Alexandria Griffith: Newport News Green Foundation

 Last year I took Dr. Balays environmental ethics class which was a community engaged learning course with the Newport News Green Foundation. Students within the class were broken up into small groups and each group was given a property to work on. The property my group and I had was near the Newport News Shipyard, the area lacks a lot of green spaces. The property we had was very small so I was curious to see what we would end up deciding to do with it. We had to survey the local community to see what their views were on the property, and what they wanted to see done with it. I had high hopes for the project but wasnt sure what we would be able to do with it due to its small size. My group and I ended up coming up with the ideas to maybe add a bench, or even a trash can due to the amount of trash that was on the small property. We made a survery online, and printed flyers for people could scan and complete it. Most of the people who filled out the survey stated that they would like the property to be turned into more parking, or a parking garage. I was not expecting to see so many requests for a parking lot, I honestly had not even thought about making the property a parking area at all. The property is surrounded by parking so I wouldnt have guessed the community would want more parking. When we were handing our flyers I was able to talk to a few people and explained to them what we were doing, our class, ect. A few showed interest in our ideas where most just blew off the idea. It was interesting to see how little people cared when I had cared so much. There were also a lot of people that did not understand that the area was for them (the community). I had to explain to a few people that the property is owned by newport news, and that anyone can use it. A lot of families I talked to were happy to hear that. I talked to one mother who explained to me how she has two kids but that they did not have a yard. She told me that she wish she knew more about the property before and that she plans on using it now with her family. I was happy I was able to help at least explain to some people what the property is, and how they can use it. Overall, most people just wanted a parking area which is not what they were going to get. So we ended up not doing anything with the property but I learned a lot throughout the process.

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