At Bronx Community, we are committed to helping our students become citizen-activists. Through extensive neighborhood walks and local field trips, students will get to know the area around the school, recognizing it as a unique environment for learning. Connecting classroom curriculum to the outside community allows students to explore environmental issues, see social studies work in a living context and inquire about their role as citizens. As the neighborhood becomes a familiar classroom space, students learn to identify problems and issues in the community, analyze neighborhood problems carefully and then work together to identify possible solutions. Our students will regularly carry out creative solutions that will have an impact on the local community.

In our first year, with the help of a grant we received a grant from Partnerships for Parks, our kindergarten and first grade classrooms began a study of street trees. Students observed the street trees in front of the school carefully, drawing them and recording their transformation from winter to spring. They collected data about the trees and learned how to care for street trees, watering them daily, aerating the soil and collecting litter. Classes took tree walks and recorded where trees were damaged, and then contacted 311 to report the damage and request new trees for empty tree pits. Towards the end of the year, the school hosted Street Tree Action Day, where families came to school to celebrate the tree work of our students. Students showed their families how to care for a street tree and participating families left with a tree care kit and the desire to adopt a street tree on their home block.

As Bronx Community continues to grow, we are excited to help our students learn about their community and become activists with the skills to address local issues and make a difference in the Bronx.