The Estuary Exploration Program Connections Between Water and Community: The North Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program

The Estuary Exploration Program Connections Between Water and Community: The North Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program The Human Impacts Institute Primary Contact: Tara Deporte, Executive Director 312 S 3rd Street, # 7, Brooklyn, NY 11211 (646) 932-4283 TaraDePorte@HumanImpactsInstitute.org Secondary Contact: Melissa Mitchell, Program Coordinator 7401 Ridge Blvd 5F, Brooklyn, NY 11209 (631) 495-3478 Programs@HumanImpactsInstitute.org Project Summary: The Human Impacts Institute (HII) is a non-profit organization--with 501(c)3 fiscal sponsorship based in Brooklyn, NYC, whose mission is to inspire engagement and action in environmental issues and healthy community development through hands-on education, creative outreach, and coalition building. In 2011, HII provided over 250 hours of education and outreach programs--reaching over 14,000 people in NYC and other communities. HII s North Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program will invite community members to take part in free environmental education workshops at one of the only soft-edge waterfront sites on the East River: East River State Park (ERSP). Workshops will educate and empower the public through hands-on, place based workshops centered on water issues that affect the the low-income and minority populations of North Brooklyn, highlighting cultural diversity and the estuary experience as well as human impacts on the Estuary. Workshops will creatively incorporate community-based lenses into estuary education, including topics such as: The Waterfront and You: Community Impacts; Clean Waterways=Healthy Community; Native Species and Stewardship; Environmental Justice, Water and Advocacy; Communities Re-envisioning the Waterfront. In order to ensure the long-lasting educational impact of workshops, the Human Impacts Institute (HII)* will develop an educational tour of the park through creative, multilingual signage, which will establish existing estuary friendly features of the park as teaching sites for visitors, school groups, and workshops. *NOTE: HII has not received funding from HEP in the past. Goals and Rationale: Over the past 10 years, North Brooklyn has become a major development area in terms of housing and restaurants. With the rapid development and growth of the community, there are numerous risks to the watershed, especially the East River. These risks include: Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO s); harmful land use practices; litter; and lack of vegetation and green space, which leads to increased runoff. North Brooklyn is also bordered by Newtown Creek, which is was of the most polluted industrial Superfund sites in America. With a long history of limited waterfront access and estuary pollution, the North Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program will highlight the importance of the estuary and estuary health in the community and will provide educational enrichment for experiencing a local estuary resource (East River State Park). Our program goals are: 1. Provide East River State Park with a community-specific, environmental education program: Currently, ERSP does not have any ongoing environmental education programs. The North 1

Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program workshops will enhance the community s understanding and experience of the waterfront and estuary, while providing creative hands-on activities-for all ages-on water issues. 2. Establish existing features* of the park as educational resources for visitors and school/community groups with educational signage. The primary motivation behind the program is the need for increased public understanding of NYC waterways, the challenges the estuaries face, and resulting impacts on communities. Specifically, the program targets the low-income, minority North Brooklyn population surrounding the project site as an area that will greatly benefit from this type of programming (see Communication and Engagement section for more info) We expect to accomplish goal (1) with a series of five hands-on, public workshops in September- October 2012 and April-July 2013, which address NYC waterways, ties between water quality and community health, water quality exploration, land-water pollution connections, and community environmental action. These workshops are based upon already-developed curriculum that HII has developed, and improved, with community members over the past two years. Regarding Goal (2), HII will also use HEP funds to create educational outreach materials, which will provide the public with a better understanding of already-existing East River State Park resources, including: 1) A rainwater harvesting demonstration site; 2) Outdoor composting demonstration site, 3) Native species gardens, and 4) Solar lighting. HII will develop multilingual (estimated English, Spanish, and Polish), educational signage for these three areas of the Park to explain their purpose, replicability, and importance to estuary and community health. These signs will include detailed sections on: a) Impact of park resource on estuary; b) DIY or low-cost replication instructions; c) Related activities for park visitors (i.e. a scavenger hunt for native species identification); and d) Link to other related community resources. The benefits of HII s estuary exploration program will be both environmental and social. HII s environmental education programs will help community members connect their personal lives and experience of the community to the NY-NJ Harbor Estuary. This program will also emphasize the strong link between on-land actions and the health of our waterways. The estuary education program will ensure that community members of all ages will have exposure to a deeper experience of the waterfront and local greenspace. The educational signage component of the project will ensure year-round, long lasting educational resources for the park and for the North Brooklyn waterfront. As there are an estimated 11,000 visitors to ERSP during the grant cycle, the educational components of the program will not only impact hundreds of local program participants, but have the opportunity to impact tens-of-thousands of NYC waterfront visitors over the next few years. As HII strongly believes knowledge is power: this program will give participants the power to make positive impacts on the Estuary. Taking part in sustainable activities, highlighting the Parks already existing green infrastructure and creating more sustainably-aware community members will ensure a decrease in issues harming the New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary system, such as pollution and stormwater runoff. Work Plan: Beyond current park users, HII will mobilize the immediate North Brooklyn community, an underserved community that has accrued numerous risks to the watershed (Combined Sewer Overflows, harmful land use practices, and lack of vegetation and green space) over the past 10 years. The median income is $16,000 and 75 percent of residents live on or below the poverty level. For local communities, HII will develop posters to be placed at local community gardens, community bulletin boards, and community centers. HII will also post an ad in two of the local free community papers. HII will also outreach in collaboration with our community partners working in North Brooklyn, including The Green School, Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, El Puente, and the Havemeyer Street Group, but also 2

outreach to HII s ongoing citywide partners, including: MillionTrees NYC (we run our stewardship program in partnership with them and are on the Education and Stewardship Advisory Board), The Solid Waste Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M) Coalition (HII are members), and Metropolitan Waterfront Coalition (HII are members of the Education and East River Task Force). In addition to outreach, HII will promote the education series using social media, our website (www.humanimpactsinstitute.org) and our quarterly newsletter (reaching over 4,000). HEP materials can be distributed at all workshops and we will also incorporate HEP activities in relevant parts of curricula. HII will state the HEP s role in making the workshops possible during outreach and during the workshops. HII will also address topics in HEP s Action Plan (2011-2015) during environmental education workshops, including improving public access to the waterfront (ERSP is a great example of this), increasing community involvement & environmental education, and decreasing pollution in the Harbor Estuary. Furthermore, the urban estuary education program at ESRP will be applicable to other waterfront sites along the NYC estuary. It will not only increase the community s understanding and familiarity of the Harbor Estuary, but it will also introduce ways in which New Yorkers can be proactive in mitigating the pollution that enters these waterways. Course of action: The specific actions necessary to carry out the project from start to finish are: Gather participants/outreach to the community through social media, community and citywide partners, and local advertising (performed by HII Staff), Outreach to local businesses for participation incentive prizes (HII staff), Obtain materials for workshops (performed by HII Staff), Lead five workshops (HII Staff), Follow-up with workshop participants for feedback (HII staff), Award workshop qualifying participants with certificates at community celebration (HII staff), Work with ERSP staff to develop signage appropriate for park (HII and ERSP staff). Print signs (HII staff) Install signs (HII staff and ERSP Staff), and further maintenance of signs (ERSP staff). After the initial five workshops, ERSP staff members and community partners will have free access to workshop curricula for future use. (HII Staff) Partnerships: HII will be partnering with East River State Park (See appendix 1. Partnership Agreement). HII is primarily responsible for teaching workshops, drafting curricula and supplying signage. The ERSP will assist in maintaining educational sites and additional workshops starting in Fall 2013. HII has partnered with ERSP for the past two years for stewardship and environmental workshops hosted at the Park. Communication and engagement: Our target audience is members of the North Brooklyn low-income community and park attendees. Through outreach and promotion, we seek to attract at least 20 North Brooklyn residents at each workshop beyond park attendees. We expect additional city dwellers to also attend workshops based on ESRP foot traffic and our outreach to city-wide partners. Regarding goal (2), our enhancements to the compost pile, rain garden, native species habitat, and solar lighting will reach roughly 11,000 new yorkers during the grant cycle, based on foot traffic in the park. We plan on recruiting in the neighborhoods surrounding HII office, located on 312 South 3rd street, otherwise known as the Southside. This is a predominantly Latino, low-income community faced with high asthma rates and some of the lowest per capita green spaces in the City. We have a network of community groups and local institutions that we frequently work with whom will provide participants for 3

