The Boston Harbor Association sponsors a wide range of education programs for school groups, the general public, and TBHA members. TBHA's specially designed programs offer a unique perspective on the Harbor, behind-the-scenes glimpses of port related activities, insights into new waterfront planning and development, and background and information on water quality, the Port of Boston, and the Boston Harbor Islands.

• The Boston Harbor Association's free youth education programs serve as the foundation of TBHA's education activities. Offered throughout the year, these programs present young people with the opportunity for innovative and hands-on learning experiences on topics about Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands.
   
   TBHA's ongoing programs include:

• Harbor Bound

• Summer Harbor Bound Program

• Harbor Mini-Camp

• Adopt a Class

• HarborWalk Youth Access Project

In 2003, TBHA will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Harbor Bound program with a new after-school initiative aimed at inner city YMCAs, YWCAs and Boys and Girls Clubs. In addition, TBHA will bring another 600 youths to the Harbor during Summer 2003. These trips will visit George's and Bumpkin Islands, the latter which is scheduled to open to the public in late 2003.

• TBHA's Luncheon Lecture Series is open to the public and features speakers discussing timely subjects. Recent luncheons have focused on "Boston Harbor Beaches and Water Quality: Is it Safe to Swim in Boston Harbor" and "Waterfront Development: What Does the Future Hold?" The first luncheon event in 2003 will focus on "Boston Harbor Beaches." Luncheons include a box lunch for each participant, and are free to TBHA members, $5 for non-members.
   
• Walking tours of the Boston Waterfront offer a look at new public amenities on the waterfront. During Summer, 2002, tours for the general public focused on the South Boston Working Port (including the Massport Fish Pier, Boston Freight Terminals, and North Coast Seafoods) and on new improvements and public amenities on the HarborWalk. HarborWalk tours will commence again in May, 2003.
   
• TBHA's free boat cruises of Boston Harbor provide participants with an exclusive view of the Harbor. Speakers discuss water quality issues as well as existing and proposed land side developments. Cruises in 2003 will again take participants to Chelsea Creek and the Mystic River.
   
• As part of TBHA's on-going public information effort, The Boston Harbor Association writes quarterly columns for Banker & Tradesman, the weekly publication of the real estate and banking communities, on issues affecting Boston Harbor.
   
• The Boston Harbor Curriculum Guide
  TBHA will publish and distribute free of charge a Boston Harbor curriculum guide in early 2003 to Boston-area middle school science teachers. This Guide contains a unique variety of hands-on and creative lessons about Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands and will link to the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. For a copy of the Curriculum, please call TBHA at (617) 482-1722.
   
• The Boston Harbor Activity Guide 
  Developed during Summer 2002, this TBHA publication is a useful resource for children during and after their programs on Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands. The Guide is distributed free of charge to participants of all of TBHA's youth education programs and allows children to take their newly-learned information about Boston Harbor home to friends and family. Come sample what the booklet has to offer!

To learn more about these offerings or to schedule a trip, classroom visit, or activity, please contact The Boston Harbor Association at (617) 482-1722.

The Boston Harbor Association's (TBHA) "Harbor Bound" education program introduces inner city high school students to environmental and water quality issues in Boston Harbor as well as related employment opportunities. This innovative, free program allows high school students to learn first-hand about Boston Harbor from Harbor professionals.

Each academic year, TBHA educates over 1,200 high school students about the Boston Harbor Project and related career opportunities through our Harbor Bound program. Students from schools such as East Boston High School, Dorchester High School, McKinley Vocational High School, Chelsea High School, South Boston High School, Charlestown High School, Boston Latin Academy, and many others, supplement traditional classroom learning with a Boston Harbor field trip.

Each Harbor Bound trip is preceded by a classroom visit from a Massachusetts Water Resources Authority staff member who explains water quality in Boston Harbor and the process used to treat wastewater. The field trip to Deer Island includes a tour of the Deer Island wastewater treatment plant, hands-on water quality testing for dissolved oxygen, and presentations about environmental and maritime related career opportunities. The program involves a wide variety of speakers who highlight their career experiences at governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and the private sector. Past speakers have included professionals from Massport, MWRA, Boston Water and Sewer Commission, U.S. Coast Guard, New England Aquarium, Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management, MDC, U.S. EPA, Bosport Docking, Boston Freight Terminals, The Children's Museum, New England Aquarium, local engineering and consulting firms, and Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

The Harbor Bound program, free to schools, has been lauded by teachers as a unique opportunity for students to learn first-hand about the Boston Harbor Project, hear from positive adult role models, and learn about the preparation needed for specific career opportunities in the maritime and environmental fields.

