STEWARD TEAMS

Neighborhood Steward Teams are after-school programs run in collaboration with New Haven Public Schools and community based organizations.

Kids Explore! Kids Do! Kids Teach!
In after-school sessions twice a week, Teams look at their neighborhood as an ecosystem. They survey their community for open spaces, trees, wildlife, watercourses, pollution. They learn about ecology, biology and geology through hands-on-activities and identify environmental issues that need addressing. Youth then develop and implement community service action projects (C-SAP's) such as clean-ups, storm drain stenciling, flower planting and graffiti removal and ultimately create projects to educate the community about their work. Projects may include presentations, newsletters, school displays, development of our web page, etc.

See our motto KIDS EXPLORE! KIDS DO! KIDS TEACH! in action!

Partnerships with local environmental organizations and professionals are integral to our program, providing scientific expertise, guidance, and professional role models for youth.

WHERE ARE TEAMS LOCATED?
Each Team is hosted by a school or community-based organization. In exchange for the service of the program for its constituents, the host organization provides meeting space, assistance with recruitment, and sometimes funding. In February 2001, we began four TEAMS, including the Fair Haven Middle School Team, Jackie Robinson Middle School Team, and Katherine Brennan Elementary School Team and the Extreme Team, composed of older youth (7th to 9th grade) from the West Rock community.

Spring 2009 Neighborhood Steward Teams

• Barnard School
• John Martinez School (4th Grade)
• John Martinez School (5th Grade)
• Truman School
• Westville Manor

Past Teams

Fall 2008 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP (Community Service Action Project)
	Mutual Housing - George Street	Concerned about the effect smoking has on people’s bodies and the environment, youth cleaned up 1,400 cigarette butts in their community and created a book with pictures and information about why smoking is harmful.
	Hill Central	Youth created first-aid kits for the homeless.
	Barnard School	Youth worried about the harmful effect litter in West River Memorial Park could have on the many animals that use the park as a stopover habitat.  The cleaned up seven bags of trash (including one tattered tent!), five bags of recyclables and one shoebox full of broken glass!
	John Martinez School (4th grade)	Youth created numerous posters encouraging people to end the abuse of wild and domestic animals.
	John Martinez School (5th grade)	Youth addressed the problem of water pollution in their community by cleaning up their schoolyard to prevent litter from getting into storm drains and cleaning up the banks of the Quinnipiac and Mill rivers at Criscola Park.
	Westville Manor	Concerned about the upcoming winter and the fate of the many homeless people in New Haven, youth met with Mayor DeStefano to advocate for the needs of the homeless.
	Truman School	Concerned about the well-being of stray animals in their community, youth collected blankets and food for the New Haven Animal Shelter.

Spring 2008 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP (Community Service Action Project)
	Mutual Housing - George Street	Youth baked 75 homemade dog biscuits and collected 13 used/old blankets to donate to the New Haven Animal Shelter.
	Hill Central	Youth planted four beds of flowers and added fresh compost to revitalize their school’s courtyard.
	Barnard School	Youth collaborated with the team at John Martinez School to collect canned goods, blankets and diapers to give to Life Haven, a transitional shelter for women and children.
	John Martinez School	Youth collaborated with the team at Barnard School to collect canned goods, blankets and diapers to give to Life Haven, a transitional shelter for women and children.
	Westville Manor	Youth removed 30 large bags of trash from the woods behind the housing development and several pounds of discarded large furniture.
	Poplar Street	After realizing that youth have nowhere close to play, participants advocated with housing development managers for a basketball hoop in their community.
	Truman School	Youth revitalized two overgrown plots behind their school and planted 63 flowers to beautify their community.

Fall 2007 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP (Community Service Action Project)
	Mutual Housing - George Street	Youth collected over 400 cigarette butts and 2 bags of trash from around their apartment building.
	Hill Central	Youth identified graffiti as their problem and created a comic book to hand out in order to educate others about the issue. They learned that graffiti is an art form and is not always bad.
	Barnard School	Youth identified litter and trash as a problem and decided to clean up their neighboring West River Memorial Park.
	John Martinez School	Youth identified litter and garbage as their problem and decided to do a clean up.
	Westville Manor	Youth saw that a memorial garden in their neighborhood was in poor shape. They decided to clean up the garden in addition to planting bulbs and designing a new sign for the garden. Also, in collaboration with local community gardeners, youth harvested vegetables and helped prepare the garden for the fall.
	Poplar Street	Youth identified stray animals as a problem and decided to volunteer at a shelter. But they found out that they had to be 18 to volunteer, so they decided to address another problem and clean up litter.
	Truman School	Youth collected 25 pounds of glass and 4 large garbage bags of trash in front of and around Truman Elementary.

