What if our teenagers were actively involved in community building?  What if all our schools incorporated environmental education components at all grade levels?  What if service for others was built into our children’s daily schedules?  How would our Buffalo neighborhoods improve?  Would our children mature with a deeper sense of compassion and responsibility?  What if our teens developed job skills and social skills that prepared them for meaningful careers?

Philadelphia is learning the answers to those questions. The Philadelphia Horticultural Society created Philadelphia Green which has beome the nation’s largest urban greening program.  It’s more than just planting trees or creating flower beds along the medians and sidewalks–PG and Green City Youth keep young people engaged.  It is about developing responsibility in the city’s youth and a healthy environment for residents.  Michael Groman led PG; now he is in charge of replicating that program throughout Pennsylvania and elsewhere.  He accepted our invitation to share his program and implementation strategy this November 16-19th at our Great Lakes Building ReUse Conference .

We hope you’ll be as excited as we are to speak with Michael Groman and our other keynote speakers including:

• Tyree Guyton, founder and Jenenne Whitfield, Executive Director of the Heidelberg Project, in Detroit, Michigan have spent twenty years transforming abandoned city blocks in Detroit to raise awareness about urban blight and to develop a strong sense of pride.  Their artistic accomplishments inspire young people to take ownership of their neighborhoods.
• Rick Lowe, Founder, Project Row Houses, Houston, TX orchestrated the reclamation of 22 dilapidated, yet historic, houses in the heart of Houston.  The reclamation of the houses serve as the material for an arts project that influences the cultural and economic revitalization of a neighborhood.
• Jay Williams, Mayor of the City of Youngstown, Ohio has no illusions that he resides over a shrinking city, in fact, he fully embraces the “shrinking city” concept. His administration plans to strengthen the urban center through right-sizing;  neighborhoods that are emptying out will be converted to greenspace through targeted demolition and development.
• and others in the field of  hybrid deconstruction and building reuse.

The conference is about putting you in same room with ideas and policy makers who can enable similar projects for Buffalo (or where ever you’re living)
Please register for the conference before October 9th to receive the discounted rate.

Save the Date:
Saturday, November 8, 2008 we’re collaborating with ReTree WNY to plant 230 bare root trees in one day!
We’ll potluck/picnic afterward.  Meet us at 298 Northampton at 9am.
To see how easy, fun, soggy it was, look at these photos