In Our Backyard

Earth Fest in The South Bronx

2009-05-05T20:34:00.006-04:00

April 25Th 2009, from 12 to 4pm plenty of people showed up for the 2ND Annual "South Bronx Earth Fest". YMPJ was in attendance promoting a new public park called Concrete Plant Park that will be opening this July. This park- located along the banks of the Bronx River- has been in the making for almost 10 years and we are excited for its long-awaited opening! People came out to enjoy the celebration of the Environment and the South Bronx Community.

There was plenty of food and drinks to refresh all of the South Bronx supporters. While enjoying refreshments there were also privileged to listen to the "Music Gets Me Green" contest which was pleasant, along with 30 other activities booths to participate in.

Another highlight of the day was when tress were planted by our very own Steve and Andre who also had help from some of the many guest who participated in the South Bronx Fest. People also brought in their old electronics such as televisions, old cell phones, cameras, printers and computers to recycled.

Extreme Weather: So up, so down!

2009-02-06T16:50:00.006-05:00

Superbowl Sunday kicked off the month of February with unseasonably high temperatures- in the 50s- only to be followed by chilling snowstorms and frigid weather by Wednesday. Today is Friday and the forecast is saying temperatures in the 50s for tomorrow! Are these normal changes in weather or is it possible that these extreme weather fluctuations are a result of climate change? Climate change, in this case, refers to the idea that man-made activities are contributing too much carbon dioxide and other global warming gases to the atmosphere resulting in changes to our world's climate patterns. YMPJ staff and youth attended a conference hosted by WEACT (of Harlem) entitled "Advancing Climate Justice". I got to attend discussions on food justice and "green jobs". To find out more about activities and conversations from the conference, check out their blog at http://advancingclimatejustice.blogspot.com/

The Green Go Event

2008-10-06T11:58:00.013-04:00

On Saturday, September 20th Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice hosted a neighborhood barbecue for community members. Aside from enjoying grilled burgers, hot dogs, and homemade arroz con dules to a selection of smooth jazz and R&B, community members learned about the variety of greening initiatives and campaigns that YMPJ has been striving to achieve and implement in our community. What was even better than the food was the surprise we had in store for two eager education seekers. As each person visited an interactive learning station, they were awarded with a free raffle ticket. The more tables they visited, the greater their chances of winning the prize. At the end of the event two youth bikes, donated to us from our friends at Rec ycle -A- Bicycle to promote healthy living, was the surprise for two luck young people. Community members were able to learn about composting, the use of permeable pavement, rain barrels, and the initiatives of the Bronx River Alliance to name a few. Indya
Johnson and Nnenna Okorie were the lucky winners. Due to the great success of this event YMPJ will be hosting our 2nd annual greening initiative BBQ around the same time next year! Please contact Krystal Peartree or Dawn Henning for more information or questions.

Nnenna Okorie Indya Johnson

Youth Design "Water-friendly" Tree Pits

2008-08-27T13:13:00.022-04:00

We all know that trees need water to survive. So why does the City continue to design tree pits that purposely prevent water from entering them?!

This summer, while most teenagers relaxed and recharged for another school year, young people at Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ) participated in a design competition aimed at combating the issue of Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO). A CSO event occurs during rain events when the sewers cannot convey the sewage and all the stormwater runoff to the wastewater treatment plant, resulting in the discharge of raw sewage into our waterbodies. A method of preventing CSO occurrences would be to keep stormwater runoff from entering the sewers during rain events, either by infiltrating the water through green, open spaces or storing it for other beneficial uses such as watering gardens or toilet flushing. The 1^st Annual Street Tree Pit Design Competition, sponsored by Home Depot, challenged youth to not only beautify but redesign street tree pits in order to enhance their stormwater capture capabilities.

