I have two questions for our SCOOP Readers.
Do you care about the environment? Do you believe Climate Change is a real thing?
If you answered yes to one or both of these questions, you must attend the Thriving Communities Symposium hosted by the Overbrook Environmental Education Center. The symposium is taking place over three days, October 17, 18 and 19, at the Academy of Natural Sciences. This event is FREE and open to the public.
Jerome Shabazz, Executive Director of the Overbrook Environmental Education Center, shared what the symposium is all about. The Thriving Communities Symposium is all about helping nonprofit community organizations and community members who are doing environmental projects like urban greening, tree planting, urban agriculture, energy projects, and putting in solar energy; all of these kinds of energy and environmental systems. We’re there to help our community learn how to access the capital and, most importantly, the technical assistance to get those jobs done.”
“One of the things that a lot of folks are not familiar with is that through the funding that the Biden Administration has established, there was a portion of it called the Thriving Communities Program. The Thriving Communities Program has two parts to it. One part is to provide free technical assistance to community members working on these kinds of environmental projects, and part two is called Grant Makers, and those folks actually give out the resources to help people work on those projects.”
At the Thriving Communities Symposium, representatives from all those different programs will be available to talk about how to apply, how to get assistance, how to get help. At the symposium, there will be experts on hand to answer questions about grant support, project development and community engagement.
October 17, the symposium starts at the Academy of Natural Sciences at 19th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The welcome session will unfold there, and participants will hear from some of the top private community and technical assistance leadership around. Shabazz stated, “We work with the National Wildlife Federation as part of a regional approach to helping people get assistance on these issues around environment and climate. We have wonderful people who are going to be presenting. We will also be going out into the community on October 17. We’re actually going to do a guided tour of Strawberry Mansion and learn about the work they’re doing in Strawberry Mansion. Then, there will be a second guided tour that takes folks out to Nicetown. All these wonderful things that are happening out in the community, we’re going to hear from community people who are doing the work, and they’ll tell us how they get it done. “The beauty of all of this, according to Jerome Shabazz, is that it’s not just high-level officials talking down at you, but its community folks talking to you about how to get things done.”
Day two of the symposium is going to be phenomenal too, says Shabazz.“We’ll be back at the Academy of Natural Sciences, and we’re going to have an opening session called Women, Demonstrating the Power to Transform Environment, Health and Community. These are all powerful women who work in the environment, health, and energy and will be the panelists for this portion of the day. We have Dr. J.D. Green, who is going to be the Moderator. She is the Regional District Administrator for the Department of Agriculture in Pennsylvania and a distinguished group of panelists. After that, there will be a series of workshops and a resource fair.
The Energy Authority will have representatives on hand, and the Environmental Protection Agency will be represented; the City of Philadelphia Department of Commerce will be there; the Institute for Sustainable Communities will be there; Philadelphia Gas Works is committed, and the Water Department and PECO Energy will all be on hand.
The Environmental and Climate Justice Program created by the Inflation Reduction Act under the Clean Air Act, section 138, provides funding for financial and technical assistance to carry out environmental and climate justice activities to benefit underserved and overburdened communities.
Shabazz also shared some background on The Overbrook Environmental Education Center and how it came about.
“The Overbrook Environmental Education Center is a project we began twenty-seven years ago. When we first started, we were working out of Overbrook High School, helping young people understand environmental systems and doing it in such a way that it wasn’t the way teachers used to talk about penguins and polar bears and ice caps. We were teaching the youth about the air you breathe in your neighborhood, the water you drink, and the land around where you live. When we started talking about the environment that way, these young people’s grades improved, their attitude about the environment improved, and what we did was to start a project that never ends. Ultimately, our work led to this wonderful organization, The Overbrook Environmental Education Center, in West Philadelphia is designed to help community folk better understand their relationship to the built-in natural environment around them.”
The Thriving Communities Symposium is FREE. It’s about promoting sustainable, healthy and safe environments. There are still some seats left. You need to confirm your attendance today.
For more information or questions, contact info@overbrookcenter.org or call 215-879-7770.
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