Solar Youth, Inc.

The Katherine Brennan Steward Team focused their neighborhood exploration on learning about the local brooks of the West Rock community. They did this through hiking, canoeing (with New Haven Parks Dept. Riverkeeper), and hands-on lessons that taught about the watershed and water cycle.

As the Team explored the local watershed, they identified LITTER and dumping as a major environmental problem. So they planned and executed a C-SAP: a CLEAN-UP at the convergence of Wintergreen and Belden Brooks, next to the Winslow Augustine Park, Clarence Rogers School and Brookside public housing development. They removed over 500 pounds of debris, including several broken bikes.

Peter Davis the Riverkeeper was incredibly grateful for their work.

But the kids knew that that would not SOLVE the problem of litter. It was more complicated.

One of the contributors to the problem was that there were no trash cans in the Park. They had been stolen or thrown in the river long ago. SO...

The Team attended a "Mayor's Night Out" event in their community. At the event, they told Mayor John DeStefano about the litter problem. They asked for his help in acquiring trash-cans (the kind that cannot be removed) for their park, and that they be emptied regularly.

With the assistance of Parks Director Robert Levine, three permanent trash cans were placed in the park. According to youth, they are emptied regulary. GOOD JOB TEAM!

Finally, as their Kids Teach! project - where they teach others what they have learned and/or accomplished, they voted on teaching their community about the local watershed.

William Winfrey had the idea of making a postcard that could be given out to local schools and community groups. The group then drew a map of the area, including the three housing developments, schools, parks, roads and brooks - which are all part of the West River Watershed.

If you would like to order a pack of 10 postcards for $2.50, contact us. Proceeds go directly to future projects of the Katherine Brennan Steward Team.