Brooklyn volunteers to be honored at park conference

November 8, 2013 Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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Take a look around you at New York City’s green-spaces and you’ll see some amazing things. Built-in Ping-Pong tables, free yoga classes, concerts, walking tours, dog runs, kayak launches, running tracks, Learning Gardens, bird watching and of course park benches and beautiful scenery. Perhaps the only thing more surprising than the vast diversity of offerings found in our parks and waterways, is that many of them are influenced by everyday citizens who are organizing together to make real change to their neighborhoods and the city as a whole.

On Nov. 16, Partnerships for Parks will host its second annual citywide conference held by and for community groups and park supporters. The event will bring together hundreds of attendees who will learn about how NYC’s community park groups improve quality of life and strengthen our neighborhoods. Current park group leaders will get a chance to network, meet experts, and learn tips they can use immediately to support their efforts, while newcomers will learn about what resources Partnerships for Parks has to offer to help them get involved with their community parks. Workshops will be offered throughout the day. Topics will range from marketing and social media, to legal basics of forming park groups, and include experts from a variety of fields.

For the complete conference schedule and ticketing information including a full list of participating speakers, click here.

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Registration: Online Registration | $10 fee for participants

Attendees will end the day with a reception and awards ceremony, where select groups from throughout the five boroughs will be honored for their contributions to New York City’s green spaces. The Golden Trowel award will recognize groups’ commitment to enacting change in neighborhood parks through superb community activism. This year’s Golden Trowel recipients from Brooklyn include the Red Hook Boaters, led by Kateri Jochum, and the Coney Island Generation Gap, led by Pamela Harris.

Throughout the past eight years in Red Hook, Red Hook Boaters (RHB) has worked hand-in-hand with the New York City Parks Department and other agencies to revitalize Brooklyn’s waterfront. RHB has helped maintain the beachfront landscape at Valentino Pier in Red Hook through the facilitation of regular clean ups thereby enabling thousands to access the waterfront park every year. Their commitment has helped secure additional funding for a comfort station to be built at the site. Most recently, RHB received a grant from Partnerships for Parks to purchase a new container (to house kayaks, volunteer tools & safety equipment), since their previous one was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy.


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