LISC AmeriCorps Members Conduct "Spring Cleaning" in Madison Park!

The sixth LISC AmeriCorps Monthly Meeting was hosted by Angela Kelly, Community Action Organizer at Madison Park Development Corporation. Read about the activities the members engaged in while at Madison Park:
On Friday, May 14th, 2010, the Boston LISC Americorps group gathered at Madison Park Development Corporation in Lower Roxbury for a day of community-based learning, touring, and service. The day began in the Madison Park Public Internet Center, which provides technology access and computer classes for residents of all ages and a safe and welcoming drop-in space for neighborhood teens. The LISC members were introduced to the history of Madison Park’s community development and community organizing work through the video A Shared Vision: The Making of Madison Park Village “A Shared Vision: The Making of Madison Park Village”, which was followed by Angela Kelly’s presentation on the current priorities and activities of the MPDC Community Action team. As one of the core sites for the Boston Public Health Commission’s Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIP) Program, Madison Park Community Action Director Kevin Johnson and staff members Tali Ruskin and Gina San Inocencio gave an overview of this unique public safety initiative and led an activity which challenged participants to think about the roots and manifestations of both peace and violence in our communities and the ways in which our efforts can be effectively targeted to create positive change.

While enjoying lunch from Haley House, the group was joined by special guests, including LISC Americorps alumni Luz Colon and Sherrel Johnson, resident leader William Almeyda, and MPDC’s Executive Director Jeanne Pinado. The LISC members had an active afternoon of exploring Dudley Square with visits to historic Hibernian Hall, home of Madison Park Development Corporation and the Roxbury Center for the Arts, as well as the construction site for MPDC’s new “green” affordable homeownership initiative, Twenty at Luma.

In the afternoon, twelve LISC Members and three LISC staff joined two resident leaders to conduct the annual “Spring Cleaning” of the Madison Park Intergenerational Community Garden in the Lower Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. The volunteers cleared out trash and invasive weeds to beautify the garden and make space for a new season of planting and growing. In the coming months, a dedicated group of community residents will manage more than twenty garden plots and partner with the adjacent Madison Park Technical Vocational High School to provide students with an opportunity to engage in experiential education in an “outdoor classroom” setting. Now that the garden has been cleaned up for a new year, it will soon blossom full of herbs, veggies, and flowers, making it a thriving green oasis in Roxbury’s bustling Dudley Square. The fresh foods produced in the garden will be enjoyed by the resident gardeners, their families and friends, with excess donated to food pantries in the neighborhood. Founded in 2002, the garden is a joint project of Madison Park Development Corporation in conjunction with the high school, the city of Boston, and a leadership committee of neighborhood residents, who expressed much enthusiasm and gratitude for the LISC group’s afternoon of service in commemoration of National AmeriCorps Week.