GreenRoots

GreenRoots in the News! 📰: "JAZMIN CASTELLÓN STANDS on Congress Street in Chelsea overlooking a new park, with a pavilion and scattered chairs, beside a flat open area where more trees could potentially be planted. It’s a park she has spent years helping to shape, and when it opens to the public this summer, it will provide shade and relief from the heat for local residents.

Along its edges, young trees line the sidewalks every few feet, many just four- or five-years-old. Castellón is the climate justice organizer at GreenRoots, a community-based advocacy group, and in her eyes, those trees are crucial infrastructure: a frontline defense against extreme heat."

Read more:

When the heat doesn’t stop The loss of funds has disrupted a network of heat-related initiatives across Massachusetts, many supported through EPA environmental justice grants.

🌳 El mes pasado, las organizadoras de GreenRoots Noemy y Jazmin, la miembro comunitaria Maritza, y nuestra intérprete Carolina nos representaron en la Conferencia Greater & Greener de City Parks Alliance, y regresaron inspiradas.

Puntos clave:
🤝 El verdadero progreso ocurre cuando las agencias, los desarrolladores y las organizaciones comunitarias como la nuestra se sientan todos en la mesa, juntos.
🌡️ Los parques no son solo espacios verdes: son infraestructura de resiliencia climática y zonas de enfriamiento que nuestras comunidades necesitan.
🏘️ Espacio verde sin voz comunitaria = desplazamiento. GreenRoots estuvo presente para recordarles a los desarrolladores de parques: no nos saquen de nuestros propios vecindarios.
🏡 La política de vivienda y la justicia ambiental van de la mano. El embellecimiento solo funciona si responde a las necesidades reales de la comunidad (como centros de enfriamiento abiertos hasta tarde, no solo paisajismo bonito).
🪑 Nos inspiró un proyecto en Los Ángeles llamado "100 Mesas", que colocó 100 mesas a lo largo de una calle e invitó a los vecinos a conversar entre sí. Organizar una base comienza por construir relaciones.
👧🏽 Vimos niños jugando libremente, gente bailando junto al agua. Eso es lo que queremos para Chelsea y East Boston: espacio para jugar sin ser criminalizados, y más piscinas (¡la nuestra ya está a su máxima capacidad!).

Los parques deben pertenecer a las personas que viven a su alrededor. 💚
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🌳 Last month, GreenRoots organizers Noemy & Jazmin, community member Maritza, and our interpreter Carolina represented us at the City Parks Alliance's Greater & Greener Conference, and they came back inspired.

Key takeaways:
🤝 Real progress happens when agencies, developers, and community-based orgs like us are all at the table together.
🌡️ Parks aren't just green space; they're climate resilience infrastructure and cooling zones our neighborhoods need.
🏘️ Green space without community voice = displacement. GreenRoots was there to remind park developers: don't build us out of our own neighborhoods.
🏡 Housing policy and environmental justice go hand in hand. Beautification only works if it meets real community needs (like cooling centers open late, not just pretty landscaping).
🪑 A project inspired us in Los Angeles called "100 Mesas," which placed 100 tables down a street and invited neighbors to talk to each other. Building a base starts with building relationships.
👧🏽 We saw kids playing freely, people dancing by the water. That's what we want for Chelsea and East Boston: space to play without being criminalized, and more pools (ours is already at capacity!).

Parks should belong to the people who live around them. 💚