Our Mission
The mission of Island Alliance is to ensure for Boston
Harbor Islands national park area a legacy of greater use, enhancement,
and enjoyment for all. We work to attract investment and support, coordinating
the activities of the private sector to provide necessary strategic
and financial resources.
Boston Harbor Islands Regatta
Join us for the inaugural BHI Regatta on October 1, 2005.
Brief History of the Island Alliance
In early 1995, the Island Alliance was created as
a 501(c)(3) volunteer organization dedicated to generating public support
for the national park status of the Boston Harbor Islands. The 104th
Congress passed Public Law 104-333 in November 1996, which designated
thirty islands in Boston Harbor as a National Park Area. This new park
is the first in a new management ideal in this country: a public/private
model for park development and funding.
The Law also created a unique role for the Island Alliance,
as the first and only non-profit organization designated by
Congress as a partner in a new National Park with the specific responsibility
of raising and generating money from the private sector. Section
(e)(2)(J) states: "...Island Alliance...a nonprofit organization
whose sole purpose is to provide financial support for the Boston Harbor
Islands National Park Area."
Boston Harbor Islands Youth Programs
Harbor Connections
Harbor Connections was created by Capt. David Weinstein in 1997. Capt. Weinstein began his work with the Boston Harbor Islands in 1998 and has continued to expand each year. Kelly Fellner, of the National Park Service, works with Capt. Weinstein to reach more 1,700 students per school year, from 11 different public schools in Boston and the surrounding area. The program provides curriculum development for teachers and hands-on, experiential learning for students. Through Harbor Connections, teachers are able to incorporate the Boston Harbor Islands into their science, math, and physics lessons plans. Capt. Weinstein also works with teachers to be sure the lesson plans are aligned with the State and City education requirements. The majority of students receive at least two classroom visits, one or two on-island expeditions, and one to two guest speakers. Please visit www.bostonislands.com/learn for more information on curriculum development and/or the Harbor Connections program.
The Island Alliance wants to thank its supporters of the Harbor Connections program. We could not continue our work without the support of organizations like Massachusetts Environmental Trust (MET), Duke Energy and many others. We encourage you to take a minute and visit the MET website and check out the "Bob" campaign. The "Bob" campaign mission is to help protect the state's water resources through encouraging the purchase of one of the Trust's three specialty license plates. The sales from these plates support the Trust's work and in turn help the work of the Park's education program. To watch "Bob's" public service announcement, please visit www.agmconnect.org/massenvironmentaltrust/events-announcements.htm
BEAN (Boston's Environmental Ambassadors to National Parks)
BEAN is an after school program that provides leadership development and career bridging opportunities for Boston youths, ages 15-18. The BEAN program includes environmental education activities, stewardship projects, NPS office internships, career exploration days, and visits to local environmental organizations, as well as training in personal, professional, and leadership development skills. Interns also began work on their youth philanthropy grant from the Massachusetts Service Alliance in 2003 and continued again this school year. The interns are responsible for writing an RFP, soliciting proposals, evaluating them, and distributing $7,500 in grant monies to local youth groups for community service projects on the Harbor Islands. Please visit the Mass Service Alliance website at www.mass-service.org/Youth_Councils.shtml for more information about the youth grant program.
The program meets after-school, 5 days week, and 2 Saturdays per month. Through these Park-based experiences, we hope that youth, particularly minority youth, will discover the relevance of our local environment and learn about it as a place for employment, recreation, and education. The program has continued to develop over the past three years and now includes 20 students per year from a variety of high schools in the Boston surrounding area. Please visit the BEAN website at www.bostonharborislands.com/ia/bean/ to learn more.
Youth Guidebooks
Thanks to the Starbucks Foundation, the Island Alliance has been able to promote the Boston Harbor Islands and literacy with students from the education program. Two guidebooks were funded by Starbucks Foundation. The first guidebook, written by six South Boston High School students, was designed for teens. The funds also allowed the students to experience the islands first hand with trips to Georges, Little Brewster, and several others. The second guidebook, written by over 60 students from the Harbor Middle School, is geared toward elementary school students. Through these exercises they learn how the islands were once misused and abused. Additionally, they see first-hand how the efforts of many individuals have resulted in the harbor clean-up and a National Park Area that they can enjoy now as well as generations in the future.
