Site-1
Keney Park Urban Agriculture Education Site
Engagement
KPSP engages the community in a variety of areas including, health and nutrition education, landscaping, forest management, waste stream reduction, building and design, and urban agriculture. These programs have a primary focus in the federally designated Promise Zone.
Aim
KPSP aims to support the development and sustainability of community-based food systems, i.e., farmers markets, community gardens, school-based gardening, agricultural projects and home gardens.
KPSP also aims to educate families about the impact of the environment on mental, physical and spiritual health by practicing sustainable techniques that promote a healthy symbiotic relationship between us and our environment. The needs served by KPSP includes Food Insecurity, Health, Nutrition, Job Creation, Job Training, environmental awareness, and stewardship.
Benefits
The environment we live in play a significant role in how we view the world. Sometimes it can even dictate how we perceive the lives we live and the people inside of them. With that said, it goes without saying that a sustained healthy and strong environment, full of community support will not only flourish but it will improve the lives of those living in the environment.
Keney Park Therapeutic Urban Agriculture Education Site
KPSP engages the community in a variety of areas including, health and nutrition education, landscaping, forest management, waste stream reduction, building and design, and urban agriculture. These programs have a primary focus in the federally designated Promise Zone.
KPSP aims to support the development and sustainability of community-based food systems, i.e., farmers markets, community gardens, school-based gardening, agricultural project and home gardens. KPSP also aims to educate families about the impact of the environment on mental, physical and spiritual health by practicing sustainable techniques that promote a healthy symbiotic relationship between us and our environment. The needs served by KPSP include Food Insecurity, Health, Nutrition, Job Creation, Job Training, Environmental Awareness, and Stewardship.
Keney Park Wood Materials Management Site
This project achieves several goals at once. First, it will produce saleable timber, character wood and other woody residues. Second, it will provide many youth workers with skills and training. Third, it will provide a modest opportunity for community engagement, and public speaking skills for the youth chosen to present the project to the community.
Overall, increased management action and coordination of projects to help restore the historical significance, ecological value, and recreational use of the Keney Park. As just one example, clearing the trails of old trees will help restore passageways currently overgrown and potentially hazardous, while at the same time improving wildlife habitat and tree regeneration.
Gully Brook outdoor Amphitheater
The goal of this project is to improve ecological conditions within Keney Park, a neglected park in a highly urbanized area of Hartford, CT, where the community has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to and support for improved accessibility and park safety. The outdoor amphitheater will serve as a location for environmental education outreach and increased community activity.
The restoration of 5 acres of riparian habitat along Gully Brook in Keney Park targets a key location for reducing floatable debris in the Park River watershed. Lack of maintenance of this intermittent stream has resulted in degradation of the riparian and in-stream habitat. Debris accumulates from upstream, surfacing as it reaches above ground. Riparian habitat has been degraded by dumping and the growth of invasive plant species. Restoring the ecological health of this area will improve downstream water quality as it flows into the Park River, which then empties into the Connecticut River.
