC Councilmember Helen Foster, 16th District.
Check out CityParks Productions’ website and watch new video projects from students.
COASTAL CLASSROOMS
Discovering the Secrets of Our Aquatic Ecosystem!
Hands-on activities in our parks are among the very best opportunities to learn about ecology and the environment. Few places in the city provide better resources for active learning about our natural world and the issues we face in preserving it than our parks.
That’s why CPF created Coastal Classroom – offering workshops in parks along the waterfront, focused on coastal ecology, aquatic habitats, water quality, and urban waterfront restoration and preservation. MORE
Coastal Classroom provides young people (4th grade and up) and community members of all ages opportunities to “get their feet wet” in some of New York’s coastal hot spots. Situated within the Long Island Sound watershed, participants delve into New York City’s waterfront and explore the world beneath the waves through exciting, meaningful programming. See the present state of our water resources and get a glimpse into the challenges of future preservation efforts.
Coastal Classroom operates from March to early November, during school and after school hours in Astoria and at Hallets Cove of Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City. Classes are 60-90 minutes long and can be comprised of 1-4 sessions. Scheduling for summer programs begins in March. Led by City Parks Foundation’s educators, Coastal Classroom joins a series of initiatives that make up the Astoria/Long Island City Waterfront Parks Catalyst Project.
The ongoing mission of the Catalyst Project is to enliven the seven waterfront parks along the East River in northwestern Queens. In collaboration with local leaders, the Catalyst Project connects community members to their parks and creates opportunities for in-park education, events, enrichment, and waterfront activities.
Read Coastal Classrooms Testimonials
“I was able to go to Coastal Classroom with my two kids, 6 and 11 years of age. They had a blast and got to know the park. We go there for CityParks Track and Field but did not know there was a beach. They also learned about the ecosystem in that area. My kid’s school is PS/IS229 in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, this is a great program and I think you should let him know about it.” Itala Pelizzoli, Brooklyn Parent
For more information on Coastal Classroom or to participate in the future, please email Education@CityParksFoundation.org.
This project is made possible by City Parks Foundation’s Education Program and the Astoria/Long Island City Catalyst Project, which is supported by the Altman Foundation; FJC- A Foundation of Donor Advised Funds; Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; J.M. Kaplan Fund; The Long Island Sound Study Futures Fund; New York City Environmental Fund; New York State Department of State Local Waterfront Revitalization Program; New York State Department of State Quality Communities Program; The Scherman Foundation; The Starr Foundation; The Timberland Company; City of New York, Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor; New York City Council under the leadership of Christine C. Quinn; NYS Senator George Onorato, 12th District.
Coastal Classroom is generously supported by: FJC – A Foundation of Donor Advised Funds; The Long Island Sound Study Futures Fund; New York City Environmental Fund; RBC Blue Water Project; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; NYS Senator George Onorato, 12th District; NYC Councilmember Peter F. Vallone, Jr., 22nd District.
The Catalyst Project is a major initiative of Partnerships for Parks, a joint program of City Parks Foundation and the NYC Dept. of Parks & Recreation.
Please call (212) 360-1399 to find out about our fee schedule.
GREEN GIRLS
Green Girls is an innovative program that encourages girls to excel in the sciences and realize their potential to create change within the natural environment and their own lives. MORE
The Summer Institute
The three-week Green Girls Summer Institute, going into its sixth summer, serves 30 girls from the four Young Women’s Leadership Schools in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, with hands-on activities and trips to parks and natural areas, wildlife refuges, and cultural institutions. Green Girls provides middle-school girls with intensive summer experiences that enrich their understanding of science and environmental justice issues, familiarize them with New York City’s vast natural and institutional resources, and promote leadership and life skills. Ultimately, the Green Girls Summer Institute helps girls explore their own vast potential and the extensive career possibilities available in the sciences.
These carefully-selected and sequenced activities address a variety of science subject matter, including environmental education, ecology, biology, geology, zoology, and botany. Sessions encompass an array of environmental and environmental justice issues that focus on community problems and the need for green spaces, water conservation, air quality and the natural world.