the program, such as local high school students from the Green School and our partners at El Puente, who specialize in outreach to the Southside community. To ensure participants remain engaged and invested in the program, we will rely on HII s engaging curricula that makes use of creative projects, lively discussion, and hands on activities. The curricula that will be used in this program has been developed specifically for the North Brooklyn community over the past two years. HII has worked with NYCEF and other community groups to develop water-based education programs to address local pollution and environmental justice issues. We have had two years of feedback and development of the estuary program and are have also piloted components of it in past years at ERSP. For this program, HII will update the curriculum to be place-specific to East River State Park s location. All curricula will be free and available to the public on HII s website and with hard copies available at the Park s office and at community organizations offices. As HII acknowledges that it can be hard for low-income community members to take the time out of their day for educational workshops, HII will work with local businesses to incentivize workshop participants with free seedlings and Eco-incentives. As part of HII s ongoing Ecopreneur Program (HII s sustainable business program), we have established close relationships with many North Brooklyn business owners--from restaurants to bike shops. We plan to ask these local businesses to donate a total of five prizes to be raffled off at each workshop, such as a free dinner for two at a local restaurant. Additionally, to encourage green job growth and training for participants, HII will provide a community stewardship certificate to participants who attend at least four out of five workshops. This will allow participants to build their resumes and be eligible for green jobs in the future. Content: The take home message for the North Brooklyn Estuary Exploration Program is that estuary health and community health are dependant on one another. Through getting community members involved in hands-on stewardship and education workshops the Estuary s quality will be improved. We will communicate this through the activities and educational materials available through the program. The workshops will allow participants to directly experience and explore their impacts and the role of the Estuary in their lives. The signage will be a long-lasting educational tool for park visitors to deepen their understanding of land-based choices and their impacts on the Estuary. Location: The program will take place at East River State Park (ERSP) which is located in Williamsburg Brooklyn, NY. East River State Park is a 7-acre park located in North Brooklyn. It is a main hub for many Brooklyn residents because of its view of Manhattan s skyline, public events, shoreline access and location right next to the midtown Manhattan ferry. ERSP s shoreline access is a perfect location to promote access to the East River and enhance learning about this segment of the shoreline. 4

Community Connections: As HII s offices are located at 312 S. 3rd st. in the Southside neighborhood of Williamsburg, therefore, we have a very strong relationship and interest in the surrounding North Brooklyn area. Our NYC-based programs primarily take place in North Brooklyn and our education and outreach events cater to local residents. The majority of our staff live in Brooklyn and have over 10 years of personal experience in the changing needs of the community. Given that the majority of residents live on or below the poverty level, HII makes all of the community events free. The subject of the events- lack of green space, environmental justice, water quality, etc. - are all directly relevant to the area. In 2011, HII reached thousands of North Brooklyn residents through our community events and educational workshops. Continuity: This project will be useful for future environmental education activities at ERSP. Regarding goal (2), the signage will make the function and importance of the native species habitat, outdoor compost, solar lighting, and rainwater harvesting station explicit and available, and will invite the public to explore each site. As previously mentioned, signage will be provided in both english and spanish since the Williamsburg neighborhood has a large Latino population (with potential for Polish translations, as well). Longevity of the project will be insured by encouraging park staff to participate in HII estuary workshop series so Parks staff can provide more depth in visitor experience in the future. In the long term, HII will continue to use the park for estuary education programs, as well as tree stewardship events and education programs regarding rainwater harvesting, native species, solar energy, and composting. HII & ERSP look forward to continuing their partnership involving estuary education and stewardship. We have an ongoing relationship with the park and will continue to fundraise to ensure environmental education is a permanent component of the ERSP experience. Lastly, the workshops will be open-source and easily adaptable for use at other parks or green spaces along the Estuary. Environmental monitoring and data collection: HII s data collection will be strictly for educational means at the time of each workshop. HII will not post or publish findings for public access in any capacity therefore the need for a QAPP is not necessary. Project Results: Expected outputs for the project include signage and a substantial estuary education program established at the Park. Four weather-resistant signs will be produced by the end of the project for ERSP s existing compost demonstration site, native species habitat, solar lighting and rainwater harvesting site. 100 flyers will be created to post up at businesses, community centers, and ERSP prior to the workshops to advertise and publicize the program. We will also print 100 hard copies of curriculum to be kept at local 5

