Volunteer Corps

 

The Prospect Park Volunteer Corps, an internationally honored volunteer program, offers many exciting ways to help in one of the world's most beautiful parks.

Information Sessions | Weekly Groups | Special Events | Special Opportunities

Gain experience and spend time doing something you love while making a real difference in the lives of all who benefit from the Park and Park services. Here are a few examples of the crucial contributions volunteers make to Prospect Park:

• Woodland restoration, including cleaning, greening and planting
• Visitor outreach and education, including leading guided tours
• Office help
• Special Skills: Carpentry, Photography, Information Technology
• Working with children and nature at the Audubon Center

We provide the training and equipment for all activities. All you have to do is decide how much time you can spare and when. For more information, call the Volunteer Office at (718) 965-8960 or email us.

Watch a short video  about volunteers at work outdoors in the Park, and another about volunteers helping to clean up the Lake  (don't forget - there's volunteer work you can do indoors at the Park too!)

Click here to see us on NY1!

Volunteer Information Sessions

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Curious about volunteering? Learn about the many different volunteer opportunities that take place on weekdays and weekends, both indoors and outdoors in Prospect Park. These one-hour meetings take place in the first-floor conference room of the historic Litchfield Villa, 95 Prospect Park West, between 4th and 5th Streets. For more information call (718) 965-8960. 

Upcoming information session dates:

MARCH
Saturday, March 13,         2 p.m.
Wednesday, March 17    4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 24    6:30 p.m.

APRIL
Wednesday, April 7          4 p.m.
Saturday, April 10             3 p.m.
Wednesday April 28        6:30 p.m.

Weekly Groups

For dates and more information, call (718) 965-8960, or check our calendar.

Mondays: East Side Revival Corps
Every Monday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., beginning April 5
Meet on the east side of the Park at the Vale of Cashmere (off of East Drive, a quarter-mile from Grand Army Plaza) and help improve the surrounding areas. Call the office if it%u2019s your first time with this group.

Wednesdays: GAP Corps
Every Wednesday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Meet under the arch at Grand Army Plaza. Assist with maintenance of the area and with gardening projects.

Wednesday Corps
Every Wednesday, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Volunteer for crucial horticultural and maintenance projects around the Park.

Thursdays: Thursday Corps
Every Thursday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., beginning April 1
Work on various horticultural and beautification projects.

Weekend Woodlands Corps
Every Saturday, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., beginning April 3
Join the ongoing restoration of the Park%u2019s wooded areas. Meet outside the Picnic House.

Special Events and Additional Clean-ups

Opening Day! April 10  10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Spring Cleaning in Prospect Park!  Participate with our dynamic volunteers raking leaves, edging pathways, and removing litter from natural areas. Meet at the Tennis House.  Enter the Park at 9th Street and Prospect Park West, and walk across the drive.  The Tennis House is the distinct white classical structure on the opposite side of the West Drive.  For more information call (718) 965-8960. 

 Weekend Volunteer Corps

Help the environment in your community. Typical tasks include: sprucing up flower beds and shrub beds; clearing fence lines; painting fences, benches and litter cans; removing non-native invasive weeds; caring for trees by weeding and mulching around them; improving pathways by sweeping and removing organic debris; and removing trash.

For dates and more information, call (718) 965-8960, or check our calendar.

Special Opportunities

Special volunteer positions are now available at the Audubon Center. Check out the job descriptions below in pdf format, and call (718) 965-8960 to find out how you can contribute to environmental education in Brooklyn's favorite Park.

• Greeter 
• Nature Guide 
• Program Assistant 
• Weekday Docent

Volunteer positions are also available at Lefferts Historic House. You can be a docent, a gardener, an archivist, a librarian, or a program assistant. Call (718) 965-8960 for details.

Meet a few of our volunteers and see why you%u2019ll want to join them.

Indoor and outdoor opportunities are available.

I love Prospect Park. It was designed by the same person who designed Central Park and is located in Brooklyn. Get outside, do some community service, and help Prospect Park. It's a win, win, win!

Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fear

Kids might not know they're sharing private details with the public.

Wow, the folks in this article really don't get it. It may as well be called, "Google Buzz may put children at risk, parents fearmonger.

Kids are at risk for seeing inappropriate things when they are online; that is why we have to teach them about boundaries, and not put them into situations which they're not prepared for. Giving a 9 year old a free e-mail account (which the company only allows for kids 13 years and older) and then being shocked when the product changes over time (hello, you didn't pay for anything and you accepted their terms) is simply ill-advised parenting.

Teaching kids about being online means letting them be online in ways they can handle. 9 year olds with unfettered e-mail access is questionable at best. Some 9 year olds may be able to handle that, and some certainly can not. As a parent, set your kids up for success - if you want to teach them about e-mail, have them e-mail from your account. This way, messages come back to you and you can relay them to your child. Don't go straight to gMail, would you give your kid a car as soon as they wanted one? Start them off with a tricycle in the carpeted basement and you'll see them progress much more successfully.

Cringely's Law states that short-term adoption of new technologies never occurs as quickly as we expect, but their long-term impact is far greater than we realize.

I came across this quotation while reading this month's MIT Technology Review and loved it immediately. I didn't know anything about Robert X. Cringley but knew that I liked his thinking. This is what disruptive innovation is about. People make things, some say, "why would anyone do that/want that?" (think Twitter, Facebook, computers, BlackBerry's, etc), and then sure enough, everyone wants that. Now this doesn't happen to every innovation, and it is certainly difficult to predict which ones will catch on, but it's simply important to know how the phenomenon works.

This is essential for schools and teachers who might want to think that, "this will never have a place in schools," but be careful about using words like never. Innovation works in strange and twisted ways.

Just picked this book up from Amazon. Excited to read it. I love visiting schools that have woodshops. Does yours? My high school did, and so did my elementary summer camp. Hands-on learning, quite literally.

Wow, this is a must-read for anyone into design, font, layout, printing, newspapers, etc. The New York Times has done an amazing job with its magazine redesign, and this article gives you some insights into how they did it - beautiful work.

Just watch the video. Beautiful, and so surprising.