Emerald Necklace Maintenance Collaborative

We are grateful to the generous multiple year support of the Robbins deBeaumont Foundation and new 2010 support from the State Street Foundation for this program.

The Emerald Necklace Maintenance Collaborative provides maintenance crews to care for areas within the Necklace. Crew members come from the Department of Correction Boston Pre-Release Center, where, as part of our program, they also receive vocational training in landscape maintenance and horticultural skills. Due to the success of our program over the past few years, the MA Department of Correction has asked The Conservancy to increase our program from one to two work crews in the Emerald Necklace. An important component of this initiative is the education and training program adult males receive as they anticipate release from the MA Department of Correction Morton Street Pre-Release facility. With new leadership at the state level, the Department of Correction has made a commitment to provide significant vocational training so the residents have a portfolio of as many certifiable skills as possible when they return to their community. The training offered through our program is especially practical and desirable and our program commitment to providing participants with new skills has become a model approach to rehabilitation and is recognized by the Department of Correction.

Two crews of 8 minimum-status inmates from the Boston Pre-Release Center in Jamaica Plain participate in a bi-weekly horticulture and landscape skills training program, and work in the parks four to five days a week. The Program Instructor, including occasional guest lectures by landscape professionals, teach the crew basic horticulture techniques, plant and soil sciences and maintenance skills. Additional hands-on-training includes landscaping around the Morton Street facility and cultivation of flowers and vegetables (which are harvested and eaten by crew members) in a gardon on the grounds of the Pre-Release Center. Program participants also receive an overview of the history and unique design of the Emerald Necklace parks, their creator, Frederick Law Olmsted, and how they are contributing to the renewal of this historic park system.

Daily supervision of the crew's work in the parks is shared by the Boston and Brookline parks departments depending on work location. Additionally, Brookline has been providing a van for crew transportation as well as secure tool storage, while Boston provides the location for lunch breaks and restrooms. The MA Department of Correction has provided crew supervisors and built a teaching garden at their facility for participants to continue their hands-on-learning about plant growth and maintenance.