The Department of Environmental Protection announced on April 1, 2010 (and it was not a joke!) the award of $200,000 to the Albert M. Greenfield School for the continuing development of its environmentally friendly school-yard.  The project, Greening Greenfield, envisions schoolyard games in a healthy green space that teaches children as they play. It educates students to care about their impact on the Earth, and understand how to nurture the natural resources they have around them.  Greening Greenfield will create a public school campus that is an oasis for its community and an example to public buildings everywhere, giving the city a green open recreation space in the heart of Philadelphia.

The DEP grant funds the second phase of the project, focused on the east side of the school yard; renovations that will improve storm water management include a rain garden and permeable recycled rubber play surface.  In addition the grant supports the next phase of a proposed green roof that will reduce the urban-heat-island effect of the school building's thermal mass.

The school yard that started as a sparsely landscaped asphalt yard is well on its way to becoming a vibrant green space designed to exemplify ecological stewardship. In just two years from 2007 to 2009, the Greening Greenfield Initiative raised $365,000 in a unique private/public partnership and completed the first phase of construction - the west school yard improvements. What was essentially an asphalt jungle was transformed with an indigenous woodland forest garden, initial storm water management system, porous pavement, permeable recycled play surface, agricultural zone, and solar shading. The renovation reduces storm water run-off through the use of pervious surfaces and hardy, low-maintenance, and native plant and tree species, while providing opportunities for students to study conservation and ecological stewardship. The Philadelphia Water Department, GreenPlan Philadelphia, and The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation were the primary funders of the Phase I construction. The Phase I construction was completed in October 2009.

A $15,000 grant from HeadCount and the Disco Biscuits will fund the first stages of the installment of solar panels on the Greenfield School roof.  The Disco Biscuits presented a concert on Sunday, March 21 at New York City's Brooklyn Bowl, the largest music venue in the country to be recognized for its environmentally-friendly practices with LEED Certification.  Half the proceeds were ear-marked to support Greening Greenfield.

The Disco Biscuit benefit concert proceeds will help jumpstart the installation of the roof-top photo-voltaic solar panels which will now be installed this summer instead of in 2011 as originally planned.

"We really wanted to showcase the power that we can create with many voices working together," said Marc Brownstein, bassist for The Disco Biscuits and co-chair and founder of HeadCount. "We always knew that the energy created during the ‘Bisco' experience represented more than just a band and its songs. By creating something tangible for the community at large that the fans can also become a part of, we have found a way to give back and create a lasting, sustainable legacy for the future."

On April 10, 2010, Greening Greenfield held a fun E-Cycle Day.  A large amount of electronic equipment ranging from computers to plotters to blenders was brought to the school for recycling.  This community service event not only gave people a good environmentally-sound way to dispose of their closet-filling discarded equipment, it also helped to raise valuable funds for this summer's construction.

Shovels in hand and watering cans overflowing, students from Ms. Brown and Mr. Bentz's science classes spent one sunny morning this fall transforming a plot of land next to the beloved kindergarten play yard into Greenfield's first-ever edible garden.