The Inukai Family Boys & Girls Club in Hillsboro, Oregon, sits about 20 miles west of Portland. As one of ten Boys & Girls Clubs in the Portland Metro region, it provides after-school and summer programs for about 200 kids, most of whom come from low-income families. For the young people who attend, it’s a chance to develop leadership skills and participate in a range of activities, from the visual and fine arts to STEM, finance and nutrition classes.
The club also offers sports and recreation, which until recently was a bit ironic, considering that the nearest green space was almost a mile away. Instead, the building sat adjacent to a little-used 4,500-square-foot parking lot.
The lack of a suitable play area for the boys and girls of Inukai caught the attention of Ted Labbe, a conservation biologist and volunteer with Depave, a Portland nonprofit that transforms over-paved areas by breaking up asphalt and replacing it with natural vegetation. Since it was founded by Labbe and a friend more than a decade ago, Depave has worked with local schools, churches and businesses to turn concrete eyesores into lush landscapes replete with rain gardens, vegetable beds, tree groves and bioswales.
To repurpose the Inukai club’s parking lot, Labbe gathered a team of about 100 volunteers last fall to rip up the paved lot and make room for a revamped play area. Features of the new space include a rain garden, a stage, bike racks, garden beds and picnic tables. At the end of this month, more volunteers will assemble to plant additional vegetation, with the grand opening of the new green playspace set for April 12.
Depave’s mission of re-greening urban spaces through the lens of community engagement is spreading. To date, the organization has completed about 70 projects in the Portland area (which collectively cover roughly 165,000 square feet of asphalt) and now counts five affiliate programs in its network, spanning from Cleveland to Canada. They believe their model has the potential to be scalable almost anywhere. And as the Green New Deal talks gain steam in Washington, communities have been beefing up efforts to address the impending threats from climate change.
That includes New York’s Hudson Valley, where Arif Khan, one of Depave’s founders, now lives. Khan says he has seen a growing need for de-paving projects in his new community and has been consulting with municipal governments along the Hudson River. He believes that Depave’s model of tactical urbanism sits at the forefront of a bigger push to prioritize open spaces for people instead of paving them for cars.
In cities like New York, for example, local neighborhood groups and business improvement districts have for several years been installing temporary parklets for use in warmer months. Also known as “street seats,” the idea is to repurpose parking spots into tiny but vibrant green spaces with public amenities like outdoor seating and food vendors. Similar street-seating efforts exist in cities across the U.S.
But what makes Depave’s efforts stand out from typical parklets is that rather than constructing a new space on top of existing infrastructure, volunteers remove the concrete and asphalt first. In this way, Depave’s projects improve the environment. Because they’re impervious, paved surfaces divert stormwater into a region’s waterways, carrying with it toxic pollutants like oil, antifreeze and pesticides. Depave estimates that their efforts divert more than 4 million gallons of stormwater away from storm drains annually.
“Parklets are all well and good but they are a band-aid, not a permanent fix,” says Labbe, adding that “elected officials are discussing how to scale up more general de-pave strategies to address the worsening climate crisis.”
In addition to benefiting the environment, de-paving projects can inspire civic engagement. In its first decade of existence, Depave has worked with more than 4,800 volunteers around Portland.
The act of de-paving satisfies a social need just as much as an environmental one, says Labbe, and a project’s success directly depends on a community’s involvement. “You can’t [de-pave] without a willing and engaged community,” he says.
More: Embracing Diversity In The Great Outdoors
Tag: Boys and Girls Club
The Charity Bowl: Which Super Bowl-Bound Team Wins the Title of Most Philanthropic?
As football fans count down the final days until the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks face off in Super Bowl XLVIII, NationSwell is pitting the powerhouse teams against each other to find out which is the most philanthropic. Read on for just a small sampling of the many community programs each franchise supports.
