The Park Patrol program was launched in July 2007 to involve youth in open space initiatives in their own backyard during summer and out-of-school time. Some of the goals of this leadership development course are:

- To improve Codman Square's parks and open spaces, and increase the number of clean, safe, community-friendly areas.

- To raise awareness in the neighborhood about the benefits of parks and the opportunities that are happening in our local parks.

- To train youth as local advocates for our parks and equip them with valuable skills in the growing 'green' sector.

Our 2008 Park Patrol Interns have been hard at work to develop media advocacy tools. Check out our
Web Design Team who made this website possible, and our Video Team who made a short clip about Codman Square Parks.

Above: Youth plant a new tree in Dorchester's historic Codman Burying Ground, alongside an urban forester from The Urban Ecology Institute.

The time at Park Patrol has been an amazing experience. You could learn so much from this and meet so many people that could help you in the future. If you want to meet new people it would be good to go to the TNT Neighbors United meeting and get a little more information about something you want to do. One of our main jobs is to have non-traditional activities. This means that we have events where kids can come to a place where it is safe there and people know violence isn’t an answer. Also where kids come to have fun, eat, and win things that we give away.

Written by: DeAndrae Coke
(pictured center, above)