Better Beaches Small Grants

Save the Harbor/Save the Bay is thrilled to ring in the beach season with some great news!

We are delighted to announce that we will be awarding a third round of Better Beaches Small Grants to local organizations in beachfront communities and waterfront neighborhoods from Nahant to Nantasket thanks again to the generous support of The Boston Foundation.

We launched "Better Beaches" in 2008, in partnership with the Metropolitan Beaches Commission and the Department of Conservation and Recreation to help jumpstart public activities and free events on our region's public beaches. By all accounts we have done just that, helping groups on nine communities put their beaches to work for all the residents of our region.

Last year, with the support of all of our great partners, Save the Harbor supported 31 free events in 9 communities that brought hundreds of thousands of the region's residents to their public beaches. Among the many notable events and programs we supported in 2009 were concerts and sand castle competitions, family reading nights and neighborhood beach festivals that attracted hundreds of thousands of regional residents to the cleaner waters of Boston Harbor and Massachusetts Bay.

The 2010 Better Beaches program looks to build on this success by seeking proposals that will support and promote beach programming in 2010, and strengthen local beach groups so that they can survive - and thrive - in the longer term. This year we will look forward to funding creative proposals that include plans that will help sustain beach programs in the long term through media partnerships, advertising or other outreach efforts, the creation of materials such as posters, t-shirts, or other items for resale, or support for other innovative (or tried and true!) fundraising, membership or marketing efforts.

Of course, beyond financial support, Save the Harbor/Save the Bay will also continue to offer technical and operating assistance to empower all beaches groups to better advocate on behalf of their beaches and their programs.

Save the Harbor will hold a Grant Workshop on Monday May 3rd from 5:30-7:30 at our office on Boston Fish Pier, to discuss new ideas with applications. We are accepting requests ranging from $500 to $5,000. Proposals are due Monday, May 10th. Grants will be awarded on Saturday, June 5th at our offices on Boston Fish Pier.

Click here for more information about how to apply.

We are looking forward to another great summer of events and activities on our region's public beaches and hope you are too!

Building on Better Beaches

At Save the Harbor/Save the Bay we love this time of year because people up and down the coast are excited to clean up their beaches and show them off to new visitors – and we get to help.

Thanks to generous contributions from The Boston Foundation, National Grid and Comcast, we anticipate that we will have dozens of fun and free events in every beach community from Nahant to Nantasket, so wherever you call home, there should be an event on a nearby beach.

Our president Patty Foley reflected last spring that “It’s remarkable what people who love their beach and their community can accomplish with just a little bit of help.”

After spending some time working with people who love their beaches, I couldn’t agree more. Most everyone that we work with fell in love with “the beach” (whichever it may have been) early and has given back often.

Especially now that we have heard the ideas for the summer from our friends groups on our Metropolitan Beaches from Nahant to Nantasket, these words resonate once again.

The Better Beaches project – bringing people back to our beaches – is never-ending and sometimes challenging but it can also be a great deal of fun. This year, with a little bit of encouragement, we are hearing from people from all of our beach communities about how they plan to take their beach stewardship to the next level through media partnerships, advertising, outreach, fundraising, merchandising, and membership initiatives.

Together, in 2010, these friends will create and sell thousands of T-shirts and other items, develop an online store, produce a TV ad, and work hard to bake several other fresh ideas into working models for financial sustainability.

Strengthened by these strategies, we are confident our friends groups will put together an impressive slate of events from Constitution Beach’s kickoff Beach Party to Nantasket Beach’s Endless Summer that will give people throughout the region plenty of reasons to stretch their summer season and find new things to love about our beaches.

Aside from fulfilling our goal of bringing more people out to the beaches, this year’s series of events will generate a lot of great images and press, stories – and most importantly – memories.

We really hope you are able to make it out to some of this year’s events and buy some kites, totes and T’s. We will use the Better Beaches Blog and our Boston Harbor FacebookPage to keep you posted about beach happenings and events and the great groups that host them.

Marine Mammal Safaris!

Hi everyone! My name is Cindy and I am the policy assistant for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. Working here has provided me with numerous opportunities to learn and connect with Boston Harbor. For example, this past weekend, Iwas fortunate enough to board the Freedom vessel (thanks to Masssachusetts Bay Lines!) along with other families and youth groups to look for marine mammals. This event was FREE for everyone! :)

We had a fun-filled 3 hour boat ride where we saw great views of Boston. We left from Rowes Wharf in Boston and traveled all the way to Hull and back. our Baywatcher, Bruce Berman did a fantastic job narrating the entire trip, telling us great facts and stories about the Harbor. He even sang to us at the end of the trip! The kids were enthusiastic to look for seals, porpoises, and birds as they had their bincoulars ready to look for signs of marine mammals. We were able to spot a few seals off of Little Calf Island from the distance but unfortunately, we were did not see as many as we would have liked. Despite this fact, we had an enjoyable time with beautiful weather.