community centers, schools, libraries, and the Park for those community members who may not have access to online resources. We also expect our five workshops will reach at least 100 people and will increase awareness, change behavior, and build skills for urban environmental stewardship and green jobs. The goal of the program is to increase estuary awareness and alter the behaviors of community members to be more conscious of how they can personally affect their surrounding waters. With over 11 years of NYC hands-on environmental education experience, HII staff have a long record of connecting environmental issues with the local community. By personalizing the impacts of the community on the estuary--and vice versa--we will engage hundreds of community members in a great depth of experience and respect for the Estuary in our community. As we are also specifically targeting cultural diversity as a component of the workshops, our program will also allow community members to exchange stories of their Estuary experience and the value of the resource in their lives. By the end of the project, these five workshops will be available to be used at other areas along the Harbor Estuary shoreline. The workshops will also make a physical improvement to the estuary environment, through hands-on activities such as caring for trees and native plants for shoreline preservation and clearing litter. Project Evaluation: The objective of the program links to the HEP Action Goals of improving and protecting the Hudson Estuary because the program will explore pollution prevention and restoration approaches within the local community of North Brooklyn through education. Essentially, through the exploration program, HII will promote a comprehensive understanding of local water issues that affect the low-income and minority community of North Brooklyn. HII is working towards improving the water quality of the East River and greater NYC waterways through community outreach and hands-on involvement. North Brooklyn residents will be educated on diverse sustainability measures and explore their impacts and connections to the East River. This knowledge will allow residents to make more sustainable decisions in their personal life as well as throughout their community. Exploration, education, and use of the demonstration sites at ERSP will have direct environmental impacts on the waterfront by reducing runoff from Park s buildings, reducing erosion (by supporting the health of native beach plantings with stewardship), and decreasing litter in the waterways. In that ERSP has thousands of visitors each year, we estimate that the environmental education workshops and signage at demonstration sites will reach at least 10,000 community members in 2012-2013. Although environmental education impacts are often difficult to measure in a short-term sense for environmental results, the outcomes that education ensures in terms of long-lasting habit changes will have positive, impacts on the local waterways condition. HII will track our progress toward achieving our goal by following-up with workshop participants involved in the workshops. We will also ask participants for personal feedback via email and at workshops (as applicable). We will meet with ERSP staff to discuss the public response to signage, view foot traffic records, and any feedback from community members once the project period has ended. Finally, HII will gauge success of the project upon the number of participants in the program, as well as with final surveys at the workshops close. These surveys will be presented to participants and will be designed to attain information on what those involved have learned about NYC waterways, potential lifestyle changes, and their overall enjoyment of the program. As HII has a long track-record of creative output for our programs, HII will do video interviews with participants and park visitors for qualitative responses to the program. These videos will be available to view on the HII website and blogs as community PSAs about the waterfront and their experience of the estuary learning experience (for examples of HII videos, please visit YouTube.com/HumanImpactsInst ) HII will also provide fun tips at workshops for how participants, their friends, and their families can continue caring for NYC waterways. 6

