Class News

Chris Getman ’64 relays news from Urban Resources Initiative (URI)

November 17, 2020

Below is a letter from URI giving us an update of their operations in the time of COVID. By way of background, our Class has supported URI financially since 2009 by funding a summer intern each year. URI is a university partnership engaged in community forestry activities throughout New Haven. URI is a program of the Yale School of the Environment as well as a nonprofit guided by a local board of directors. Chris Getman '64 serves as an advisor to the URI board.

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Hi Chris and all of our 1964 Friends of URI,

When we received permission from Yale to reactivate our field work in late spring, our team created PPE protocols to ensure we could safely carry out our GreenSkills programs in partnership with EMERGE. Initially we set a goal with the City Engineer to install 75 new bioswales in downtown and the Hill neighborhood this year, but given the late start we will likely complete 50. Next spring we plan to complete the remaining 25 bioswales to reach our goal, and then hope to work with the City on a maintenance plan. We are on track to achieve our intended annual target of planting 500 new trees across New Haven. We’ve planted these trees with Yale students and our green-job trainees at EMERGE. COVID restrictions prevented us from hiring high-school students for field work this year, but we did hire a smaller group of young people to work remotely with Yale students supervising them on various tasks from home.

Our Community Greenspace season was postponed to mid-summer, but then took off as well. After we determined how to safely support community groups, some volunteers eagerly joined each other to plant and tend City parks and other open spaces. Of course, some volunteer groups were less active this summer, and instead sheltered at home. One of our major goals for 2020 included installing a new splash pad at Cherry Ann Park in Newhallville. Thanks to our strong partnership with the City, a very significant donor contribution and six years of volunteer efforts, this formerly derelict four-acre open space is now a charming park complete with a splash pad for children to play in during hot summer months and a great pavilion for the community to enjoy year-round.

Lastly, in collaboration with and support of one of the most aspirational Greenspace groups and the City of New Haven, we have completed about 85% of construction of the New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence. Yesterday and Saturday we hosted next of kin in pre-registered one-hour visits to the Botanical Garden of Healing so that they could privately experience this beautiful space that remembers their loved ones before it is open to the public. The mothers who spearheaded this effort toured the visiting families through the garden. It was inspiring to witness how profoundly moved the families were to see that their family’s loss wasn’t forgotten. I am confident it will be a healing place and am hopeful it will bring the social change we need to stem gun violence. Once COVID is behind us and we can safely bring together a large crowd, we will plan a special dedication event and invite you all to join us.

I hope you all are staying healthy and enjoy Thanksgiving next week.

Warmly, Colleen

Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology/Urban Resources Initiative
Yale School of the Environment