The youth within the CSO Community Builiding and Organizing Program (CBOP) had performed street tree stewardship around the Bronx River neighborhood all season long. Stewardship activities include removing garbage and debris from tree pits, loosening soil for greater infiltration, adding compost for nutrients, planting small plants if available, and applying a thick layer of mulch to retain moisture. The design competition took these activities one step further by requiring an enhancement that would allow the street tree pit to capture stormwater runoff from the streets, preventing it from entering the sewers and contributing to a CSO event.

The CSO CBOP was split into two groups of 5-6 youth and each group was assigned a street tree pit with a broken curb. Both designs included the use of french drains, or buried pipes that would convey the water from the street into the pit. The groups were judged based on four categories; Physical Appearance, Design Concept, Explanation of Design, and Design Functionality of the final pit retrofits. Esteemed judges included Teresa Crimmens, Anne-Marie Runfola, and Damian Griffen of the Bronx River Alliance, and Henry LaJara of YMPJ, advised by the omnipotent Paul “Keep it on the Land” Mankiewicz of the Gaia Institute. Poised with a tough decision, the judges determined Group 1 to be stronger in Physical Appearance and Design Functionality whereas Group 2 excelled in Explanation of Design and Design Concept.

Congratulations CSO CBOP!!

Lets Celebrate in Unity!

2008-05-15T11:05:00.006-04:00

Come join us in our celebration of community diversity, unity and healthy living. On Saturday, May 17th, Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice will be hosting "It's My Park Day". Come and experience a fun filled day of music, dance, art and food in the South Bronx. Parents, bring your children. Children, bring you friends.

Health screenings, immigration services, employment information "Greening" workshops and more!

Time: 11am-4pm
Date: Saturday, May 17th
Location: El Parque De Los Ninos. Corner of Morrison and Westchester Ave.
Directions: 6 Train to Morrison/Soundview station

Nobody but a Bunch of Mothers

2008-05-07T17:13:00.003-04:00

Last Friday it was announced that Alexie Torres-Fleming, our fearless Executive Director, was honored with the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for New Ideas and Activism. This is a fitting honor for her example of in-place community empowerment and planning. And I am not just saying that because she signs our paychecks (drum fill)! Peggy Shepard, Executive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice received the 2008 Jane Jacobs Medal for Lifetime Leadership.

From Judith Rodin, President of the Rockefeller Foundation, who awards the medal:
“Yesterday, May 4th, was Jane Jacobs’ birthday. Today we are celebrating two individuals who follow the Jacobsean priniciple of upholding the needs of living communities in the urban, built environment, and as we approach Mother’s Day, I’m reminded that Robert Moses dismissed Jane Jacobs and her fellow protesters of the Lower Manhattan Expressway as ‘nobody but a bunch of mothers.’ With Peggy Shepard and Alexie Torres-Fleming we have two more mothers and extraordinary citizens who, like Jane, are bold activists who have successfully taken their principles to the streets.”

Congratulations Alexie, we are very proud of you and the work we all do together.

Golden Ball, 2006

What Matters

2008-04-25T10:41:00.003-04:00

I intended to write a short post about Arbor Day and our tree work today, but I am here in the office and we are all talking about the verdict in the Sean Bell trial that was announced this morning. NYPD officers were on trial for killing Sean and injuring his two friends on the night of his bachelor party, and all were found not-guilty. This case drew wide attention due to the overwhelming force used by the officers on the unarmed men (50 bullets were fired, with stray bullets entering a train station a football-field-length away and a private residence), and the personal tragedy experienced by the Bell family on the eve of Sean's wedding, and that of his fiancee Nicole Paultre and their baby daughter.

Why plant a million trees, why advocate for new parks, why develop affordable housing, why engage in these struggles if there is no justice -- of the most basic variety, that your life will not be recklessly taken -- for young people of color in this city? We pose this question to ourselves and to you.

Welcome to the Yard!

