EVENT:
GREEN KEEPERS" TRAINING HELPS THE FORMERLY HOMELESS
BEAUTIFY NYC AND TRANSFORM THEIR OWN LIVES
Goddard Riverside Community Center program assists
adults living with mental illness through meaningful
employment opportunities
Goddard Riverside’s horticulturist works with
members of the Green Keepers crew on special training
at the community center’s greenhouse and garden
– an oasis of greenery and flowers. Green Keeper
participants are trained in beautification services
including landscaping, planting, mulching, soil preparation,
weeding, pruning and watering. The program helps formerly
homeless individuals who are suffering from mental
illness and have interrupted or no work histories
enter the workforce. Through Green Keepers, Goddard
Riverside offers a way for these individuals to work
on projects in a supportive environment while building
confidence, self-esteem and community reintegration.
Green Keepers begin the program earning a stipend
and can advance to competitive wage and ultimately
to supervisory positions.
INTERVIEWS:
Green Keepers, trained gardeners who are formerly
homeless adults
Goddard Riverside Community Center’s horticulturist
Green Keepers horticultural supervisor
DATE:
Friday, July 21, 2006
TIME:
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m
PLACE:
Goddard Riverside Community Center
Garden & Greenhouse
593 Columbus Avenue, Manhattan
Green Keepers is Goddard Riverside’s social
purpose business that provides horticulture and sanitation
services throughout the New York City area. Green
Keepers was established in 1995 and operates under
the TOP Opportunities program, Goddard Riverside’s
job training and placement program for adults living
with mental illness. Green Keepers customers include
business improvement districts, neighborhood block
associations, businesses, cooperative housing associations,
and private homeowners.
Goddard Riverside Community Center provides services
to 16,000 people annually from Manhattan’s Upper
West Side and Harlem. The agency manages 600 units
of affordable housing. Goddard Riverside advocates
for justice and enriches community life with recreational,
cultural and arts activities. Twenty-two programs
at 16 sites reach out to children and youth, homeless
people and older adults.
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