Boston Park Advocates

BPA staff started our morning right with Tai Chi in Symphony Park and Yoga on the Common!

The morning Tai Chi classes, held in the cool of Symphony Park tucked in between Huntington and Park Drive, are very popular with local residents, especially many of the seniors living in adjacent buildings.  Each class attracts upwards of 20 residents and most are “regulars”.  The instructor, Huan Zhang, owner of Huan’s Tai Chi in Campbridge is engaging and supportive, offering instructions in both English and Chinese!  Most participants are new to the art and Tai Chi is deceptively difficult, I learned, when I tried to lift my leg in the air, bend, and rotate my arms around at the same time!

Kudos go to Marie Fukuda and Steve Baird from Friends of Symphony Park and Fenway Civic who made this all happen; and to the generosity of the Mission Hill Fenway Neighborhood Trust made the initial 8-week program possible.  Through Park Arts funding, the successful program has been extended an extra two weeks through next Thursday August 24^th!

Yoga pants and a suit jacket?  Go figure!  But that’s what some participants sported today as they stretched and flexed on yoga mats at the Frog Pond from 9:00 – 10:30 with Kyoungho Koh, Power Vinyasa yoga teacher.  The class attracts folks from across the city 15 – 30 in a session on a scenic spot between the pond and the playground!  Thanks to the  Skating Club of Boston, who now runs the Frog Pond, for programming beyond the winter months!

Collards and kale, buckthorn and bittersweet, teamwork and tenacity are the refrain of nearly 100 teens across Boston this summer who are helping to keep our parks, gardens, greenways and urban wilds well-maintained and programmed.  Each week, these youth ages 14 – 18, working in crews of 8 – 10, and supervised by young men and women hardly older than themselves, are building trails, removing invasive species, creating gardens, harvesting fresh food, and teaching other young people to enjoy activities in the outdoors.  It is often back-breaking, sweaty labor for which the teens are paid $8.00/hour for 25 hours/week by the City of Boston’s Department of Youth and Community Service.  And they love it!  “We are like a family” “We are a team” “I’ve loved meeting all the other people in my crew” are typical comments.

Last week BPA staff had the privilege of interviewing nearly 30 youth from crews at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, Franklin Park Coalition, and Boston Collaborative for Food and Fitness as they worked at various sites in the Fenway, Dorchester, and Roxbury.

Our first impression was:  WOW!  Are these youth having fun and boy, do they know A LOT about what they are doing!  What exactly are they learning?  The young people list specific skills like landscaping, tree pruning, planting, and invasive removal, but they elaborate on skills such as patience, independence, respect for the environment, learning to work in a group, making strong friendships, meeting lot’s of new people, learning about health and food, and becoming a leader.  One young man talks about making the jump from crew member to leader and how many useful skills he acquired through hours of training during the year and before the summer program.  One young man spoke frankly about how much he has “grown up” this summer and how good it feels to earn his first paychecks.

Who are these youth and where do they come from?  Young people apply through the Boston Youth Fund lottery and are placed in these outdoor jobs based on their interests.  For most, it is their first “real job”.  Most are students at high schools across the city – Madison Park, Brighton High, Latin Academy and numerous others.  A handful aren’t attending school, but hope to finish at some point.

But it’s not ALL dirt and sweat…. Most groups take one day a week for field trips and outdoor adventure activities including an overnight camping trip, canoeing on the Neponset River, tree climbing, and attending city-wide youth events such as the The 180: Youth United for the Environmental Turn-Around sponsored by the Boston Youth Environmental Network, and the Environmental Justice Youth Summit, hosted by the youth from Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project (REEP).

Another perk of summer employment:  several of the crews are signed on with Roll it Forward a program sponsored by Boston Bikes, which provides teens with a free bike and training on how to safely ride in the city.  Many of the crew members spoke enthusiastically about the daily commute to work on their bikes and how much easier it is to bike than to take transit.

In addition to stewardship projects, Youth Crews also help out with community events such as movie nights and Drop-In Sports Nights for younger children, and coordinate work with other crews.  Learning from other youth crews and working along side them is a highlight of the summer.

Despite the heat, dirt, and hard labor, the teens are incredibly enthusiastic and eloquent about their experiences.  Most say they would definitely come back for another season!

We want to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to all the young people we spoke to and to the organizations who spend a lot of time and energy raising the funds to offer such a great work experience to so many of Boston’s Teens!  We raise our hats to theBoston Collaborative for Food and Fitness, the Boston Natural Areas Network, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, and the Franklin Park Coalition.