Community Service opportunities are integral to the Green Girls program. Participants engage in a variety of activities, from science experiments and research projects to rock climbing and canoeing to studying maps and demographic patterns. Some days focus on community service projects, such as participating in the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation’s Tree Census Project, planting trees as part of a reforestation program, organizing a community recycling project or taking part in neighborhood park clean-up projects. Participation fosters environmental stewardship and a stronger connection to community among our students, as well as the development of leadership skills as they learn about local problems and initiate projects that address those needs.
Watch a film about the Green Girls and Coastal Classroom programs!
Read a People+Parks blog post about the Green Girls!
Green Girls is generously supported by: Time Warner Cable’s New York City Region Connect A Million Minds Initiative; National Grid; Stavros Niarchos Foundation.
LEARNING GARDENS
Learning Gardens are for everyone
Learning Gardens was born in 1997 of a unique partnership with the New York City Department of Education in an effort to transform failing public schools in the Chancellor’s District. From that school model, the program transitioned to park sites.
The environmental education idea is simple: build a communal garden, combine it with a series of wonderful lessons, and then invite community members—schools, senior and day care centers, families, and organizations—to work on their gardens and cultivate valuable benefits. MORE
We serve over 2,850 community members, children, and teachers through school, out-of-school and summer programs. The program is open to groups that are within close proximity to (e.g. close walking distance) the gardens. All scheduled classes, workshops, and events take place in local parks: at Grove Hill Community Playground in the Bronx, the Umoja Community Garden in Brooklyn, in Liberty Park in Jamaica, Queens.
Other Events City Parks Education Hosts:
- community garden events
- “Plant and Play” times; open garden hours for all community members
- free workshops
- ongoing environmental education classes for a variety of groups
- one-time sessions and short workshop series tailored to meet specific group needs
- learning activities for children to propagate the benefits of learning in the garden.
School-Year Component:
Learning Gardens educators develop and implement a continuous series of environmental education lessons—in science, math, language arts, social studies, the creative arts, and history—in the garden. During the colder, winter months, CPF’s educators extend lessons to the classroom for children, parents, and teachers. A total of 12 lessons are delivered to each participating class, with a total of 32 participating classes annually. Lessons link all aspects of the garden and focus on the entire web of life.
Learning Gardens also offers technical assistance to teachers, paraprofessionals, and other school staff that enables them to effectively integrate garden lessons and infuse creative programming into their work. Groups that are within walking proximity of our gardens and are interested in expanding their learning activity beyond structured lessons are welcome to work at our garden site.
Download the 2011 Learning Gardens calendar.
Read testimonials from the 2008 Learning Gardens Interns!
TEACHER TESTIMONIES:
Edna Santos, Teacher at PS 140, Bronx: “We thank you for all the wonderful experiences you’ve added to our learning. Every meeting provides a learning experience for all of us and my students always look forward to garden lessons. Your program has truly enriched our science, reading, art and writing curriculum. We were blessed to have joined this exciting program.”
Samantha Severin, former 1st Grade Teacher at PS 157, Bronx/Currently Principal-in-Training: “After returning from the garden, three of my boys would not take their hands out of their pockets. With some serious negotiation, it was discovered that they had taken ‘pet worms’ from the garden back to the classroom. We had to go out again to return the worms (in various states of “wellness”) to the great outdoors. My class is eagerly awaiting your next visit. Oh — how they love worms.”
Outcomes & Results:
Evaluation outcomes demonstrate the overwhelming learning and therapeutic benefits that Learning Gardens has on individuals of all ages and their understanding of natural life cycles. In an urban center that is often bereft of green space, the park garden is a passage to nature. Participating in environmental education park programs helps individuals connect to one another and their surrounding community, as well as understand the importance of parks in daily life.
For more information, please contact Marzena Wolert, program coordinator, at (212) 360-2744 or via email at MWolert@cityparksfoundation.org.
