TheLoop21.com

By: Paul Mondesire (follow this member)
Tue, 02/10/2009 - 01:00

(Read more of our stories about the Covenant with Black America.)

People say that to remake America we have to focus on being "green." Clean up the land, the air and our waterways, create "green" jobs so the economy can get back into the black. Sounds great!

Unfortunately, for many of the young folks living in cities across the country — the very people who will be responsible for carrying out these green dreams — there isn’t much green to go around. Too often, they are not well taught about the environment where they live, and are not really connected to their natural surroundings. That’s the way it is when there is concrete everywhere you look, and “nature” is something you see on Survivor or PBS.

That is changing in New York. Rocking the Boat Inc. is an organization based in "da Bronx" — the only borough on the mainland. It uses traditional wooden boatbuilding — and then the experience of taking those boats out on the water — to get high school students from under-served schools and communities to learn something new and very different.

They find out about teamwork, because you can’t get anywhere if you don’t row together. They bond with each other, and get closer to nature through up-close and personal experiences.

Don’t start groaning, this is not just a feel-good story.

Wait, it really is a feel-good story, and what is wrong with that?   

Adam Green, Rocking the Boat's founder and executive director, told me that they serve 2,000 young people each year through an on-water classroom program offered to any teacher who wants bring a class down.

Other students come in eight hours each week after school to construct wooden boats using methods handed down over generations. These boats weigh 300 to 600 pounds and hold up to 10 people safely, so this work is no joke. It is a job. Each of the students building boats is interviewed for a position, and they just don’t take a day off.

When the boats are complete, they are launched onto the Bronx River, which becomes a giant, open-air lab and classroom. The students learn about the history of the river and the ecology that has been so badly damaged through many years of neglect. The waters are tested for pollutants, and then the students plant cord grasses to reduce erosion, and even re-seed the river with oysters, which helps filter and clean the waters.

All of these things are important, but when I asked Green about Rocking the Boat’s most important accomplishments, he didn’t say anything about the kids rowing from the Bronx, through the treacherous waters of Hell Gate on the East River, to Red Hook Brooklyn and back. Instead, he spoke thoughtfully about “creating an environment where my kids can do something to make them feel proud of themselves.” 

Anita Antonetty, the organization's job skills advocate, is entrusted with teaching these young folks how to navigate a world where they are often expected to fail. They learn to work harder and smarter, so they can be prepared for whatever life throws at them. Civic responsibility is in there, too. Antonetty said with pride that “every single one of the students who had turned 18 was registered to vote in the presidential election.”

Rocking the Boat alumni have gone on to do everything from graduating from The New School in Manhattan to becoming an airline mechanic; Perhaps the most amazing case is that of Tiffany Barker. She is a young lady from Guyana who lived with her mother in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, and traveled two hours each way every day to the Bronx for high school.  Joining the program and throwing herself into the work, she absorbed all that was being taught like a sponge, with a tremendous will to make things happen. She told all who would listen that she was going to be “a doctor, a marine biologist, and one day, the President of Guyana.” She is now studying marine biology and to become a merchant marine at the State University of New York Maritime College. Given what she has achieved so far, the presidency of her country doesn’t seem so far-fetched.

That is how the idea of remaking America helps change the world — one person at a time.

Get Involved
You can help Rocking the Boat Inc. by volunteering or coming to one of their special events, if you are in the New York City area. Otherwise, you can make a donation or even buy a T-shirt online.

Paul Mondesire is a native New Yorker working in the non-profit arena. He has a passion for education, life-long learning and writes because he believes we must eliminate ignorance by any means necessary.