CitySprouts’ Green Team Programs

What is the CitySprouts green team?

 

The CitySprouts Green Team (formerly known as the Young Leaders Program) is an Out-of-School Time (OST) program targeted at middle school youth throughout Boston and Cambridge. The Green Team operates under two main branches – afterschool programs that run throughout the school year and a 5-week long summer program. Like all CitySprouts programming, the Green Team is tuition-free and places a specific focus on serving youth in underserved, overpaved communities.

The goal of the Green Team is to not only provide youth opportunities to learn and grow in their schoolyard gardens, but to build competency in skills such as STEM, cooking, and leadership, that will serve youth as they transition into high school, their first jobs, and beyond. 

Program evaluation and Certified Quality Assessments are provided externally through our OST network partners, Boston Afterschool and Beyond (BASB) & The Cambridge Agenda for Children (AFCOST).

 

learn more about our green team programs

Frequently Asked Questions

  • We review applications on a rolling basis beginning on April 1. If your youth is accepted into the program you will receive an email asking you to confirm the details of your application. A youth will not be registered for the program until you confirm their intent to attend. This helps us ensure that we are able to fill all the slots we have available.

  • As a tuition-free program the Green Team relies heavily on grants and donations for funding. By providing demographic information like household income and ethnicity we can paint a better picture of the communities we are serving when applying for funding. Responding to these questions is completely voluntary, and your response does not impact your youth’s eligibility.

  • While gardening is a big focus of the program, Green Team groups do a wide variety of activities every day. We take extra care to work in the garden in the mornings when temperatures are lowest, and all staff are trained to identify and treat any symptoms of heat exhaustion. We have classrooms reserved inside to escape the heat and will have crafts, experiments, and cooking activities that all relate back to the garden.

  • As a tuition-free program the Green Team holds a strict 75% attendance policy to ensure the youth involved participate fully. If you have concerns about your ability to meet that attendance policy please reach out directly to Alex Frank at afrank@citysprouts.org. Failure to meet the attendance policy may result in removal from the program and forfeiture of the stipend.

  • The Green Team partners with Food Services at Cambridge and Boston Public Schools, so the meals are determined by them. If you have dietary restrictions or concerns please be sure to inform us ahead of time so we can make arrangements to ensure your youth’s needs are met.

  • The current stipend model is $100 for full participation in the Science of Gardening program, and $50 for the Growing Green Communities program.

  • Field trips vary year-to-year. We take extra care to ensure that our trips focus on learning about and connecting with green spaces and communities throughout Boston and Cambridge. To get an idea about what kinds of trips we go on, check out last year’s summer recap.