A team of Green Ambassadors from Houston’s East End has been awarded the 2016 Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence Partnership Award from Texas A&M AgriLife.
The Green Ambassadors consist of a multi-agency, collaborative, grassroots movement that aims to help local schools and the broader surrounding community to plant and grow urban and community forests as answers to issues faced by Houstonians every day, such as: access to fresh, healthy foods, the heat island effect and flooding.
The Green Ambassadors themselves are at-risk high school and college students who gain leadership skills and confidence through their roles as teachers and mentors, spreading conservational and environmental awareness to local elementary and middle schools.
“The Green Ambassador program models ‘youth-leading-youth’ with students teaching each other how to learn, and how to think,” Tom Boggus, Texas A&M Forest Service Director said. “As natural resource agencies, we need to figure out how to help other communities achieve this same level of engagement and empowerment.”
The Ambassadors have planted hundreds of fruit trees and more than 200 vegetable garden beds in Houston’s East End community. They also raised approximately 3,000 pounds of collard greens, sweet potatoes and other vegetables that have all been donated to area food banks.
The program members honored with the Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence were: John Warner, Tamberly Conway, David Salazar, Juan Elizondo and Nalleli Hidalgo.
The Vice Chancellor’s Awards in Excellence were established in 1980 to recognize the commitment and outstanding contributions of faculty and staff across Texas A&M AgriLife and provide opportunity to celebrate the achievements of those honored.
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