Founded in 2001, Southwest Boston CDC has worked with community partners in Hyde Park and Roslindale to create and preserve affordable housing. SWBCDC’s Green Initiative Program works with neighborhood associations and city-wide coalitions to advocate for policies to protect all remaining urban woodlands from being clear-cut, and to follow and advise on evaluation and clean-up of the Neponset River, as key strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, especially as building density increases. 

Over the past 16 years, our Green Team, Youth Job Readiness and Environmental Stewardship Program has employed over 200 Boston youth to restore Hyde Park’s protected Urban Wilds by building and maintaining walking trails, planting and pruning native species, and removing invasive species. At Sherrin Woods, the largest city-owned Urban Wild, the Green Team’s work has resulted in an increase in Park users by families from Hyde Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Through the Green Team, Boston teens learn to become environmental stewards & educators, understand the role of urban woodlands in climate resiliency & biodiversity, and acquire and model job skills that prepare them for future success.

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