Here are some pictures from the trip! Enjoy!
(If you want to see lots of pictures of seals and porpoises from past years, visit our Boston Harbor "Seals of Approval" Marine Mammal Safari Gallery on flickr)

I want to thank everyone for coming out! I hope you join us out on the Harbor this summer with our All Access Boston Harbor and Boston Harbor Explorers!

-Cindy

Marine Mammal Safaris 2010

Hi Everyone,

I just uploaded some really great pictures from our Marine Mammal Safaris this past Saturday. As you can see, we were fortunate to have some really awesome weather, especially since we had to postpone the trips by a weekend due to really intense rain the weekend before (my cheeks and nose even turned a little pink!). We took over 500 people on 2 free trips to look for harbor seals and porpoises again, and, as usual, everyone had blast.

We spotted some seals off in the distance behind Little Calf Island, but the water was too shallow to get the boat close enough to see them really well. We saw a ton of cormorants flying low over the water, looking for fish to eat for breakfast and lunch. The kids loved watching the planes take off and land at Logan Airport, and Bruce taught everyone about the importance of the sewage treatment plant on nearby Deer Island. We saw some great views of the Harbor Islands and learned more about their history. We made our way all the way down to Hull, where we waved to Policy and Programs Coordinator PJ's old house, before turning around and heading back towards the inner harbor. We did a final loop to look for the mom and baby porpoise who had been spotted a few days before, but I think they were a little too shy to come out and say hi since our Mass Bay Lines boat was pretty big and the kids were really loud with excitement. We stopped to wave at our friends at Piers Park Sailing Center, Constitution Marina, the USS Constitution and Courageous Sailing Center before redocking at Rowes Wharf behind the Boston Harbor Hotel.

-Rachel

Earth Day 2010 on Boston Harbor

Earth Day 2010 -
Fishing 101 with Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay
at the Boston Children's Museum

When I was hired as a Communications Assistant back in September, I didn't expect that I'd be doing field work with Save the Harbor. I figured I'd be sitting behind my desk, sending out my press releases and updating the Facebook world on Boston Harbor happenings. But man, I am so glad that I got to experience one of these awesome outdoor youth programs.

Boston Harbor's water quality used to be so bad that we couldn't do a Fishing 101 event for a long time, but the water in the Fort Point Channel has improved so much in the last few years thanks to Save the Harbor's hard work that we were finally able to bring it back last year. So we partnered with the Boston Children's Museum again this year and ran a special Fishing 101 event yesterday in honor of Earth Day. We really lucked out with a sunny sky and warm weather, so more than a hundred kids and families were able to try fishing in the Fort Point Channel and learn all about lobsters, crabs, mussels, clams and oysters from our Touch Tank.

Since the water in Boston Harbor is still pretty chilly, it was unfortunately a little too early for fish to be jumping at the bait. So even though no one caught any fish, we did manage to catch 10 crabs in our 3 crab traps! We even caught a little baby one, which the kids were all excited about because it wasn't pinching anyone, unlike some of the bigger ones we caught. We purchased two lobsters (not Boston Harbor lobsters, we won't find any of those until summer, so we had to make do with Canadian lobsters) from Hook Lobster across the street from the Boston Children's Museum and let all the crabs join them in the Touch Tank along with some of the mussels, clams and oysters we also got from Hook Lobster. Some kids were a little hesitant to touch the lobsters and crabs, but others were climbing all over each other to get closer. Some were even trying to grab the lobsters out of my hands! I'm no marine creature expert, so when I was getting pinched by the crabs, there was no way I was going to let kids get pinched by them either.

After encouraging all these kids and families to explore the fun and educational value of the underwater world, we released our little sea friends back into the Fort Point Channel, thanked the Boston Children's Museum for their hospitality, packed up our equipment and headed back to the office to keep planning lots of exciting programs for this summer season. We will be running the Boston Harbor Explorers - Fishing 101 program 3 (count it, 3!) times a week this summer, starting in July, so make sure to check our website for more updates as the summer gets closer, or email Lindsay Welch at welch@savetheharbor.org for more information.

-Rachel

Its Winter Time!

Yuletide greetings to all,

I am reporting from the Save the Harbor/Save the Bay head quarters now. It is true that the frigid windchill induced temperature of 17 degrees prevents us from our usual activities, but there is still much to be done. Preparing newsletters outlining and doing battle with the uncooperative copying machine may seem like a far cry from the fishing of the Youth Program, yet they are essential for the fun times laying ahead. Thanks to the team in the office, kids can look forward to the reopening of the program again in the summer and the continuation of harbor exploring.

-Conor

Better Beaches

Save the Harbor / Save the Bay's “Better Beaches” program grew out of the recommendations made by the Metropolitan Beaches Commission in their 2008 report “Beaches We Can be Proud Of” and was (and still is) made possible by a generous $25,000.00 grant from The Boston Foundation, a similar amount of in-kind support from the Department of Conservation and Recreation, and contributions from our corporate and philanthropic partners.

