Elizabeth group aims to change places and lives, Star Ledger. January 13th, 2004.

Elizabeth group aims to change places and lives
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
BY DIEGO GRAGLIA
Star-Ledger Staff
First, a vacant lot in Elizabethport will transform into an oasis of greenery.
Later, a traffic divider in front of the Midtown train station will see birch trees spring up and, soon, another in Elmora Hills will go back to its former beauty.

All are first-year goals set for the newborn nonprofit Groundwork Elizabeth, created with funds from the National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the city.
The organization has started raising funds and designing its first projects. As soon as spring brings milder weather, the group will try to improve the city's environment, one spot at a time.
Elizabeth is the first city in the state and just the ninth in the nation to launch a Groundwork corporation, according to Douglas Evans, manager of the Boston- based Groundwork USA Initiative.
Following an idea born in Britain in 1981, the national network of not-for-profit corporations works on small environmental improvement projects in close relation with residents and local groups.
The 14 cities chosen so far, five of which are preparing to launch their trusts, "have very similar attributes," Evans said, "all of them having been industrial, dealing with contaminated land issues, lack of parks and recreation space, the need for new housing and new open space."
Groundwork organizations have been created or are in the works in the Northeast, Midwest and Southwest. The network is willing to expand outside those three clusters, Evans said, as long as funds from the Park Service and EPA are available.
Coordinated by the national organization, local groups in places such as Concord, N.H.; Providence, R.I.; Yonkers, N.Y.; or Denver look to reinvent their cities by redeveloping their downtowns and neighborhoods, Evans said.
"The motto of Groundwork is 'Changing places, changing lives,'" said Jonathan Phillips, recently named executive director of the Elizabeth group. The former chairman of the Elizabeth Avenue Partnership added that the organization will reach out to schools, other nonprofits and individuals to invite them to work on different projects.
"If we need to go door to door, we'll do it," he said.
The Elizabeth group has received enough funds to function for three years on an annual budget of approximately $60,000, Phillips said. Ultimately, the local organization is expected to support itself, which makes fund-raising one of the main goals in its first year.
On May 23, a bicycle tour around the city will be the first major fund-raising event. The tour will depart from Morris Aaron Bicycles, in front of Union Square in Peterstown, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the bike shop, which Phillips owns.
The 15-mile route will encompass the Elizabeth Avenue shopping district, the Elizabethport area, Jersey Gardens mall, Historic Midtown, Elmora and Peterstown. Proceeds will fund a River Awareness Day to be held in the summer.
Contributors already have started making donations, Phillips said: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey pitched in $5,000, Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D- Union) gave $1,000 and Pinelands Nursery of Columbus, Burlington County, donated 125 trees.
The first project to be tackled in the spring is the beautification of a traffic divider at Morris Avenue and Julian Place, in front of the recently renovated Midtown train station. Students from Battin Middle School will take part in the project.
A similar project will improve the looks of the traffic circle at Park Avenue and Summit Road, in the Elmora Hills section.
And a "pocket park" will be built on a lot adjacent to Appletree Village, a new 15-home private development at Pine and Front streets in Elizabethport.
Five years ago, Groundwork Bridgeport launched its first projects. Since then, it has partnered with neighbors to build more than 30 different projects -- such as small parks and community gardens -- around the largest city in Connecticut, according to executive director Richard Tiani.
The trust also has developed a network of student, community and neighborhood groups that maintains those sites and through which 800 to 1,000 people volunteer each year.
A budding group like the one in Elizabeth faces two challenges in its first year, Tiani said. "One is really to have a recognizable presence in the community, so that people know the kind of work that we do," he said.
The other, he added, "is to identify and align with supporters that understand what our mission is" and can contribute materials and money.
Diego Graglia covers Elizabeth. He can be reached at dgraglia@star ledger.com or (908) 302-1505.