2010 Harbor Education Task Force
Thank you to all who attended in the November 10, 2009, Harbor Education Task Force meeting.
Below you will find links about the meeting and Harbor Education resources. Please let us know if you have any additions or suggestions. Stay tuned for information about upcoming Harbor Education meetings. To join our mailing list or for more information, please contact Emily Egginton at eegginton@waterfrontalliance.org
Harbor Education Task Force Agenda- November 10, 2009
Harbor Education Task Force Presentation- November 10, 2009
Please complete this short questionnaire on indicators for the survey
Stay tuned for the schedule of upcoming meetings which will discuss the development of the New York City Comprehensive Waterfront Plan, an important City Planning document which can help define and guide waterfront development decisions for the next decade. All MWA task force meetings will culminate in MWA’s 2010 Waterfront Conference to be in held in November 2010.
November 10th Meeting Summary
At the last meeting at Liberty Science Center, we updated the Waterfront Action Agenda, got ideas from you on how to develop a Waterfront Scorecard for measuring success and found ways to work together to get greater regional funding for our collective waterfront goals. A subcommittee is already working to develop a document of what people in NYC and NJ need to know from both sides of the Hudson about the Harbor. Here is more about what we accomplished at the meeting:
Updates
One of the reasons for this meeting was to get your input on updating the Waterfront Action Agenda and Harbor Education White Paper. The updates you provided help us keep this policy agenda current and timely. Thank you for your contributions on these important policy documents and please let us know if you have any other updates. Your input is important as we continue to hear these materials are reviewed and used by decision makers.
Brainstorming fundraising ideas
Maritime and water-oriented 
environmental education is currently segmented and fragmented due to a lack of resources and for other reasons. We had a great conversation about creative ways to overcome these barriers and how the Alliance can work together to attract more private, State and Federal funding for water-based environmental education. Please continue to send us more information about your ideas for attracting more funding and how it can be best accomplished.
Scorecard
To attract regional funding, MWA will poll the Harbor Education task force member as well as other harbor education organizations to gather information for the Waterfront scorecard.
In order to develop the survey, please complete this short questionnaire on indicators for the survey
We received a lot of great ideas about the Waterfront scorecard indicators. In addition to your ideas, MWA will work on determining how much:
• Money per kid is spent on environmental education
• Money is available from governmental sources for NYC and NJ
• Money is available from governmental sources for NYC only
• Money is available from governmental sources for northern NJ only and
• How many existing waterfront parks and ferries are being used for education?
One of the great opportunities that will come out of the development of this framework document and scorecard is we will have an important communication tool which will guide future work and influence decision makers. Please continue to send us your ideas and input.
Discussion of ways to improve harbor education
It was brought to our attention that the region needs an inventory of traditional and nontraditional environmental education programs to clarify who does what, improve continuity and facilitate communication between organizations and constituents.
Teachers need a clearing house of information that offers:
• A framework about what students and teachers should know about the harbor;
• A list of public programs as potential field trip sites;
• A list of all organizations’ physical addresses;
• Pre and post trip toolkit;
• Training opportunities;
• Transportation costs assistance;
• Service learning opportunities; and
• Resources
There was agreement that we need a framework outlining what people should know about the harbor.
Starting in January, a four member subcommittee will develop a clear message of what we want our constituencies to know about the harbor. What are the 10 most important things kids should know about the harbor and how can we create materials that educate students about them? The subcommittee will include:
• Kim Estes-Fradis, NYCDEP
• Claire Antonucci, New Jersey Marine Science Consortium
• Betsy Ukeritis, NYSDEC, Region 2
• Stephen Stanne, Hudson River Estuary Program/NYS Water Resources Institute
The subcommittee will build off of “Estuary Essentials - Key Understandings for K-12 Study of the Hudson River” developed by NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. This Hudson River Framework document has direct links to NYS learning standards and was reviewed, measured, and used by scientists and college faculty. For the new document, the committee will define the boundaries of the harbor to include both sides of the harbor and the Hudson up to the Tappan Zee Bridge.
Long-term goal
To ensure harbor education policy opportunities are identified and acted upon in legislation, it was suggested we should use the results of the scorecard to mandate an environmental literacy plan in NY and NJ. The Alliance partners need to communicate as a unified front to get money through the government and the legislative process. Due to the size of our region, there is no reason why we should not have a similar environment-based education program like B-WET in CA.
Please contact Emily Egginton, Program and Government Affairs Associate, eegginton@waterfrontalliance.org or 212-935-9831 ext 5
Latest Alliance Partners to Join