Parks and People


	Lombard and Roland Park Middle Schools lacrosse teams played their championship game on Wednesday, May 24 at Poly-Western high school.


	Lombard Middle School’s lacrosse team celebrates with their first place trophy.


	Baltimore Baseball League will run through July this year.


	SuperKids Camp Sign Up We already have many kids signed up for this year’s SuperKids Camp, and a great number of exciting activities planned for them. We will be serving rising 2nd and 3rd graders this year, including some students returning for their second year of Camp! You can register online here.


	Save the Date! Parks & People’s Summer Celebration Honoring The Abell Foundation and A&R Development Corporation Thursday, July 20th 6-9 p.m. Tide Point Waterfront Park Tickets are $75 For ticket information, please contact Jennifer Bedon at 410-448-5663 ext. 124.


	Community Grants Deadline Don’t miss your chance to receive funding for community greening and park projects! Friday, July 28 is the deadline for proposals.


	Baltimore Wins National Award The U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Home Depot Foundation presented the first annual Awards of Excellence for Community Trees and Urban Forestry to Baltimore City. The award includes a $75,000 grant to Parks & People Foundation to further the goal of promoting healthy communities through tree planting and the management of the urban forest.


	Parks & People Foundation received the above award from the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services for our work supporting the gardening project at the Metropolitan Transition Center. The project and the Foundation were also recently mentioned in a Baltimore Sun article. Gardening gives inmates a chance to learn valuable landscaping skills that could be used for finding work when they go home from the Center.


	We’re certified Green! Parks & People Foundation was just recently certified as a Green Center by the Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE).


	Several volunteer groups came out to help clean up Middle Branch Park this spring—the group pictured above is from Friends School. Thanks for helping out!


	At a Gilmor Elementary School tree planting, Partnerships for Parks organizer Andrea Claypoole teaches a student about worms. In response to our work at Gilmor Elementary, Academic Coordinator Emily Hunter said, “I appreciate all that you have done for the children at Gilmor and the Sandtown-Winchester Community. You are really changing the lives of the children in this community and I hope you all continue with your project.”


	Elizabeth Rollins helps prepare for planting a community garden on Vincent Street in Sandtown. This spring, the Watershed 263 Project concentrated on working with community residents to clean up open spaces in Southwest Baltimore. Students from the Urban Youth Core also assisted with this clean up.



	To make a donation, contact Jennifer Bedon at 410-448-5663, ext. 124, or click the box below to make a secure credit card gift to the Foundation.

Summer 2006

Summer and Spring Sports Updates

We are nearing the end of a great spring sports season. Young people across the city have learned volleyball, baseball, lacrosse and soccer skills in safe after school environments. These sports programs provide a place for students to be active after school and learn from caring adults.

The 18 & under Starlings volleyball team came in first place in a tournament in the bronze division of the Montgomery Village Sports Association two day tournament May 6 and 7. On June 21 the teams will leave for San Diego for the national tournament.

The Starlings also recently entered into a partnership with Morgan State University. Through the partnership, the university will offer clinics for the Starlings players and will act as mentors for the middle school students. Parks & People Foundation is thankful to Coach Ramona Boozier of the varsity volleyball program at Morgan State University who was instrumental in forming the partnership.

May is also graduation time, and we have happy news from our graduating Starlings: every single Starlings senior is starting college next year! A congratulation to these Starlings stars for their hard work:

Shawdia Wilkes received a full scholarship for volleyball to St. Paul’s College in Virginia.

Brandi Scurry received a full scholarship to St. Mary’s College in Southern Maryland.

Winnie Shabazz received a full scholarship for volleyball to Bowie State College.

Dominique Boozier will be attending Morgan State University.

Courtney Johnson has also been offered a spot at St. Paul’s College in Virginia.

In other sports program news, the U.S. Soccer Foundation recently awarded Parks & People Foundation the Alan I. Rothenberg Award for our work organizing the Baltimore Middle School Soccer League. The Award is named in honor of the World Cup USA 1994 Chairman and current U.S. Soccer Foundation Board Member. Rothenberg, who has had a central role in the increasing popularity of soccer in the United States, was commissioner of soccer during the 1984 L.A. Summer Olympics and led the very successful 1994 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup and the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

10 Ways to Enjoy a Hot Summer in the City

Go swimming! Did you know that Baltimore City has several public pools in parks? Check out the facilities at Druid Hill Park, Cherry Hill, Clifton Park, Patterson Park and Riverside Park.

Get sweaty! Sweat is the body’s natural cooling system, so come out and help us with some summer work in parks and gardens all over the city and you’ll naturally cool off.

Lay in the grass under a tree. Green spaces are naturally cooler than paved places, so trek down to your local park or garden and enjoy the shade.

Catch a breeze on a bike. Summer is a great time to bike the Gwynns Falls Trail.

