Volunteer! Green Teens Program

Teens who become involved in Parks’ Citywide Green Teens Program do not just receive community service credit for participation; they become immersed in environmental stewardship. From collecting bags of recyclables, picking up litter in the parks, planting and caring for trees, removing non-native invasive plants, promoting a public recycling initiative, learning about composting, conducting energy audits and creating anti-litter videos for a PSA contest, the Green Teens made 2012 a summer hard to forget. 

In fact, this year marked the first citywide expansion of the Green Teens program. Due to internal and external partnerships amongst Public Programs, Operations, Capital Projects, Computer Resource Centers, MillionTreesNYC, City Parks Foundation, Department of Sanitation and Solar 1, we were able to provide an enriching summer learning experience to the 217 teenagers from the five boroughs. From 2011 to 2012, the number of Green Teens sites doubled from 10 to 21 and included recreation centers and parks. At these sites, teens managed to collect 2,167 bags of litter and recyclables, adopt 65 trees, and display nine PSA videos at 51 screenings reaching 10,200 viewers! 

Tomorrow’s Daily Plant will feature Green Teens projects in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.

Do you know someone who is between the ages of 13-17 years old and interested in serving his/her community by making it a cleaner and greener place to live? Email green.teens@parks.nyc.gov to learn more or to get involved in the Green Teens program at your local recreation center. 

http://www.nycgovparks.org/