Community Greenspace Program

The Community Greenspace Program helps residents of New Haven, CT reclaim and maintain their urban neighborhoods. The program helps to revitalize inner city communities by creating greenspace in distressed urban neighborhoods. The program has helped the community in revitalizing multiple urban areas including parks, abandoned lots, public and private housing associations, neglected front yards, and curb strips. The program provides materials and technical resources to help in the process of neighborhood restoration. Supplies available through the program include plants (trees, flowering plants, shrubs, etc) and gardening supplies (compost, mulch, soil, lumber, tools, etc). A community forester is assigned to support and facilitate the development and implementation of a group’s open space design. In addition to the support of the forester, landscape architects are available as needed, as well as training workshops for program participants.

The goal of the Community Greenspace program is to restore and revitalize urban neighborhoods by helping residents create greenspace in their communities.

The program has completed more than 221 urban restoration projects, with annual participation exceeding 500 New Haven residents. In addition, over 1,000 trees have been planted. In addition to the urban restoration projects, residents report heightened membership in civic and voluntary organizations, rejuvenated feels of neighborhood ownership, and lasting visible improvements in their daily environment.