The Connections green jobs program will expand from the Still River to the Ten Mile River.
DANBURY, CT, August 15, 2024—The Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) has been granted an award of nearly $100,000 by the Long Island Sound Study Community Impact Fund (LISCIF) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through Restore America’s Estuaries, to support the continuation and expansion of the Connections program—an initiative that connects young people from underrepresented watershed communities with hands-on environmental education and green job skills training.
Launched by HVA in 2016, the Connections program has already served over 700 high school students in and around Danbury, Connecticut, with educational projects focused on the Still River—the most polluted tributary of the Housatonic River. New funding will help bolster the existing program and allow HVA to expand the initiative to the Ten Mile River watershed in Dutchess County, New York.
During the school year, the Connections program introduces high school teachers and their students to a curriculum that raises awareness of the local watershed and sets the stage for projects that reduce pollution, restore habitat, and improve recreational opportunities. As the weather warms, students are recruited to paid summer Work Crews to complete the hands-on projects they discussed in class. During the six-week program, participants are exposed to a variety of environmental fields through workshops with local experts and HVA’s partner organizations.
Still River Connections program Crew members are recruited by Danbury Youth Services and work on projects that benefit the watershed’s entire ecosystem, including rain garden installations, invasive species removals, and initiatives to conserve rare plant species. In the Ten Mile region, HVA will partner with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Dutchess County’s No Child Left Inside program and the North East Community Center’s School-to-Work program to complete outreach in public schools and recruit students to summer teams. These participants will work on projects like trail building and riparian buffer restoration starting in 2025.
“I’m looking forward to bringing what I know has been a really successful program with Danbury Public Schools to the Ten Mile, where we will work directly with local students and connect them with the rivers and streams of their hometowns,” says Claire Wegh, HVA’s Ten Mile River Watershed Manager.
The Connections program seeks to address environmental and social needs in regions mapped as environmental justice hotspots by the Environmental Protection Agency due to the disproportionate impacts of environmental issues, such as poor air and water quality, experienced by residents. While building more resilient communities through the development of youth leadership, the program simultaneously strengthens ecosystems and alleviates public health concerns as local waters make their way to the ocean.
“The positive impact of the Connections programs on the Long Island Sound watershed is significant, protecting and improving the water quality of important tributaries,” says Wegh. “Thanks to this grant from LISCIF, HVA can continue increasing overall awareness of the river network that sustains humans and the broader ecosystem.”
To learn more about HVA’s Connections program and how you can get involved, visit hvatoday.org.
