Camden Conservation Blueprint in Action
Since the launch of Camden Conservation Blueprint in August, two organizations working in Camden have found ways to enhance their work using the free, publicly available interactive mapping tool.
The Hispanic Family Center of Southern NJ (HFC) has been training the community to use the map to find parks and amenities that are accessible to them. One participant said: “I was very excited to have attended the Conservation Blueprint training in October. I had no idea there was something that could help me find parks and activities in my town.” Nicole Wismer, HFC’s Director of Program Analysis and Development said the Conservation Blueprint empowers the community to access parks to better their health and wellness.
“At HFC, we have seen the Blueprint tool give our community the power to set their health and wellness goals into action by using the tool to find parks that meet their needs,” she said.
The NJ Tree Foundation, together with volunteers, recently planted 10 new trees along North 24th and Howell Streets in East Camden. The NJ Tree Foundation used the Camden Conservation Blueprint to help learn important details about the neighborhood, such as resident demographics, health statistics, urban heat island data and more. “The NJ Tree Foundation intends to use the Camden Conservation Blueprint to plan out future tree planting projects, and to provide specific details that might not otherwise be available to us,” said Meredith Brown, Program Coordinator for the NJ Tree Foundation.
“We are excited for the information that the Camden Conservation Blueprint will provide and look forward to using it while planning Spring 2021 tree planting events and beyond,” Brown said.
New Jersey Conservation Foundation worked with our partner Rowan University to develop the Camden Conservation Blueprint and support community groups like these in working proactively to improve local health outcomes and green the City’s environment. We appreciate the NJHI: Upstream Action Acceleration funding which brought this project to fruition.
