Community-Based Organizations in Urban Advantage's Network

Urban Advantage is excited to partner with community-based organizations. These organizations serve as local science experts in our neighborhoods; they are actively doing science around us. Reach out to them for expert knowledge and resources, data sets, field trips, and collaboration. They all work with NYC schools already, so think of them when your students next need a science resource to guide their inquiry!

Logo	Organization Name	Website	About
	Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC)	https://www.alleypond.org/	The Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC) is a nonprofit organization, dedicated to educating children and adults throughout NYC. We strive to protect and preserve nature, and advocate for sustainable environmental policies and practices. Located in Alley Pond Park, in Douglaston, Queens, visitors are welcome to explore our nature trails to take a self-guided tour or visit our Animal Ambassadors in our Animal Room, free of charge. Fee-based educational programs are offered for children from 2 years old through high school. Pre-registration at www.alleypond.org is required to participate in a class. Weekday hours are 9:00am-4:30pm. Call (718) 229-4000 to find out about weekend hours for the building. The trails are always open!
	Bee Conservancy	https://thebeeconservancy.org/citizen-community-science-for-bees/	Help Scientists by Participating in a Community Science Program Of the 4,000 species of bees in North America, 1 in 4 is at risk of extinction. You can help them by participating in our Community Science Projects. Armed with curiosity, a mobile device, and the iNaturalist app, you’ll find and photograph pollinators and their habitat in your area and share them with more than one million scientists, researchers, and naturalists. Whether you explore solo, with friends and family, or colleagues and community groups, the data you collect will help track local bee diversity around the world.
	Billion Oysters	https://www.billionoysterproject.org/	A future in which New York Harbor is the center of a rich, diverse, and abundant estuary. The communities that surround this complex ecosystem have helped construct it, and in return benefit from it, with endless opportunities for work, education, and recreation. The harbor is a world-class public space, well used and well cared for—our Commons.
	Bronx Green-Up | New York Botanical Garden	https://www.nybg.org/gardens/bronx-green-up/	Formed in 1988, the Botanical Garden created the Bronx Green-Up program to support the volunteer efforts of residents that were beginning to clean-up and beautify vacant lots in the Bronx. Bronx Green-Up, the community gardening outreach program of The New York Botanical Garden, provides horticultural education, training and technical assistance to Bronx residents, community gardeners, urban farmers, local schools and community organizations. The program is the visible presence of the Botanical Garden beyond the Garden’s gates, inspiring NYC residents to get involved in improving their communities through greening projects.
	Bronx River Alliance	https://bronxriver.org/	The Bronx River Alliance serves as a coordinated voice for the river. We work in harmonious partnership to protect, improve and restore the Bronx River corridor. Our goal is to make a healthy ecological, recreational, educational, and economic resource for all communities through which the river flows. The Alliance works in close partnership with the New York City Parks as well as dozens of community-based partners, regional nonprofits, businesses and all levels of government.
	CatRock Ventures	https://www.catrockventures.org/	Our vision is to reach, inspire, and empower the next generation of environmental, community and business leaders from underserved communities. We invest in Bronx youth by providing transformative outdoor experiences, community service learning opportunities, and academic support to help young people become socially responsible change makers.
	Climate & Resilience Education Task Force	https://www.cretf.org/	The Climate and Resilience Education Task Force is a project of the National Wildlife Federation in partnership with WE ACT for Environmental Justice. We collectively manage a range of projects that advance climate education in New York in 3 key areas: Policy, Public Events, and Teacher Support. We’re committed to mentoring youth to advocate for their own climate education; supporting educators with resources to advocate for and implement climate education in their classrooms and programs; advancing climate and environmental justice; and winning education policy reforms in New York State.
	Coastal Classroom	https://cityparksfoundation.org/coastal-classroom/	Our program invites middle school students to become actively involved in our marine ecosystem with hands-on learning in parks along the New York City waterfront. Participants will learn about everything from water ecology to quality, urban waterfront restoration to preservation, sparking excitement and passion for conserving our coasts and waterways.
	Eastern Queens Alliance	https://easternqueensalliance.org/	EQA is a federation of civic organizations in Southeast Queens, NY, advocating for an improved quality of life for all residents within our communities and surrounding areas. We do this by reaching out to those living and working within our communities to learn about the concerns and issues they would like to see addressed and resolved and ultimately about their ideas and vision for a thriving Southeast Queens.