Denver Broncos
Denver Broncos Champions in the Community Programs
Throughout the year, the Denver Broncos take part in a wide range of programs that fall under a dozen philanthropic categories, all of which strive to improve the lives of Coloradans. These charitable efforts range from hosting Drive for Life, the Broncos annual community blood drive in partnership with Bonfils Blood Center; and funding the Denver Broncos Youth Center at The Crossing Facility at the Denver Rescue Mission; to the Hometown Huddle, a league-wide community service day spearheaded by the Broncos and Mile High United Ways. In 2012, the Broncos also started the “Be a Champion in the Community Week”, an annual roster-wide community service effort in which team members work alongside citizens at various charitable events.
The Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club
The Denver Broncos opened their namesake Boys and Girls Club in Northeast Denver in August 2003. In 2008, the club was expanded with the addition of the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center. For a minimum of 10 years, the Denver Broncos committed to funding the operating budget of the center — a $2.4 million investment. The club’s membership has reached capacity, with over 1,400 members, and an average nightly attendance of more than 200 kids. The Broncos players consistently visit and host programs at their Boys and Girls Club, as well as the 13 other branches throughout the Denver metro area.
The PeyBack Foundation / Omaha Peysback Campaign
Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning started his personal charity, the Peyback Foundation, in 1999 to support disadvantaged youth through programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities. To date, the PeyBack Foundation has donated more than $6.5 million to youth organizations in Indiana, Tennessee, Louisiana and Colorado. During the playoffs, a group of companies led by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, joined together to donate $800 to the PeyBack Foundation every time the standout quarterback yelled his now-famous prompt “Omaha!” before the snap. In the AFC Championship game, Manning yelled the magic word 31 times, raising $24,800. For the Super Bowl, this collective (now 15 businesses strong) is nearly doubling their efforts, promising $1,500 per “Omaha!” It’s safe to say that we’ll be hearing that word quite a few times on Sunday.
MORE: This Seattle Seahawks Player Made the Super Bowl Sound Sweeter to These Hearing-Impaired Twins
Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation
The Seattle Seahawks Charitable Foundation was created in 1995 to promote the social, emotional, intellectual, and physical health of the area’s youth by enhancing opportunities to participate in sports and fitness. The SSCF hosts various NFL Charities programs throughout the year, such as Hometown Huddle and PLAY 60 Challenge, which encourages kids to play for 60 minutes a day. In fall 2004, the SSCF unveiled the Spirit of 12 Partners Program, a collaboration between the franchise, the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and local youth service organizations. At each home game, representatives from one of these organizations raise funds by selling the Seahawks Gameday Magazine to fans, keeping 100 percent of the proceeds. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation then matches that amount. In 2012, more than $250,000 was raised through the Spirit of 12 Partners Program, and more than $2 million has been raised overall since 2004.
A Better Seattle / A Better LA
Head Coach Pete Carroll started A Better Seattle as a community initiative to reduce youth gang violence by working with local partner organizations — the YMCA of Greater Seattle and the Seattle Youth Violence Prevention Initiative — to create opportunities for at-risk youth to take control of their lives. The organization tries to build a culture of peace and connect these youths to community programs that can help them through trained outreach teams, in hopes of creating a safer overall environment. Carroll also started A Better LA in 2003, a sister organization that aims to reduce gang violence in inner-city Los Angeles by empowering change from within the community.
Fam 1st Family Foundation
The Fam 1st Family Foundation was launched by Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch in partnership with Joshua Johnson, quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals, in 2011. This organization is dedicated to empowering underprivileged youth by mentoring them on the importance of education, literacy and self-esteem. The foundation plans to open a youth center in Oakland, Calif., where Lynch and Johnson are from, which will host workshops for vulnerable communities on literacy, athletic and vocational training, after school tutoring and more.
So, you tell us: which Super Bowl team wins the title for most philanthropic?
MORE: The Super Bowl Is 60 Minutes Long, But It’s Impact Lasts A Lot Longer