In 2008 we made grants totaling $28,000 to 11 community groups who in turn organized 27 free events and programs on the region’s public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket. Those funds were partially matched by the local organizations, and by in-kind contributions, for a total leveraged investment of $68,000.00

In the first year we funded activities designed to jumpstart public activities and events on public beaches from Nahant to Nantasket including beachfront concert series, kite festivals, sandcastle competitions, beachside art shows, swimming lessons, family fun nights and reading programs and neighborhood beach parties.
These events and programs have generated new enthusiasm for, and attracted new people to, our region’s public beaches. They have been important successes in other ways as well, helping to strengthen local community organizations and beach friends groups – encouraging them to create new partnerships with local government and area businesses, and strengthening their relationships with the DCR.

In 2009, despite the tough economic climate, we have been able to bring more resources to the table. These include another generous grant of $25,000 from The Boston Foundation, and a similar amount of in-kind support from the DCR. They also include another grant of $3,000 from National Grid, and $2,500 from Comcast Massachusetts to support the program, enabling us to make grants totaling $30,500 this year – up nearly 10% from 2008!

In addition, as they grow stronger, the local groups ability to bring resources to the table has grown as well. This year the local groups have secured more than $57,000 in sponsorships, donations, and in-kind contributions in support of these programs. Together we have invested more than $112,000 in these free events and activities this year, nearly twice what we secured last year!


I hope you will take a few minutes to check out the blog posts about each of this year's events and activities that we supported on the beach in Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Winthrop, East Boston, South Boston, Dorchester, Quincy and Hull.

See you on the Beach!

See You Next Summer!

See you next summer! I apologize for such a belated posting, but I too wanted to thank everyone for such an amazing summer opportunity. The final week of Courageous in Charlestown included visits from Rob and B.J, planting Marigolds on boats (experimenting with potting soil and the soil created at Deere Island), a sailboat visit to Piers Park, Color Wars, and so much more. The Courageous Staff was remarkable and Step Green flourished with the help of Rosemary, Ian, and Amanda.

After the final week at in Charlestown, I was fortunate enough to spend a few days at Piers Park and to work with the East Boston Y.M.C.A. The kids were eager to explore the Harbor in inflatable rafts, and dealt with the heat wave admirably. At the beach we discovered plenty of clams.

I am so grateful to Save the Harbor for giving me this chance to play in Boston Harbor all summer, and I can not even express how bright, exciting, and helpful the Youth Staff was (A special thank you to Janet for putting up with all of the craziness). THANK YOU!

Good Luck!

Laura

Then What Happened?

This summer was amazing. Harbor Explorers has given me great memories, new friendships, and I just found a fishing lure that went through the laundry for the 19^th time. Thank you to everyone who made this a memorable, exciting summer.

The Harbor Explorers team this summer was incredible. I would like to thank you all for your help and guidance. Your dedication and enthusiasm to share the Harbor with the children of Boston was demonstrated every day. Our junior staff was the heart and soul of the Harbor Explorers program. You all did an exceptional job this summer, and I know you will go on to do amazing things. Any crew is only good as its fearless leader, so this post would not be complete without giving a big shout out to my favorite Canadian (just squeaking out Jason Bay), Janet. Thank you for making this program so successful, fun, and exciting. Thank you all. See you on the Harbor.

Peace,

Jason

All Quiet on the Youth Programs Front...

Wow what a summer! It's hard to believe that just 8 weeks ago we had our first staff meeting as 16 strangers sat around the table in the conference room, meeting for the first time. That meeting was filled with nervous laughter and awkward pauses, but two months later our last staff meeting was a very different scene!

Friday was our final day of youth programs here at Save the Harbor. The office was inundated by youth staff, who were busy rinsing, cleaning, fixing, sorting and storing all of our program supplies and equipment. As we chipped away at the day's chores everyone had a chance to recount some of their favorite moments from the summer. To me it really was a great way to wrap the programs - everyone hanging out together being goofy, having spontaneous dance parties in the equipment room, and reminding each other over and over again about why working in the Save the Harbor youth programs is one of the best jobs ever!

I must admit, as someone who has lead youth programs for several years, this year we had one of the best group's of youth program staff I have ever worked with. A genuinely charismatic and fun loving group of people, they really bonded together and ended up with not only some great friendships among our staff, but also with the kids they worked with through our programs.




Our staff, and especially our high school aged junior program assistants, showed a remarkable amount of leadership over the course of the summer. I couldn't think of a better group of young people to not only excite the region's youth about the Harbor environment, but also to act as role models and mentors to the kids we serve.

Whether singing sea chantey's during the Tall Ships Festival, flying kites on Spectacle Island, or fishing and crabbing from the Boston shoreline, our youth staff did an outstanding job bringing excitement, enthusiasm and fun to thousands of kids across the Harbor this summer. Thank you to all of them - it was a pleasure to work with you and you will be sorely missed!

See you on the Harbor,

Janet