The Quarry Lane lot sits next to over 100 acres of City conservation and municipal land, and most importantly, the Busy Bees Preschool, which is notably diverse and also prides themself on their award-winning natural playground. If the land were developed, it would have not only increased flooding risk to the neighborhood and preschool, but would have removed both the trees and access to the abutting City land. NCLT specifically saw the project surrounding this land acquisition as a way to “Protect environmental justice neighborhoods from further disturbance, provide community building and outdoor learning opportunities, and promote nature-based play and outdoor recreation.” Thus, in partnership with other local conservation and municipal groups, NCLT has turned the space into a community garden that serves the local community and provides an educational experience for students at the Preschool.

In early 2021, to further these efforts, NCLT and Growing Places were awarded a $31,000 grant from the Amelia Peabody Foundation to work with stakeholders and the Preschool to build a multigenerational community learning garden. This past fall, they closed up on their first gardening season with the help of volunteers and the Busy Bees students and have already planned for the 2022 gardening season. Be sure to follow-along and check out their video on the project below.

In order to meet these challenges, HPI assisted the foundation in deploying funding through:

The mission of the High Peaks Initiative is to protect important natural resources, secure public access, and support healthy human and natural communities in Maine’s High Peaks.  Due to community connections, HPI was able to quickly deploy this funding to areas of greatest need, even if they were beyond the RCP’s mission