Connect with your roots at one of the summer’s ethnic festivals. This year’s Polish Festival, LatinoFest, Caribbean Carnival Festival and Pow Wow Native American Festival will all be held in Baltimore City parks.

Take a break and cool down with a snow cone—the city’s favorite summer snack—while sitting on your stoop.

Water your garden and trees. For gardens, it’s best to water early in the morning or late at night every 3-4 days depending on the rain. Water the base of the plant, not the leaves since the water can act as a magnifying glass and burn the leaves. When you first plant, you will want to make the garden like a pool because it encourages roots to grow out. New trees should be watered twice a week with at least 10 gallons of water, allowing the water to run into the soil slowly.

Go sailing! Get out on the water at the Downtown Baltimore Sailing Center.

Support your local farmer; buy produce at your local farmer’s market. Baltimore has numerous outdoor markets all over the city.

Spend some time in a nice, cool air conditioned office. Come get to know us and help with administrative work at the Parks & People Foundation!

Hall of Fame/Hall of Shame Trees

This lovely cherry tree overlooks the water at Middle Branch Park, which is also a wonderful place to pick up the Gwynns Falls Trail!

This nice tree-lined street is spoiled by a heap of trash bags that have been carelessly thrown into a tree pit. A tree pit is not a trash can—trash should always be disposed of in a dumpster or trash can; when trash ends up on the street it will run into storm drains which empty into the Inner Harbor and Chesapeake Bay. Additionally, if there were any toxic household cleaning products that leaked from these bags, they could harm the tree and contaminate the groundwater.

Baltimore’s Environment Quiz

Be the first person in Baltimore City wearing the hot new Parks & People Foundation t-shirt! The first person who answers all questions correctly will win; show off how much you know about how to B-more environmental. Send your answers to info@parksandpeople.org.

When planting a tree, any stakes and supporting wires should be removed after:

3 months

6 months

1 year

2 years

The largest park in Baltimore City is:

Druid Hill Park

Patterson Park

Middle Branch Park

Gwynns Falls Park

How many metric tons of air pollution do Baltimore city’s trees remove annually?

100 metric tons

300 metric tons

700 metric tons

1,000 metric tons

What can you do to clean up the Chesapeake Bay?

Pick up litter

Plant trees

Drive less

All of the above

Where does water that runs into street storm drains go?

The water flows directly into the Inner Harbor

The water is cleaned first, and then is carried into the Inner Harbor

The water flows into a pool

The water is collected, cleaned and distributed for drinking.

Which Baltimore City park has a statue of Columbus in it?

Patterson Park

Druid Hill Park

Clifton Park

Mount Vernon Place

When we talk about the green and blue of Baltimore, what does that refer to?

The new team colors for the Orioles

An interconnected system of streams, parkland, waterfront promenade, greenways and gardens that contributes substantially to the ecological, social and economic health of the City

A new crab dish that is popular in Fell’s Point restaurants

The color of the water in the Inner Harbor

Which Baltimore City mayor led the way for instituting the park tax, which assessed a 20% tax on the gross income of the horse-drawn railway franchise operating in Baltimore City?

Mayor Samuel Hinks

Mayor Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe

Mayor John Montgomery

Mayor Thomas Swann

What are the four major watersheds in Baltimore City?

George Falls, Jones Falls, Watershed 263, and Gunpowder Falls

Herring Run, Direct Harbor, Hopkins, and Gwynns Falls

Jones Falls, Herring Run, Gwynns Falls, and Direct Harbor

Watershed 263, Watershed 228, Watershed 123, and Watershed 311

Where is William Patterson buried?

Patterson Park

Coldstream Park

Wyman Park

Leakin Park

Art on the Trail: Tamed-Wild

The 5th Annual Art on the Gwynns Falls Trail Exhibit is in its final weekend.

Now through June 18, art is exhibited along a one-mile section of the Trail along the Dead Run and Gwynns Falls stream valleys beginning at the Winans Meadow Trailhead, 4500 Franklintown Road. The theme of this year’s event is “Tamed-Wild.”

The art is site-specific and promotes the concept of symbiotic relationships between environmental art, art education, local history, the viewer, and the Gwynns Falls Trail in Leakin Park. Utilizing natural or man-made materials, artists exhibit temporary environmental sculptures based on the theme. These temporary sculptures form a visual relationship with the site at which they are they are installed. A self-guide brochure is available on site.

Art on the Trail is an all-volunteer project of the Gwynns Falls Trail Council. Partners on the event include the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks for this 5th juried temporary environmental art show on the Gwynns Falls Trail. Special thanks to Comcast, Mayor Martin O'Malley and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & the Arts, the Parks & People Foundation, and Peter Bruun, Director of Art on Purpose for supporting this project.