We will not need to develop new curricula for this program. We have existing curricula on the subjects for the water education series that we will be adapting and adjusting to fit the needs and desires of the North Brooklyn Community and Park. This will be a new program but HII has been involved in environmental stewardship at East River State Park for over two years and has piloted environmental education program there. We have done estuary education in the community, but have not done a series of programs site-specific to this park. This program will be a different initiative because it targets New York-New Jersey Harbor Estuary education specifically, focusing on spreading the goals of HEP. HII will be installing signage to promote and educate on the already existing steps ERSP has taken to be more sustainable. Signage is one component to HII s project. The main output of the program is to introduce an ongoing environmental education component to the park. At the primary level, this entails hands on public workshops. On a secondary level, signage is needed to inform the public on existing features, explicit in function and purpose. We will engage the public by consulting with partner community groups on several options for the signs- in this respect, the community can determine the best way to describe and display information. We also will include both English and Spanish translations (possibly Polish, as well) since many community members native language is Spanish. Expertise and experience: Tara DePorte is the Executive Director and Founder of Human Impacts Institute (see Appendix 2 for more details). Tara has lived in Brooklyn for over 10 years. With a BA in Human Impacts on Ecosystems from the University of Virginia and a MA in Climate and Society from Columbia University, Tara s formal education has focused on issues of sustainable development, society, and the environment. Tara founded the Human Impacts Institute in 2010, seeing a need for creative approaches to sustainability and global coalition building. Before starting the Human Impacts institute, Tara worked for 9 years as Program Director for a NYC community-based organization developing opportunities for inner-city youth to learn about, and develop responsibility for, their local environment. She has also served as a global representative of The Climate Reality Project since 2006, presenting to thousands of people about climate change. Tara is also an adjunct professor of Environmental Studies, Policy, Sustainable Development and Visual Arts the New School (NYC) and Webster University, Leiden (Leiden, Netherlands), and a guest lecturer at Columbia University (NYC). Tara will be responsible for the management of the program and the co-developing the program with the Program Coordinator. She will also co-lead the education programs with the Program Coordinator and community partners. Melissa Mitchell is Program Coordinator and Environmental Educator at HII (see Appendix 3 for more details). In May 2011, Melissa graduated from Eugene Lang College at the New School with a BA in Environmental Studies. She wrote her undergraduate thesis on creating a program model to facilitate street tree stewardship programs for high school students. In addition to this, she is a certified Citizen Pruner by Trees NY and has worked for many years in helping to develop and lead environmental education programs in NYC. Melissa also has experience in providing consulting services to small businesses for "greening" their facilities, analyzing local incentive programs, and doing outreach about issues of sustainability and the environment. She has been working and interning with environmental non profits for the past three years in NYC. In 2011, Melissa led water quality workshops with Greenpoint Cub Scouts, tree stewardship workshops with the Greenpoint YMCA and North Brooklyn community members, and cooking oil recycling outreach with high school students from the International School in Queens. Melissa will be responsible for managing partnerships, scheduling, monitoring and evaluation of the program. She will also work with HII s Executive Director to co-develop curriculum, outreach materials, and lead workshops in the program. Project schedule: 7

