General Overview
The Boston Project, in conjunction with the Codman Square NDC, will launch a 16-week internship program in the winter of 2008 for ten (10) youth residing in our immediate neighborhood, focused on developing young champions for park and open space needs within the Codman Square community.
The Parks Internship Program will provide meaningful employment and equip youth with advocacy skills to raise public awareness and civic engagement in open space and related environmental issues while benefiting our neighborhood by establishing a Friends Group for the Elmhurst Street Children’s Park and creating a new web presence for Codman Square parks.
Background
Given the timing of events surrounding the construction of the Elmhurst site, we believe this upcoming academic year (2007-2008) is a critical time to capture and maximize community involvement and support for our parks. As a result, The Boston Project developed a summer ‘Park Patrol’ internship involving twelve neighborhood youth in hands-on participation in park revitalization with an urban forester, assessments of Codman Square parks and local fundraising activities. We realize, however, that emphasizing civic engagement and good stewardship of open spaces is a year-round task. Our desire is for six of our summer interns and an additional 4 new recruits to begin part-time work during the academic year in our Park Patrol Internship Program, which will build upon our summer achievements while possessing a new emphasis on enlarging community interest and commitment to engagement in our parks (particularly in the areas of non-traditional programming and maintenance by residents).