	Friends of Inwood Hill Park, Manhattan	https://friendsofinwoodhillpark.weebly.com	The Friends of Inwood Hill Park seeks to unite members of the community in service of stewarding and celebrating Inwood Hill Park and the Shorakapok Reserve inLenapehoking, the ancestral homeland of the Lenape.
	Gowanus Canal Conservancy	https://gowanuscanalconservancy.org/	Gowanus Canal Conservancy is dedicated to facilitating the development of a resilient, vibrant, open space network centered on the Gowanus Canal through activating and empowering community stewardship of the Gowanus Watershed. Since 2006, we have served as the environmental steward for the neighborhood through leading grassroots volunteer projects; educating students on environmental issues; and working with agencies, elected officials, and the community to advocate for, build, and maintain innovative green infrastructure around the Gowanus Canal.
	Green Guerillas	https://www.greenguerillas.org/	We acknowledge the many barriers and biases facing BIPOC, women, immigrants, LGBTQIA+, those in poverty and other groups who have faced oppression. These barriers and biases have deep, systemic roots in white supremacy, xenophobia, misogyny, and elitism, among other systems of oppression. We stand against these systems and we recognize that working to overcome and dismantle them requires active effort.
	Green Map	https://www.greenmap.org/	As a community, what do we have and what do we need? Transform your perspective by creating a Green Map of local nature, culture, climate justice and green living resources., Green Map’s form of community mapping is a great medium for engagement, capacity building and action - it’s already activated inclusive participation in sustainable community development in 65 countries! The Green Map toolkit is free to use and includes a full set of icons, stories and engagement resources that you can adapt to your classroom or group goals. There’s a new mapping platform or make a print map, poster or an experience, such as a walking tour of the green sites. Think global, map local! Local and global networks began to blossom to support and connect the people making the maps of their home communities around the world. As we learned from their amazing publications, methods and innovations, the Green Map toolkit grew as it helped more cities build local leadership capacity, knowledge and networks.
	GrowNYC	https://www.grownyc.org/	GrowNYC was originally created in 1970 as the Council on the Environment of New York City (CENYC). Born out of the spirit of the first Earth Day, CENYC was initially a policy-based organization, writing comprehensive reports about quality of life issues like air quality, traffic, and noise. Our city has changed a lot since then and so have we.
	Harlem Grown	https://www.harlemgrown.org/	We are an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire youth to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition. Farm tours for school groups are offered.
	Hudson River Project	https://hudsonriverpark.org	Hudson River Park’s River Project conducts research and offers hands-on environmental education and scientific programming with the purpose of communicating the ecological importance of the Park’s 400-acre Estuarine Sanctuary. Explore a series of free and low-cost environmental education programs for organized groups using the Hudson River waterfront as its classroom. Field trip programs allow students to interact with the River and Park through enriching and fun activities that inspire the scientist within each student! Programs are offered throughout the Park at inspiring settings including the Pier 40 Wetlab aquarium which features Hudson River wildlife, Pier 57 Discovery Tank digital learning gallery and Gansevoort Peninsula salt marsh.
	Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Park Conservancy	http://www.jbrpc.org/	Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) is a public-private partnership established in 2013 dedicated to improving 10,000 acres of public parklands throughout Jamaica Bay and the Rockaway peninsula, 18,000 acres of open water and marshlands within Jamaica Bay itself, and 12 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches along the Rockaway peninsula. With its partners at the National Park Service, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, JBRPC works to expand public access to parks; increase recreational and educational opportunities; foster community stewardship and volunteerism; preserve and restore natural areas, including wetlands and wildlife habitat; enhance cultural resources; and ensure the long-term sustainability of the parklands for local residents and visitors alike.
	Million Trees NYC	https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/milliontreesnyc	MillionTreesNYC, one of the 132 PlaNYC initiatives, was a citywide, public-private program with an ambitious goal: to plant and care for one million new trees across the City's five boroughs over the next decade. By planting one million trees, New York City can increase its urban forest—our most valuable environmental asset made up of street trees, park trees, and trees on public, private and commercial land—by an astounding 20%, while achieving the many quality-of-life benefits that come with planting trees. The City of New York planted 70% of trees in parks and other public spaces. The other 30% came from private organizations, homeowners, and community organizations. See the educator toolkit: https://www.milliontreesnyc.org/html/educate/toolkit.shtml
	National Wildlife Federation in New York City	https://www.riscnyc.org/	The aim of the NWF's Resilient Schools and Community program and curriculum is to educate youth in NYC schools about climate science, climate impacts, climate justice, and the natural and built solutions that increase climate resiliency.