Preparation phase: October 2012 Meeting with ERSP and HII to discuss what should be on signage: purpose, replicability, and importance. HII will consult with community groups on how to best relay information about demonstration sites. Signage will also be provided in Spanish. Participants: HII Staff, ERSP Director, local community groups Brainstorming of incentives to get community members involved in 5-series workshops Participants: HII Staff and Interns Outreach phase: November 2012-March 2013 Advertising the free workshops to local businesses, HII partners, community groups, and community members. This will include social media, flyers, and passing information of the Estuary Exploration workshop program at our other fall/winter events. Participants: HII Staff and Interns, ERSP Staff Construction phase: March 2013 Install signage for rainwater harvesting demonstration site, Outdoor composting demonstration site, and Native species gardens. Participants: HII Staff & ERSP Staff Workshop phase: April 2013 The Waterfront and You-Community Impacts: This workshop gives an overview of the personal experience of the estuary of community members, past, present and future, highlighting the role of the estuary in the diverse cultures of the community. It will also introduce key impacts of community members on the healthy and well being of the estuary and each other. This will take place throughout the Park. Participants: Local community members, Park Visitors, ERSP Staff, HII Staff & Interns Clean Waterways=Healthy Community: Participants will learn about the effects of water quality on humans and the surrounding environment. This topic will be explored at the rainwater harvesting demonstration site and the soft-edge water access point to link on-land actions to water pollution and conservation. Participants will also explore water quality through basic water quality testing (no publishing or output of data). Participants: Local community members, Park Visitors, ERSP Staff, HII Staff & Interns May 2013 Native Species & Stewardship: Participants will enhance the native species garden at the park through weeding, mulching and planting (as applicable). They will also learn proper street tree care techniques, how healthy trees relate to decreasing storm water run off thus mitigating pollution in the estuary, and finally, participants will set out to care for trees in and around the park with HII and East River State Park staff. This topic will take place at ERSP s composting site. Participants: Local community members, Park Visitors, ERSP Staff, HII Staff & Interns June 2013 Environmental Justice, Water and Advocacy: Participants will have a chance to design their own creative outreach projects. These will include writing letters on estuary issues to local officials, creating informational posters, and designing simple lesson plans on "How to teach parents/friends about waterways in NYC. This workshop will take place throughout the Park. Participants: Participants: Local community members, Park Visitors, HII Staff & Interns. 8

July 2013 Communities Re-envisioning the Waterfront: This final workshop will give participants a chance to creatively explore what they would like to see on the North Brooklyn waterfront. Drawing on examples from cities around the world, workshop participants will draw thier visions for the local estuary. This workshop will take place throughout the Park. Participants: Community members from workshops, ERSP Staff, HII Staff & Interns Estuary Celebration: Award participating community members with gifts donated by local businesses, food, drink, certificates of completion, and opportunities to connect with other community members on estuary and community issues. Location TBD. Participants: Community members from workshops, ERSP Staff, HII Staff & Interns Follow-up and M&E: HII staff will outreach to workshop participants and gather data from parks visitors on the impacts of the program. Maintenance phase: HII and ERSP staff will be involved in the long-term maintenance of environmental education workshops and signage. HII plans to host environmental education workshops yearly at the Park, focusing on community interests and needs in terms of sustainability. Participants: HII Staff and ERSP staff Project Budget: BUDGET CATEGORY FUNDS REQUESTED FUNDS FROM TOTAL FROM HEP OTHER SOURCES* BUDGET A. PERSONNEL (list individual staff member, task, and hours or % time) TOTAL: $ 4,500 $ 6,000 $10,500 Executive Director: 50 hours@$60/hr 3,000 3,000 Program Coordinator: 75 hours @ 20/hr 1,500 1,500 HII Education Interns (2) 1,000 (In-Kind) 1,000 Andrew Bogart (ERSP Director) 3,000 3,000 ERSP Maintenance Crew: 2,000 2,000 B. FRINGE BENEFITS % of (e.g., 10% of total personnel costs) TOTAL: C. TRAVEL (estimate number/purpose of trips below) TOTAL: $ 450 $600 $ 1,050 $ 100 $ $ 100 Metrocards for HII interns $ 100 $ $100 D. EQUIPMENT $0 $0 $0 E. SUPPLIES TOTAL: $1,700 $500 $2,200 Seedling starter kits $100 $100 Water Quality Testing Kits (for education purposes only) $ 100 $ $100 Signage for each demonstration sites $ 1,000 $ $1,000 9

Teaching Supplies (pens, paper, markers, etc) $ 150 $ $150 Printing & Copying for outreach $ 150 $ $150 Refreshments for certificate celebration at local venue (TBD) $200 $200 Eco-incentives for workshop participants from local businesses $500 $500 F. CONTRACTS (identify & itemize below) $0 $0 $0 G. OTHER $ 500 $ $ 500 Two ads in local newspapers on program $ 500 $ $500 H. TOTAL DIRECT COSTS (SUM OF A- G) I. INDIRECT COSTS % of (e.g., 10% of total direct costs) TOTAL: J. TOTAL PROJECT COST (SUM OF H+I) Appendix 1. Support Letter East River State Park $7,250 $7,100 $14,350 $ 725 $ 710 $1,435 $ 7,975 $7,810 $15,785 10

