Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Here are some photos of our biowall being installed by the folks of Furbish Company. There are three layers of porous material to which the plants are attached: one layer of abrasive mat, one layer of coconut fiber mat, and another layer of abrasive mat. The abrasive mat, incidentally, is not unlike the typical abrasive material you find on a dish sponge. The plants’ roots grow downward between the layers.

The plants are watered through a pump system; water cascades down through the plants from the top of the wall, collecting in a trough at the bottom and is then pumped back to the top of the wall.

(more…)

Tune in to NJN’s “backstories” tomorrow, November 21st at 8:30 pm or next Wednesday, November 25 at 11:30 pm when State of the Arts producer Christopher Benincasa meets with two recent Dodge Visual Artist fellows, Fausto Sevila, an art teacher at Arts High School in Newark, and Kelly Clark, an art teacher at Middlesex High School.

If you are a K-12 New Jersey public school art teacher or supervisor, you can apply for the 2009 Dodge Foundation Artist/Educator Fellowships here. Applications are due by January 30, 2009.

Artwork: Fausto Sevila, Two politicians and a vibrating beetle. 2005-07. Digital photography, acrylic, rusted razor blade, and yellow string. 40×18″. Collection of the Artist.

As the Dodge Foundation shifts its focus this time of year to our Education grants, Education Program Director Ross Danis notes the work of an organization in Newark helping young people succeed, even under the most difficult of circumstances:

Dr. Vincent Mays runs the Youth Education and Employment Success Center (Ye²s Center), a remarkable partnership between the City of Newark, the Newark Public Schools, Rutgers University, and a spectrum of non-profit organizations. He is a “can-do” guy, who, with an extraordinary team, is helping to improve education and employment opportunities for the youth of Newark.

(more…)

Program Officer Wendy Liscow contemplates the importance of local foods and discovers how they can transform even the worst reputation: hospital food! This is the final installment of our Environment Stories series.

Inspiring a New Vision for Institutional Food

I recently joined a friend’s book club, and at our first meeting, we all pitched a few books that we thought the group would enjoy reading. There were plenty of books on my fiction list, but I decided to choose two books that had transformed my relationship with food: Michael Pollan‘s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. These books both give new meaning to the old saying, “You are what you eat.”

(more…)

Although it had been 12 years since she visited the city of Paterson, Arts Program Director Laura Aden quickly found out this summer how green it has become, thanks to the tireless efforts of City Green. This is the fourth in our Environment Stories series. Please visit us tomorrow for the fifth and final story from Program Officer Wendy Liscow.

City Green: Growing Healthy Cities

Despite constantly traveling throughout our wonderful state, I have only been to Paterson once before – 12 years ago, as part of my Leadership New Jersey experience. I discovered that amazing things are happening in Paterson when I met Jennifer Papa, the indefatigable founder and Executive Director of City Green, and I saw firsthand how deeply committed she and the staff and volunteers of City Green are to creating livable, green communities in Paterson.

(more…)