	New York Academy of Sciences (Scientist-in-Residence program)	http://www.nyas.org/sir	Created in cooperation with the New York City Department of Education in 2012, the Scientist-in-Residence (SiR) program matches scientists with NYC public school teachers to bring scientific inquiry to life in the classroom. By combining their content and pedagogical expertise, each scientist-teacher pair will develop and implement a year-long project that prepares students to engage in authentic research and spark their interest in STEM learning.
	New York Horticultural Society	https://www.thehort.org/	Urban horticulture improves human well-being, promotes social justice, and sustains a healthy ecosystem. Planted spaces increase the quality of our environment, the amount of fruits and vegetables we eat, our physical activity, our ability to manage stress and illness, and our social cohesion. Our programs are practical, therapeutic, and educational. We create greenspaces, provide services to people in need, and demonstrate the importance of plants in our lives.
	New York Restoration Project	https://www.nyrp.org/	Everyone deserves access to high-quality public green space. NYRP works collaboratively with residents in communities across the five boroughs to renovate gardens, restore parks, plant trees, promote urban agriculture, and build partnerships that transform the city’s landscape. We value the unique experiences, knowledge, and resources that each community member brings to our work. We are committed to creating a greener, more resilient city for all.
	Newtown Creek Alliance	https://www.newtowncreekalliance.org/	The Newtown Creek Alliance is a community-based organization dedicated to restoring, revealing and revitalizing Newtown Creek.
	NY Department of Environmental Conservation- Invasive Species Curriculum	https://extapps.dec.ny.gov/docs/lands_forests_pdf/iscurriculumfinal.pdf	Invasive species are non-native plants, animals, insects and diseases that threaten our environment, health and economy. Due to things like a lack of predators, invasives grow quickly and outcompete our native species for resources, disrupting food webs and even endangering some species. It is crucial that students have a basic understanding of invasive species and what they can do to help stop the spread. By instilling this knowledge at an early age, we can help mold them into becoming good stewards of the environment. Incorporate invasive species into your classroom by utilizing the linked resources. Local Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISMs) in your region: https://www.lhprism.org/, https://liisma.org/
	NY iMapInvasives Project of New York Natural Heritage Program	https://www.nyimapinvasives.org/	iMapInvasives is an on-line, collaborative GIS-based invasive species database and mapping tool used in several jurisdictions across North America
	NY Natural Heritage Program	https://www.nynhp.org/	Our mission is to facilitate the conservation of New York’s biodiversity by providing comprehensive information and scientific expertise on rare species and natural ecosystems to resource managers and other conservation partners. We work collaboratively with partners inside and outside New York to support stewardship of New York’s rare plants, rare animals, and significant natural communities, and to reduce the threat of invasive species to native ecosystems.
	NY State Dept of Environmental Conservation	https://dec.ny.gov/	NYS DEC's Region 2 environmental education program offers free programs in all 5 boroughs that seek to engage NYC families, students and teachers with our local natural areas. We provide plug-in environmental science programming for after-school partners in the After School Conservation Club, with a similar partnership with summer camps in our Summer Outdoor Explorers program. We offer field trip programs covering a wide range of environmental science opportunities in our School and Community Programs, and professional developments for teachers and environmental educators with Project Learning Tree, Project WILD and Project WET workshops. Lastly, we offer free scholarships and transportation to attend one of the 4 DEC Environmental Education summer camps operated across the state in our Camperships Program.
	NYBG EcoFlora Project	https://www.nybg.org/science-project/new-york-city-ecoflora/	EcoFlora is a new kind of flora that leverage the power of new technologies and community science to document and conserve native biodiversity. The project seeks to engage the public as community scientists to observe, collect, and compile information about the City’s plants and their relationships with other organisms, such as birds, insects, and mushrooms, and combine these data with all that is already known from natural history collections and scientific publications. The New York City EcoFlora is a real-time, online, ongoing checklist of plants that will result in a dynamic resource for conservation planning as well as in New Yorkers who are better informed about the importance of urban ecologies and who can contribute to protecting them.
	NYC Audubon	https://www.nycaudubon.org/	New York City Audubon is a grassroots community that works for the protection of wild birds and habitat in the five boroughs, improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers.