Spring 2007 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP
	Mutual Housing Team	Youth planted flowers around their building to beautify the community.
	Hill Central - 4th Grade Team	Youth identified litter in their community as a problem and organized a clean-up. Youth learned about point source pollution and non-point source pollution.
	Hill Central - 5th Grade Team	Youth identified the lack of recycling bins in their classrooms as the problem to address. They made 35 recycling bins reusing cardboard boxes. They learned about resource conservation and the 3 R’s.
	John Martinez School Team	Youth painted over the graffiti on the building across from the school’s play field. They learned that perseverance pays off and that helping out is rewarding.
	Westville Manor Team 1	Youth focused on the problem of cigarette butts as litter. During their cleanup, youth picked up over 1000 cigarette butts.
	Westville Manor Team 2	In collaboration with New Haven Land Trust and local community gardeners, youth planted vegetable and flower seeds that they later transplanted to a new garden bed they helped build.
	Poplar Street Team	Youth planted flowers in the empty beds of their new housing development, with supplies donated by Mutual Housing.

Fall 2006 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP
	Hill Central - 4th Grade Team	Youth designed postcards to educate their community about negative grafitti.
	Hill Central - 5th Grade Team	Youth addressed storm drain pollution by painting signs that read "Don't Dump, Drains to Long Island Sound."
	John Martinez Team	Youth beautified a local greenspace.
	Mutual Housing Team	Youth planted flowers to beautify their neighborhood.
	Westville Manor Team	Youth painted over graffiti in their neighborhood and posted signs to educate the community about their project

Spring 2006 Neighborhood Steward Teams

	Team	C-SAP
	Hill Central - 4th Grade Team	Both teams worked together to beautify areas planted by last season's NST, by planting more plants and cleaning up the flower beds.
	Hill Central - 5th Grade Team
	John Martinez School Team	Youth created a butterfly garden in the John Martinez courtyard
	Mutual Housing/New Horizons Team	Youth stenciled storm drains to discourage littering and educate the community about non-point source pollution.
	Westville Manor Team	Youth performed several clean-ups of the woods near their community.
	Wintergreen School Team	Youth collected litter around Lake Wintergreen.

Fall 2005
Hill Central School Team 1	Hill Central School Team 2	Mutual Housing/New Horizon's Team
John Martinez School Team	West Rock Team

Spring 2005
West Rock Team	Celentano Elementary School Team	John Martinez School Team
Hill Central School Team 1	Hill Central School Team 2	Mutual Housing/New Horizon's Team

Fall 2004
Brookside Community	Celentano Elementary School	Kathrine Brennan Elementary School
Hill Central School Team 1	Hill Central School Team 2	John Martinez School

Spring 2004
Brookside Community	Qunnipiac Terrace Community	Kathrine Brennan Elementary School	Mutual Housing - New Horizons
Truman Elementary School	Vincent Mauro Elementary School	Celentano Elementary School

Fall 2003
Katherine Brennan	Jackie Robinson Middle School	Brookside Team	Sheridan Middle School	Vincent Mauro

Spring 2003
Katherine Brennan	Jackie Robinson Middle School	Brookside Team	Farnham Neighborhood House	Vincent Mauro

Fall 2002
Katherine Brennan	Jackie Robinson MS	Brookside Team	West Hills Team	Casa Otonal Team

Spring 2002
Katherine Brennan Elementary School		Brookside Team	West Hills Team	Eastern Circle Team
Fall 2001
		Click to See Highlights
Katherine Brennan Elementary School
Spring 2001
Fair Haven Middle School		Jackie Robinson Middle School	Katherine Brennan Elementary School	Brookside/ Westville Manor Extreme Team

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