The Shaw EcoVillage Project

By Benjamin Rhys West, Research Assistant

“The thing about this neighborhood,” says Jimmy, a staff mechanic draping his long arms over the bike he is working on, “is that I grew up three blocks from here and I never came down to this corner.” Yet, on this sunny Saturday afternoon, Jimmy is working with dozens of local children who hang out regularly at the Shaw EcoVillage Project, an awardwinning program for kids in an often-troubled area of Washington, DC.

Shaw EcoVillage began in 1998 after local residents, tired of merely grumbling about the problems in the deserted, drugridden neighborhood, began to daydream about redesigning the neglected community. Who better to redesign the area, they thought, than the neighborhood’s own kids?

With the idea of harnessing the creativity and energy of local kids to redesign the neighborhood, they started the EcoDesign Corps, with a home base at Shaw EcoVillage, a previously deserted corner. The idea behind the EcoDesign Corps was to get kids to identify what needs to be changed and improved in their neighborhood, and then teach them how to bring about that change.

Over the last few years, kids have constructed and installed a greenroof (sod roof), planted community gardens, developed a historic bike tour based on specific historical figures in Shaw, and designed a street tree maintenance brochure that was distributed to over 300 local residents. The kids also developed and helped implement the Chain Reaction Youth Bike Shop, which teaches kids age 11-19 how to repair and recycle used bikes.

Shaw EcoVillage has worked wonders in building an oasis for kids in the midst of a crime-ridden neighborhood—and it all developed out of the ideas of a handful of people who saw a problem in their community and were determined to take action.

As part of our Kid-Friendly Cities Report Card, Population Connection took a look at programs like this all over the country. We’ve identified one program in each city that is improving the lives of the local children, whether through providing health care in underserved areas, establishing literacy programs at local libraries, creating youth theater troupes, or a variety of other activities.

We looked at these projects in order to give you ideas for what you can do in your own community to make it more kid-friendly. Look at the grades your city received. Did your city score low in Health? Maybe you can start a program similar to Oakland, California’s TechniClinic. Located on a high school campus, the clinic provides a free, safe, and convenient place for kids to receive comprehensive health care. Did your city score low in the Community category? Perhaps you might think about recreating an Environmental Empowerment Club at your local school. This program in Detroit teaches kids about environmental issues and works to solve problems in the local area. On the back of the pull-out poster connected to page 20 of this magazine, you’ll find information on projects in all 100 cities. You can visit our website—www.kidfriendlycities.org—to find contact information for all of these groups.

We visited Shaw EcoVillage to see firsthand how these projects have a positive impact on neighborhood kids. On a typical weekend, the Chain Reaction Youth Bike Shop is the main draw. Volunteers work with a group of kids who have become regulars—they come to learn how to repair and maintain their own bikes, and to work on old bikes that can be refurbished and sold to raise money for the workshops Chain Reaction runs.

Mike Hill, executive director of Shaw EcoVillage, explained some of the changes he’s seen in the neighborhood since the program was established. “There was always a Chinese restaurant on the corner, but it used to be the kind of place that sold as much liquor as food. As some of our projects came to fruition though, as we planted gardens and opened the bike shop, we’ve seen a change in the attitude of many people towards this corner. We’ve got a new restaurant now, and kids aren’t afraid to walk over here and visit the center.”

“The Shaw EcoVillage Project is designed to provide tools to the youth of the community so that they can enact the changes they envision, and I think we can definitely say that the kids’ projects have had a major impact on the feel of this neighborhood.” Shaw EcoVillage is a great demonstration of the ideal behind the 100 city projects—identify a problem in your neighborhood, and then design a plan to fix it. In this case, Shaw EcoVillage is teaching the kids themselves how to design the plan.

The long history of poverty, drugs, and violence in the neighborhood has taken its toll on the residents, but the EcoVillage provides a space for kids to find activities, support, and educational opportunities that were previously absent in the neighborhood. Hill said, “Many of our kids need support that they don’t get at home. At the EcoVillage, we serve as a place where kids feel they’re needed, where they feel they have a specific role to play. Willy, for example, is a kid with a troubled background. But he always shows up and then starts calling the other kids and hassles them to come down. He has a role here, he takes on responsibility.”

“Chris is another of our regulars. I often see him walking around the neighborhood when he should be in school. He has attendance problems, but he is always at the EcoVillage for his program. He is dedicated to it.”

Walking to see the new community gardens, Hill said, “The problem with many programs is that they happen quickly with no follow up. A garden is planted but there is no one around to water it.” The kids at the EcoVillage take responsibility for their projects from inception through daily maintenance, and many people in the neighborhood chip in to help as well.

Hill is amazed at some of the unexpected help they’ve received from neighbors. “We were getting ready to set up our community garden and had spent a day cleaning a carload of broken glass out of the lot,” he said. “Kenny was one of the regulars on the block when it was mostly a spot for drinking and drugs, he had probably been drinking on that corner and winging bottles into that lot for a decade. So, one day he shows up and asks Josh (of the EcoDesign Corps) for a plastic bag. Kenny doesn’t say what he wants it for, but walks off with the bag. Turns out he cleaned up all of the broken glass in the lot and started warning people not to throw bottles there anymore. He doesn’t hang around when the kids are there, but the lot is always clean.”

Shaw EcoVillage is laying the groundwork for a healthier neighborhood into the future. “Each of these kids is going to have a sense of ownership of this neighborhood,” Hill said, with an infectious enthusiasm. “They will be more inclined to fix it up and be equipped to do so. If we could get two hundred kids together who had gone through one of the programs we would have critical mass. It would be a miniature revolution for the neighborhood and the city.” Hill envisions kids designing and building their own safe, sustainable, and vital neighborhood, their own kid-friendly city.

The kids at Shaw EcoVillage are residents of a changing neighborhood, and it is the EcoVillage that is providing many of the tools for change. The kids are working together, using the advice of professionals, the insight of their neighbors, and their own dreams of what a city should be. They have made their neighborhood safer, made connections in a fragmented community, and learned skills that will help them in years to come.

In presenting our 100 projects in 100 cities, we wanted to share ideas and blueprints so that others could create similar projects in their own neighborhoods. The Shaw EcoVillage has accomplished some amazing things in Washington, DC, and the same strategy can be modified and applied to hundreds of other neighborhoods across the country. Look at our poster and our website, see what we’re already doing in your neighborhood, and think about what you could do to make your own city more kid-friendly.