Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) was striving to connect the local needs for youth, green infrastructure and community-building through one integral solution. To do so, the Community Foundation provided CCE with a grant to expand their Onondaga Earth Corps program. The program engaged Syracuse teens to volunteer their time to plant trees, clean waterways and beautify public spaces in and around the south side of Syracuse.
In one of its projects this year, Onondaga Youth Corps volunteers put in a vegetable and perennial garden in front of the Cannon Street Community Center for use by the Center’s food service program. The Community Foundation also provided funding to purchase the plants used in the project through the Grants for Green Spaces Initiative.
Grants for Greens Spaces awards grants to support small, targeted initiatives that seek to improve neighborhood environments, while maximizing the skills, capabilities and resources available in the area.
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Onondaga Earth Corps, a youth development program that trains and employs area teens to perform urban forestry tasks in the Southside of Syracuse, is a partnership between Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Southside Neighborhood Action Group. The program’s primary objectives are to prepare youth for employment and leadership by teaching them to solve problems in a team and plan efficiently for projects, and to improve the local environment through natural resource protection and beautification techniques. Volunteer projects include regular maintenance of public spaces and the establishment of a healthy urban forest through annual tree plantings and care.