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Special thanks to the following supporters whose generosity enables us to offer the Harbor Bound education program at no cost to students, teachers and schools:

• Boston Harbor Cruises
• Boston Port & Seamen's Aid Society 
• Fuller Foundation 
• Massachusetts Water Resource Authority 
• Modern Continental Construction Company / Alternate Concepts, Inc.
• Yawkey Foundation

To learn more about becoming involved with TBHA's Harbor Bound Program, please contact The Boston Harbor Association at (617) 482-1722.

In 1997, The Boston Harbor Association expanded its school year Harbor Bound Program to bring inner city middle school age students to the Boston Harbor Islands during the summer. The Summer Harbor Bound program introduces inner city youths to the natural resources and recreational opportunities that Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands have to offer. These trips broaden youths' understanding of the Boston Harbor Project, the natural resources of the Harbor, and merchant marine issues related to Boston Harbor through experiential, hands-on education.

During Summer 2003, The Boston Harbor Association will run trips to Bumpkin and George's islands. Trips will include a discussion of the Boston Harbor Project, an introduction to the diverse marine species living in and around the Harbor, and a discussion about the environmental issues that are affecting the local region. Each trip will include a guided tour by DEM or MDC rangers, who will describe the historical and sociological past of the Island, as well as its natural history.

It is our goal to teach young people to respect Boston Harbor and to instill a sense of long-term stewardship of the Harbor, the Islands, and our local natural resources through a combination of educational and recreational activities. For more information about Summer 2003 Harbor Bound trips to Bumpkin and George's islands, please contact The Boston Harbor Association at (617) 482-1722.

Some of the many local organizations that have participated in our summer programs include: Blue Hills Boys and Girls Club in Dorchester, Eagle Eye Institute in Somerville, Orient Heights Youth on the Rise in East Boston, the Boys and Girls Club of South Boston, Patriot Trails Girl Scouts Council of Boston, Project Life in Roxbury, Hyde Park YMCA, Walter Denny Youth Center in Dorchester, Roxbury Boys and Girls Club, Shelburne Community Center in Roxbury, Mission Pride of Roxbury, Malden YWCA Girls in Action, Chelsea Boys and Girls Clubs, and the YMCA of Greater Boston.

Planning is currently underway to resume the Summer Harbor Bound Program in June, 2003. To learn more about this program, please contact The Boston Harbor Association at (617) 482-1722.  

During Summer 2002, TBHA partnered with community youth groups in Dorchester, East Boston, Roxbury, South Boston, and others on an intensive "Harbor Mini-Camp" program for 6 weeks of hands-on projects, activities, and free field trips around Boston Harbor and the Harbor Islands. TBHA's aim is to instill a long-term interest and sense of stewardship for Boston Harbor, its beaches and islands through fun and hands-on activities. "Harbor Mini-Camp" activities include:

• A storm drain stenciling project to discourage the dumping of waste and oils into storm drains 
• Beach cleanups in East Boston, Dorchester, and South Boston 
• A water quality lesson and testing of Harbor waters 
• HarborWalk tours along the Fort Point Channel 
• Visits to Boston Harbor Islands 
• Lessons on compasses, navigation, and nautical charts 
• Visits to the U.S.S. Constitution and Charlestown Navy Yard
• Harbor-themed artwork, games, and journal writing sessions.

Thanks to the following supporters of Summer Harbor Bound and Harbor Mini-Camp:

• Boston Courthouse Management Associates
• Boston Harbor Cruises 
• Division of Marine Operations at UMass Boston 
• Massachusetts Bay Lines 
• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management 
• Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management 
• Massachusetts Port Authority 
• Massachusetts Water Resources Authority 
• Metropolitan District Commission 
• United States Environmental Protection Agency 
• Yawkey Foundation

To schedule a free Harbor trip during Summer 2003 or to learn more about TBHA's "Harbor Mini-Camp" program, please contact The Boston Harbor Association at (617) 482-1722. 

Since 2000, TBHA has worked closely with South Boston Harbor Academy Charter School in a series of educational activities which bring alive concepts and material in the classroom through "real world" applications. The "Adopt a Class" program is a semester-long Boston Harbor curriculum of classroom lessons, Harbor related activities, and field trips, staffed and arranged by The Boston Harbor Association free of charge.

The curriculum includes: 

• Lessons on water pollution, marine debris, salt marsh ecology, and wastewater treatment at Deer Island
• A visit to Belle Isle Marsh in East Boston 
• A coastal cleanup in South Boston 
• A trip to Bumpkin Island
• Dissolved Oxygen testing in Pleasure Bay, South Boston
• Home water use journals and interviews with family members on water usage
• A "science at sea" excursion of scientific research, including using an otter trawl to collect marine specimens, a gravity corer to take sediment samples, and a series of water quality tests to measure density, salinity, pH, temperature, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen levels aboard the Enviro-Lab III, a teaching and research vessel operated by UMass Boston. 

The Boston Harbor Association   -   374 Congress Street, Suite 609   -   Boston, MA 02110   -   617-482-1722 (P)   -   617-482-9750 (F)   -   mail@tbha.org