Cohort Highlights

ECO-HUB FELLOWS

Eco-Hub fellows pioneered an elevated service and leadership opportunity for GCF alums returning for a second term. This year’s fellows hailed from Cohorts 14, 17, and 20. They brought their unique perspectives and experiences from their first term, served as role models to the new members, and took on additional responsibilities in leading members and supporting staff. They continued to grow and work towards their career goals - be it a staff role with GCF or other employment opportunities. Critically, they made the launch of the Eco-Hub model possible through increased leadership capacity within each team and site.

COVID-19 RESPONSE

Sourcing from Hunts Point Terminal Market and GrowNYC Wholesale Market, members distributed an extra 8,500 pounds of produce to the community in response to the pandemic and increased food insecurity. These special distributions were held over the fall and winter to supplement our own production season drew to a close.

OUTDOOR & Virtual EVENTS

We have always hosted outdoor programming and events at our farms - from weekly farm stands and cooking demonstrations to workshops and seasonal celebrations. Though more limited in capacity this year, these events were particularly meaningful to the community when so much else was canceled. The Mariners Harbor Houses team led a series of weekly programming for local kids, including Sit ‘n Slurps that featured smoothies made with ingredients from the farm and a story, and a book exchange that helped meet a need that came from libraries being closed.

We welcomed over 500 residents across our 5 sites at our annual Harvest Fest celebrations. Slightly modified to ensure social distancing, we were able to continue traditions like pumpkin carving and arts & crafts, while introducing new games and activities like a bean bag toss and an investigation station to find creepy crawly bugs in our compost piles.

And we hosted our first ever virtual cooking workshop welcoming NYCHA residents from across the city to learn about respiratory health in partnership with Smoke-Free NYHCA and prepare a recipe together. Members in the Food Advocacy training showed off their knowledge and skills leading Zoom breakout rooms of attendees in preparing a dish together, individually at home.

PArtner with Hester Street

A special training this year was a series of virtual and in-person sessions with our partners at Hester Street, who trained members in intentional and strategic resident engagement to launch our Eco-Hub model. Members serving as credible messengers to the community and conducting outreach to educate residents on what we’re doing, how they can be involved, and engage them to collect their feedback are core pieces of GCF’s Love Where You Live initiative that is a part of the Eco-Hub model. Working with members and staff, Hester Street led preliminary trainings on the foundations of resident engagement, developed tools and strategies and led workshops with members on implementation, and culminated training with an evaluation and analysis of the results. These trainings were pivotal in members leading the messaging with residents on the shift to Eco-Hubs and collecting their feedback on their sustainability priorities and what they wanted to see on site as we move towards a holistic approach to sustainability within our sites.

NYCHA HEAT SENSOR TRAINING

Through partnership with NYCHA and NYSERDA, Cohort 21 spent over 4,000 service hours this winter helping NYCHA residents at 18 developments achieve more comfortable indoor heating levels while improving the efficiency of heating systems through new use of heat sensors. This service project gave members an inside look at one of the ways NYCHA is implementing its Sustainability Agenda, while providing a hands-on opportunity to apply their energy efficiency training and knowledge and resident engagement skills.