2008-04-23T15:47:00.002-04:00

Welcome to In Our Backyard, official blog of Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice's Center for Community Development and Planning! This is where you will find descriptions of our past, present and future projects, as well as a peek into the adventures we encounter along the way. Our work is focused in the Bronx River neighborhood of the South Bronx, but many of the forces that shape this community operate on a city, regional and national level. We hope our local work can serve as an example to other communities facing environmental injustice, housing instability and high unemployment. This blog will hopefully be a place where we can learn what is going on where you live too.

Today, in YMPJ's backyard, our pear tree is blooming its butt off. With Arbor Day approaching this Friday, I thought it might be fitting to open our blog with a short tour of what's happening back there that makes our tree so darn happy.

Pretty nice view, right? One tree in a narrow backyard with a small garage on the side. You might not think this is anything more than your average backyard, but it just so happens that what you see there is rain-chugging, air-scrubbing wildlife magnet. In OUR back yard we have installed three examples of Low Impact Development - ways to use rainwater as a resource on our property, instead of dumping it into the city's rickety old sewer system. In our backyard we have a rain barrel, a french drain and a rain garden.

The Rain Barrel

The water from the roof of the main house at YMPJ runs into a gutter above the backyard and down through a drain that we have modified slightly to connect to our rain barrel (instead of the sewer system). This is a 50gal drum that we purchased for about $200. I have seen discarded pickle barrels and old whiskey barrels also used for this purpose. Our rain collects here until we use it for watering plants - you can see it has a little spigot at bottom left. Currently, we have a hose connected to that spigot that leads to our rain garden...but more about that in a moment. In the future, we hope to install a few more barrels (you can string them together) and be able to store plenty of water for that dry stretch we get in August most years.

The French Drain

To catch the rain off of the garage roof, we have a french drain, which is essentially a pipe with holes in it buried in gravel. The pipe you see to the right here collects the rain from the garage roof and sends it through a buried pipe that crosses the yard to the rain garden. Under the rain garden, there is a gravel bed where the pipe ends and the water can percolate out into the gravel. It is the same idea as a septic system but smaller scale and just for rain in this case. We used PVC pipe because it was readily available and inexpensive, but there are other kinds of materials you can find in hardware and plumbing supply stores. The materials for this little number cost about $20.

The Rain Garden

Along one side of the yard, we have a rain garden that is a basin-shaped area of well-draining soil planted with water-loving yet dry-tolerant plants. We have Ironweed, Goldenrod, a few different Asters, Blueflag Iris, Beebalm and Blackeyed Susans planted there, all plants you might find along the banks of the Bronx River back in the day. The water from the main roof (via the rain barrel) and the water from the garage roof (via the french drain) all meet up here to feed the soil and the native plants.

In summary, the water that would normally go into the sewer system during a rainstorm is returned to the ground, just like it would have before these houses were here and the highways came through. While its in the ground, it can support vegetation that cools the air on hot days, improves air quality for all breathing creatures, and creates a home for birds and butterflies to return to. What it does NOT do once it gets into the ground is contribute in any way to Combined Sewer Overflow, the release of untreated sewage into local waterways like the Bronx River during wet weather. Ew.

The way we did this can be pretty easily modified and repeated in most backyards, front yards, side yards, parks, community gardens, street tree pits, and along most highways, parking lots, train tracks and airports. Considering how well these techniques can travel, what could that mean for green collar jobs, asthma rates and water quality? These are all topics that will be explored in future posts, and that inspire other projects we are working on. Stay tuned.

But back to the tree for a second. Seeing those blooms makes me think maybe our little backyard experiment is already making a difference. Replenishing native plants can help restore soil ecology in the whole yard. I like to imagine that on a day like today all those different plant roots are mingling down there with the sow bugs and earthworms, pushing through the soil particles and circulating the microbes and nutrients. And by some mysterious chemical pathway, the pear tree over in its corner of the yard knows something's up. The ground has been less dusty lately and it might be a good summer coming. Why not go ahead and bloom?