NSF Civic Innovation challenge project

The Climate Corps Program is a paid educational research experience for 15-22 year old young adults from the Greater Boston Area, led by the non-profit community organization Eastie Farm and co-developed with a few Boston area institutions and organizations as part of a CIVIC Innovation Challenge award from the National Science Foundation. CIVIC is a unique NSF program that puts community-based organizations at the forefront of research funding to allow for the scaling up and application of promising foundational research. This approach addresses the barrier to resources typically experienced by community based organizations, helping to foster connections among community needs and the application of scientific research. Eastie Farm’s mission is aimed at improving climate justice, community resilience and food security in East Boston with various community engagement programs. Climate Corps is designed to enhance environmental sustainability knowledge in participants through working at Eastie Farm and engaging in social science and bioscience research relevant to the East Boston community. Along with the Emerald Tutu group, The Hughes Lab has developed the bioscience curriculum for the 2024 Climate Corps Fellows, focused on learning to use an experimental approach and ecological and evolutionary principles ecology to create nature-based solutions to coastal resilience. The Fellows are also getting hands-on experience growing and out-planting marsh grasses (Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens) in the Eastie Farm greenhouse and at our East Boston test site.