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 yearsfrom 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.
The introduction of trees and plants native to the local environment in the infiltration beds have established a migratory bird and butterfly habitat that the US Fish and Wildlife Service is supporting with a $5000 grant.
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.