The Family Day Foundation, a locally-based organization that engages the community around Keney Park in a variety of areas including: health and nutrition education, landscaping, forest management, waste stream reduction, building and design, and urban agriculture. It has had a strong communication network with the affected community consistently for 16 years. It addition to maintaining a physical
presence in the neighborhood affected, it involves residents in its decision-making process in several other ways: community forums, community surveys, and a website feedback section. For the past 15 years, the organization has put on the Family Day Festival, educating and engaging thousands of community members in the areas of environmental justice. It contracts with state and local agencies to present at the annual festival in order to provide the community with tools and strategies to address their environmental and public health issues. Community volunteers assisted in the identification and clearing of over 15 miles of nature trails in Hartford’s Keney Park. The trails offer many health benefits for the community such as decreasing obesity and asthma. KPSP in collaborative efforts with DEEP’s “No Child Left Inside” Summer Environmental Awareness Program and community youth to address issues such as recycling, litter and air quality. The Family Day Foundation will maintain and sustain an ongoing relationship with the affected community by developing additional phases to existing projects and programs and secure the funding to implement the phases; develop communication strategies to raise awareness; partner with state and local agencies to provide additional resources to community residents; and empower the youth with knowledge and skills to address the environmental challenges in the community. Since 1998, the Family Day Foundation has committed to its mission to instill pride and increase community involvement of families through positive recreational, educational and economic experiences. Keney Park Sustainability Project currently occupies a City-owned building in Keney Park, directly adjacent to the project site, and has a number of programs that have demonstrated strong, multifaceted connections to the affected community. KPSP has not only managed the building and its site, but leveraged partnerships across the community to build greenhouses, a community garden, a composting site, a woodworking area, and other features. Significant levels of involvement in the direction of this project have been gleaned by residents (including the youth served by the community garden site, as well as Youth Service Corps volunteers already working on-site), as well as volunteers and others. In addition, KPSP has helped to redevelop a significant portion of the trails within Keney Park, including three years of managing a State-funded trails project. During the summer, the KPSP youth program participates in environmental justice classes, workshops and demonstrations as well as trail cleanups, pond cleaning and removal of invasive species. Finally, community trail tours have increased exposure to Gully Brook. Through the trail tours and other programs, community members organized with the KPSP to spread the word about the environmental threats in the affected area. Community members expressed their concerns to local environmental organizations, municipal agencies and councils like the HCSC. The Gully Brook Sustainability Project would be an extension of these efforts, increasing the Keney Park Sustainability Project’s capacity to address local environmental and public health issues. KPSP’s organizational goals align and will guide the ongoing relationship to engage community members in ongoing maintenance and sustainability of the project.