Learning Gardens is generously supported by: FedEx; The Hearst Foundations; Con Edison; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Michael Tuch Foundation; FJC – A Foundation of Donor Advised Funds; New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund; NYS Senator Velmanette Montgomery, 18th District; NYS Senator Malcolm Smith, 14th District; NYC Councilmember Darlene Mealy, 41st District; NYC Councilmember Leroy Comrie, 27th District.
SEEDS TO TREES
Since 1992, Seeds to Trees: A Field Based Environmental Education Program for Public Schools has introduced New York City children to science and nature in the urban environment through classroom activities and unparalleled field experiences. Seeds to Trees reinforces core academic skills while continually experimenting with new models and strategies. MORE
Seeds to Trees supports academic objectives by presenting lessons that relate to mandated curricula and scope and sequence, and trains teachers to use city parks as extensions of their classrooms by helping them to introduce concepts of forest ecology, park stewardship and preservation to children. Seeds to Trees blends professional development sessions (teacher credit is available), in-class sessions and outdoor field experiences in natural areas to produce a high quality, invigorating educational experience.
Through a unique mix of lessons and resources that address different learning styles, Seeds to Trees has been enormously successful with all learners, from special education, inclusion, mainstream and English Language Learners to high performing students.
Seeds to Trees Early Childhood Program: City Parks Education’s interdisciplinary nature and science pilot is specifically designed for children who are 3-4 years old. This program emphasizes science observation, sensory awareness, creative expression, literacy and analytical skills development. In a series of 3-5 sessions, plant and animal themes are introduced via songs, stories, movement and craft projects.
Seeds to Trees for Elementary Schools (1st-4th Grades): Seeds to Trees offers an inquiry-based, dynamic program in the span of four months—either in the fall or in the spring. The program includes lessons on topics relating to the natural environment and environmental stewardship, such as learning about the forest ecosystem and the effects of pollution on the health of a forest and the water supply, among other topics.
- One field experience to a local forest and/or natural areas led by a City Parks Education educator
- Four stimulating in-school sessions with hands-on tools and instruments (where a local park is in close proximity and weather-permitting, one of the four can be tailored for a local park as well)
- Valuable educational materials & supplementary lessons
- Technical assistance throughout the school year
“We had lots of fun. The program was very interesting and exciting. You have instilled life–long skills and excitement in all the students. I can still picture us that day in the park. We wanted to revisit the park as a grade, but we’re pressed for time. Cleon will miss you. He’s just too shy to say it! Thanks a million for all you have done.” Ms. Singh, 3rd grade teacher at PS 40Q in Jamaica, Queens.
Seeds to Trees for Middle Schools (6th & 7th Grades): Seeds to Trees offers an age-appropriate program for public middle school classes that is aligned with the latest Scope and Sequence. The program is delivered over a nine-month period, from September to June. Available to 6th and 7th grades, this unique learning experience includes:
- Six in-class lessons
- Three field experiences to natural areas throughout the City, where students explore contrasting ecosystems, use scientific tools and equipment, and become enthralled with their local environment
- Professional Development opportunities for educators and on-site technical assistance
- Resources, materials, and a plethora of stimulating lesson plans and applications
“The children loved the forest. The two girls who were walking very far behind everyone else were talking with each other and I overhead them say: this was fun! They asked when you were coming back and what they were going to do next time.” Melody Winstead, 7th Grade Science Teacher at I.S. 286.
Seeds to Trees on "It's My Park"
City Parks Foundation is an approved vendor (#CIT04700) of the New York City Department of Education.
Seeds to Trees is generously supported by: HSBC Bank USA, N.A.; The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation; The Hearst Foundations; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; Bay and Paul Foundations; Colgate-Palmolive Company; FJC – A Foundation of Donor Advised Funds; Congressman Charles B. Rangel, 15th District; Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, 12th District; NYS Senator Ruth Hassell-Thompson, 36th District; NYS Senator Bill Perkins, 30th District; NYS Senator Malcolm Smith, 14th District; NYC Councilmember Thomas White, 28th District.
In all of its programming and activities, City Parks Foundation partners with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to improve neighborhood parks and the communities they serve.