	NYC H2O	https://nych2o.org/	NYC H2O’s mission is to inspire and educate New Yorkers of all ages to learn about, enjoy and protect their city’s local water ecology. Through providing public and school programs at historic reservoirs, parklands, watersheds, bays, rivers and wetlands, we encourage diverse citizens to advocate for responsible public policy. Our activities promote science-based knowledge of New York’s local ecosystems and of what is needed for urban water resilience in a time of escalating climate change impacts.
	Prospect Park Alliance	https://www.prospectpark.org/	The Alliance employs a professional staff of horticulturalists, maintenance workers, ecologists, educators, volunteer coordinators, visitor services representatives and many others who ensure the day-to-day operation of Prospect Park. Our Leadership, Board of Directors and Community Committee work to foster the long-term stewardship of the park.
	Rise(Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity)	https://www.riserockaway.org/rise/	We inspire all generations of Rockaway residents to care for their environment and community. We provide civic engagement and youth development programs that advance social equity and the physical well-being of our vibrant coastal neighborhood in Queens, New York.
	Rocking the Boat	https://rockingtheboat.org/	Rocking the Boat participants develop pride, purpose, and possibility by learning the unique and lifelong skills behind building and rowing wooden boats, sailing, and restoring the Bronx River. We create community, teach through transformative experiences, and make nature available to everyone, inspiring young people to determine their own future against a backdrop of systemic inequity.
	Sunworks	https://nysunworks.org/	NY Sun Works is a non-profit organization that builds state-of-the-art Hydroponic Classrooms to teach the science of sustainability and climate change, and transform learning in K-12 city schools.
	The Cornell Ornithology Lab	https://www.birdcount.org/	Each February, for four days, the world comes together for the love of birds. Over these four days we invite people to spend time in their favorite places watching and counting as many birds as they can find and reporting them to us. These observations help scientists better understand global bird populations before one of their annual migrations.
	Trout in the Classroom	https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/environment/trout-in-the-classroom.page	TIC is a hands-on environmental education program which enhances STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) and state learning standards in classrooms. Students study and raise trout from eggs to fingerlings (baby trout) in their classroom aquarium then release fingerlings into their natural habitat. Through classroom interaction with living and growing fish, TIC helps to spark students’ curiosity in learning while introducing complex concepts such as watersheds, riparian buffer zones, and stream ecology. Here is a Startup Guide.
	Urban Park Rangers	https://www.nycgovparks.org/programs/rangers	Since 1979, the Urban Park Rangers have helped New Yorkers and visitors of all ages to discover and explore NYC's natural world through environmental education, outdoor recreation, wildlife management, and active conservation.
	US Fish & Wildlife	https://fws.gov/program/office-of-law-enforcement	We are the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the only agency in the federal government whose primary responsibility is the conservation and management of fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the American people. We offer a variety of opportunities to enjoy the outdoors and our shared natural heritage. And through our work to conserve natural resources, we provide communities with healthier environments, clean water, flood control and a strong economy.
	Vancortlandt Park Alliance	https://vancortlandt.org/	The Van Cortlandt Park Alliance preserves, supports, and promotes the recreational, ecological, and historical value of Van Cortlandt Park
	Watershed Agricultural Council	https://www.nycwatershed.org/forestry/education-training/urbanrural-school-based-education-initiative/	The Watershed Agricultural Council (WAC) protects NYC’s drinking water at its source by working with farmers and forest landowners in the upstate NYC drinking water Watershed to reduce pollution. WAC offers a suite of school-based education programs for teachers and students in NYC and the NYC Watershed that deliver hands-on discovery of the NYC Watershed, water supply system and the special role healthy forests play in protecting water quality. Programs include the annual Watershed Forestry Institute for Teachers, Watershed Forestry Field Trips, Green Connections and the Watershed Forestry Educator Community of Practice.
	WEACT	https://www.weact.org/	WE ACT’s mission is to build healthy communities by ensuring that people of color and/or low income residents participate meaningfully in the creation of sound and fair environmental health and protection policies and practices. WE ACT envisions a community that has: - informed and engaged residents who participate fully in decision-making on key issues that impact their health and community. - strong and equal environmental protections. - increased environmental health through community-based participatory research and evidence-based campaigns.
	Wild Bird Fund	https://www.wildbirdfund.org/	The Wild Bird Fund is a state and federally licensed 501(c)(3) nonprofit that rehabilitates sick, injured and orphaned wildlife and releases them back to the wilds of New York City.