Appendix 2. Tara DePorte, HII Executive Director and Founder, Excerpts from Resume Select Professional Activities Human Impacts Institute, Global Founder and Executive Director 2010-present Webster University, Netherlands Adjunct Professor 2008-present Develop and instruct Graduate and Undergraduate courses in policy, environment, human rights, and creative engagement. The New School, NYC Adjunct Professor, 2011-present Develop and instruct a courses for Undergraduate Students in the Environmental Studies Program concerning environmental decision-making and action. School of International and Public Affairs & Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Columbia University, NYC Visiting Lecturer and Assistant Teacher, 2006-present Lower East Side Ecology Center, NYC Program Director, 2005-2010 Director of Environmental Education, 2001-2004 United Nations Development Program, Mexico City, Mexico, NY, NY, and Bogotá, Colombia Consultant, Best Practices in Water and Sanitation, Spring 2006 Education Columbia University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, NYC Master of Arts, Climate and Society, 2005 Graduate University of Virginia, College of Arts and Sciences, Charlottesville, VA Bachelor of Arts with Distinction, 2001 Graduate Interdisciplinary Distinguished Majors Program: Human Impacts on Ecosystems Select Awards and Honors Million Trees Program, City of New York, NYC Advisory, Stewardship, and Education Committee Member, 2009-present The Climate Project, Global Official Trainee and Presenter, 2007-present Greenest New Yorker, NYC Statewide finalist, 2011 Roger Tory Peterson Nature Education Achievement Awards Program, National 11

Blanche Hornbeck Citation for Outstanding Work in Nature Education, 2009 Selected as national leader in place-based, nature-based education. United Nations Development Program, Global Appointee to the Environment Expert Roster 2006-present NY Soil and Water Conservation District, NYC NY Soil and Water Conservation Steward, 2001-2005 Hearst Endowment and the Earthwatch Institute, Barbados, West Indies Earthwatch Education Fellow, Project: Hawksbill Turtles of Barbados, 2003 River Rally, Stevenson, WA Fellow, 2003 Catskill Watershed Association, Catskills, NY Catskill Watershed Education Fellow, 2003 Project: Issues in Sustainable Forestry and NYC Drinking Water New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, NYC Grantee, 2003 Project: Science and Civics Sustaining Wildlife Workshop NY/NJ Harbor Estuary Program, Hoboken, NJ Grantee, 2002 Project: NY/NJ Harbor Monitoring Appendix 3. Melissa Mitchell Selected Resume Job Experience Program Coordinator & Environmental Educator Human Impacts Institute Managing and maintaining programs Grant Writing Building relationships with partners, volunteers and funders Curriculum Development Leading environmental workshops with youth Community Development Spring 2011- Current Administrative Assistant LYMI, Corporate Sept. 2011-April 2012 Assisting in finance management Creating excel spreadsheets of pending invoices & accounts payable Working closely with accountant and office manager Managing recycling and composting within office Internships: Environmental Educator Intern Lower East Side Ecology Center Summer 2010 Led environmental workshops for public school students and community Water quality testing and sewage system instructor for students 12

Built strong relationships with LES community Hosted free fishing clinics at East River Environmental Consultant Intern Lower East Side Ecology Center Fall 2009 EcoBizNYC program: Consultant for small businesses in East Village Involved in canvassing, updating Google docs, meetings with ConEd & NYSERDA, conferences, and workshops Farming Internship Balsams Organic Farm Summer 2009 East End Community Organics, East Hampton, NY Full time, hands-on farming experience Education University of Connecticut Women Empowerment through Social Entrepreneurship Current Certificate Program Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts New York, NY B.A. Environmental Studies- 3.61 GPA May, 2011 Deans List 2008-2011 Deans Scholarship 2008-2009 Lang College Scholarship 2008-2011 Bard College Scholarship 2007 C.A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Grant 2010 Skills: Proficient in SPSS statistics & Microsoft Office. Basic experience with GIS, Illustrator, and Photoshop. 13