The environmental business plan which won second-place in the Frigon Family Prize for Social Entrepreneurship will kick off this summer. Designed by University College scholar and environmental studies major Chelsea Bardot, the plan focuses on exploring environmental justice issues by engaging youth in watershed-related activities.
Bardot and other participants in the program will lead focus groups of local kids who normally spend time playing by the river in the summer. "We want to ask the kids questions and see what perceptions they have of the river," Bardot said. "We also want to make sure that they know which parts of the river are hazardous for swimming during which times of the year."
According to Bardot, dialogue with kids can sometimes be more effective than conversation with their parents. "Usually when you ask parents whether they are concerned about letting their children swim in potentially polluted water, their response is merely 'Oh they've been doing this for years,'" she said.
Bardot's business plan won a $5,000 grant, which will be used to establish the three main components to the outreach program. The first involves encouraging the kids to examine the river and form a more personal relationship with it. The second incorporates education, teaching kids about the river, its history, the services it provides, and the environmental threats it faces. The final goal of the program is to engage kids in direct action. Some potential projects that would meet this objective include storm drain stenciling, planting buffer gardens, or participating in a river clean-up.
"Water Watch does great things, but there is room for them to be more in touch with the community instead of being an autonomous organization at Tufts," Bardot said.
"Last year I was working for [Tufts] Water Watch as an educator," she said. "This year, I worked with Water Watch through the Mystic River Watershed Collaborative, with the intent of helping Water Watch to realize its organizational goals within the context of the Mystic."
"The Mystic River Watershed Collaborative is an amazing group of people," Bardot added. "I've learned more from them than from any class I've taken here at Tufts so far. They are truly committed people, a great pool of resources that we are very lucky to have."
The Mystic River Watershed Collaborative is presently working on an application for the Carter Partnership Award, founded by Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter to recognize outstanding campus community partnerships.
"This is a juncture for the collaborative," Bardot said. "We've been established for four years, and now it's time to think about the next four years, which should focus on more intensive community outreach."
Bardot and the Collaborative were recently involved in the First Annual Mystic River Movers and Shakers Celebration, at which 50 activists, student, teachers, staff, and community members joined to eat, dance, and exchange information about the history of activism in relation to the Mystic.
Bardot found the celebration to be highly inspiring. "As someone relatively new to the Mystic River community, I was sitting there and looking around, listening to stories of hard work required to get the Collaborative going and to get watershed issues recognized... and it was great just to see these people smiling and acknowledging one another and themselves for having done great work," she said. "At the same time, we were gearing up for all the work that is yet to be done."
