The Green Team Toolkit
The goal of the Green Team Toolkit is to empower youth as leaders in the community through the development of green infrastructure projects. By turning vacant lots and underutilized parks into vibrant community spaces, youth enrolled in the Groundwork NRG Green Team are taking a stand against climate change and are connecting neighborhoods in Northeast Kansas City, Kansas.
Green Team youth are recruited through local schools, and they have worked with staff at Groundwork NRG to develop their own toolkit for improving vacant lots and underutilized parks.
The Green Team Toolkit follows a Youth-Based Participatory Action Research (YBPAR) process. This process includes a survey based upon the Healthy Young People Empowered (HYPE) framework, asking the Green Team about their experiences being leaders in their community. The Green Team Toolkit itself is a community-led mapping and design tool that invites co-design from neighboring residents.
The Green Team Toolkit follows Strategy 11, Priority 3: "Engage with local, environmental conservation organizations and invite them to be partners in increasing physical activity in parks."
The Green Team Toolkit is a response to another tool commonly used in park cleanups called CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design). The participating youth are developing the tool to be an alternative process that is community-led first and foremost.
Data is being collected at each of the three Green Team Toolkit workshops in 2021, with gift cards offered to participating community members and youth. Stories are also being told and shared through local media.
Groundwork NRG is the lead on the Green Team Toolkit. They are working with Jordan Ayala from UMKC and Matthew Kleinmann from Weighing In at Children's Mercy. The Unified Government of Wyandotte County Parks and Recreation Department and Urban Planning and Design Department have also been supportive of these efforts.
Continue to support, highlight, and connect Groundwork NRG and KCPA Plan efforts.
