Groundwork Guyandotte

Southern West Virginia

Green Team Initiative

Kenneth Goode

Project Coordinator

Summer 2014

Introduction

Groundwork Wyoming County (GWWC) is a nonprofit organization in Wyoming County that is working towards the revitalization of Wyoming County through increasing recreational opportunities, redeveloping underutilized land and Brownfields, implementing environmental education and job training programs, developing strategic partnerships, and empowering communities and individuals.

Groundwork Wyoming County (GWWC), recently reorganized to Groundwork Guyandotte Southern West Virginia, is part of the Groundwork USA network that consists of 20 Groundwork Trust across the country. Groundwork Guyandotte is the first rural trust in the network. Groundwork Guyandotte Southern West Virginia’s mission is to:

“Bring about sustained regeneration, improvement, and management of the physical environment by developing community-based partnerships which empower people, businesses, and organizations to promote environmental, economic, and social well-being.”

Project Summary

The Green Team Initiative is an interactive educational program that empowers students and teachers to support the environment through waste reduction, recycling, composting, and energy conservation and pollution prevention. Participating classes receive certificates of recognition and are eligible to win awards. Groundwork Guyandotte Green Team is a partnership between several organizations in Wyoming County. These organizations work together to provide the youth in the county with environmental education and service learning opportunities. Some of the additional organizations include: 4-H, Wyoming County Board of Education, National Park Service, National Coal Heritage Authority, WVU Extension Office, WV Department of Environmental Protection and WV Department of Natural Resources. The local “Green Team” has had success with their projects in the county and has travelled to out of state locations for conferences and learning opportunities. One activity that Groundwork Guyandotte is introducing to the program is Community Agriculture where the students will be receiving on the job training by experienced Certified Professional Horticulturalists (CPH), Master Gardeners and other experienced environmental leaders at community garden parks being constructed in the county.

The main goal of creating and maintaining Green Team groups in Wyoming County is for youth environmental education: instructing students, developing leadership, and

programming and conducting environmental service learning projects that develop inclusive learning and growing atmospheres.

Green Team Sites and Programming

Green Teams are not limited to one particular site or focus, instead, the teams and organizations that support them are broad in their scope of countywide environmental improvement, stewardship and education. With this philosophy in mind, Groundwork Guyandotte is encouraging volunteer opportunities such as college internships and AmeriCorps. Areas of environmental leadership and volunteer activities include:

Groundwork Alternative Spring Break: an exciting week of adventure and service learning opportunities around Wyoming County ending with recreational activities with the National Park Service (NPS).

Horse Creek Lake Revitalization Project: cleanups, trail building and maintenance, species identification, and environmental research.

Sustainable Communities: learn about the use of natural resources, join community workshops, and participate in activities we can all share in sustainable practices.

Fairs and Festivals: represent your Green Team at county wide socials functions and events and participate in environmental education activities.

Stream/Litter Cleanups and Water Monitoring: work with Groundwork and all the partners in strategic programs to keep our streams, rivers and recreation areas clean and safe.

Trail Building: get involved in building and maintaining local trails on the Great Eastern Trail and at Twin Falls Resort State Park.

Green Team Implementation

Green Teams are comprised of individuals dedicated to creating a more sustainable community. Green Teams occur at the school and local levels and in some cases are created in the business sector to support the larger neighborhoods. Some parks and recreation departments in larger cities and counties build green team committees to support volunteers to keep their green spaces clean and safe. As a nonprofit organization, Groundwork Guyandotte has found that there is several ways to create, build and maintain support for your own local green teams, some of those objectives include:

Prepare for the Initial Meetings: Key First Steps

1. The committee should identify a dedicated person who has the time and skillset to program, organize and follow through with environmental activities.

2. Plan in advance to book meeting areas that are well prepared for participants and make sure that the meeting time is one that works into a large audience, weekends or evenings work best.

3. Invite members and residents of the community that has a vested interest in environmental activities and spread the word and develop awareness.

4. Set an agenda that the committee can agree upon that is feasible and begin making a calendar of suggested activities.

The First Meeting: Brainstorming

1. Brainstorm about possible projects and set up goals for the group. Also begin discussing about objectives to achieving main goals.

2. Prioritize projects based on interest and feasibility (quick, easy steps to keep group motivated and focused).

3. Begin choosing project leaders and administrative directors. 4. Set up format to record meeting minutes and notes of the group.

Keep the Momentum Rolling: The Sustainable Approach

1. Retain the enthusiasm of members going by working on projects that can actually be accomplished.

2. Members of key groups (finance, operations, event planning, etc.) should work together for ease of project implementation.

3. Promote the group by advertising and marketing and share success stories. 4. Expand—the more the merrier. 5. Simple—keep it fun for everyone.

Future Goals

Groundwork Guyandotte plans to extend the Green Team Initiative to Independence High School, located just outside of Coal City, Raleigh County, WV, at the summit of the Upper Guyandotte Watershed. Groundwork also wants to work with experienced high school Green Team volunteers to mentor middle school age children to develop a chain of environmental education development in the public schools. Groundwork thinks this Big Brother/Big Sister approach keeps the Green Team Program sustainable and more likely to succeed and the added inclusive approach will keep the students more engaged in activities. Research shows that Mentorship programs that are added to existing programs providing role models have an increasingly higher success rate.