Key Accomplishments
By the end of 2004, Island Alliance had raised over
$12 million for the Boston Harbor Islands national park area.
More information on any of the programs listed below
can be obtained by contacting us or visiting
the Boston Harbor Islands web
site.
2004
2003
2002
2001
1998-2000
1995-1997
2004
- Hired Tom Powers as the new Island Alliance President
- Continued Family Fun Days with 8 free public events this summer, helping to attract visitors
- Funded a second student guidebook geared toward elementary school aged-students, written by more than 60 students from the Harbor Middle School
- Met Secretary Herzfelder's Challenge Grant of $50,000 for water transportation
- Expanded the BEAN program to run through a full school year and grew from 12 to 16 students and continued the Boston Harbor Islands Education Program which reached over 1,700 students a year from a combination of 10 Boston Public schools
- Hosted the 8th Annual Awards Dinner with awards presented to Congressman Delahunt for his work on accessibility to the islands and Edward O. Wilson for his inspiration and leadership to understand and protect the Harbor Islands. The event raised more than $100,000
- Contracted with a new vendor, Harbor Express, for water transportation to and among the islands
- Co-hosted a water trip to the Hull wind turbine during the Democratic National Convention in July with CERC (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Conventions) to highlight the importance of renewable energy projects within the park
- Completed a detailed utilities feasibility study for Peddocks Island, laying the groundwork for a $4 million apital investment in the island
- Teamed up with the National Park Service, Harvard University, and Dr. Edward O. Wilson to conduct an inventory of the little invertebrates - the insects, the nematodes, the tiny soil mites - that inhabit the Boston Harbor Islands. An anonymous pledge of $100,000 over 5 years was secured
- Secured public commitments for a Harbor Park Pavilion on the Rose Kennedy Greenway
- Secured funding for a variety of projects including funds from Massachusetts Technology Collaborative for educating the public on Renewable Energy; funds from the Brown Fund for design work on Spectacle Island; and funds from the International Cruise Line Industry Foundation for water transportation
- Working with the National Park Service who helped secure $2.25 million for new docks at Bumpkin, Grape, and Lovells Island
- Continued the Little Brewster Island public tours in cooperation with the National Park Service, US Coast Guard, US Coast Guard Auxilary, UMass-Boston Marine Program, and the Friends of the Boston Harbor Islands
2003
- Hired a marketing and events manager
to increase awareness about the park and increase the number of visitors
to the Boston Harbor Islands.
- Hosted on-island events: Family Fun Days
– free hands-on interactive programs held every
Saturday in July and August. Family Fun Days included classical music
concerts, a Civil War living history encampment, a nature day featuring
the New England Aquarium, the Children’s Museum, the Museum of
Science and the Stone and Franklin Park Zoos.
- Held the first-annual Midsummer
Lights Run – a relay race starting at sundown on midsummer
night’s eve and going till sunrise the next day (this event was
produced in conjunction with a newly-formed Friends of Deer Island group.
- Mainland events were held including exhibiting
and sharing park information at weeknight classical music concerts
at the Hatch Shell on Boston’s Esplanade, and a booth at the Environmental
League of Massachusetts Annual Earth Night Festival.
- Initiated a community pilot program that
targeted harbor-adjacent communities and introduced them to the park.
The Boston Harbor Islands Advisory Council will focus on the responsibilities
of conducting an effective community outreach and education program,
particularly within urban neighborhoods for which the islands are a
visible and easily accessed recreational resource.
- An on-going Natural Resources
Inventory & Monitoring Initiative continued, helping to
understand the environmental impact of development and increased usage.
This October, the Island Alliance presented a Science Symposium, hosted
by the Boston Museum of Science, with keynote speaker E.O. Wilson—the
Harvard University Professor, known as the Father of Biodiversity.
- Continued support was given to the Harbor
Connections program. This education program is in its sixth
year and currently serving 5,000 students which was created to connect
Boston middle school students with the vast educational potential of
Boston Harbor.
- Funded a Guidebook project that
is being created, designed, and published by six South Boston High School
students. The guidebook is being written for teens, by teens
and is a complete guide and activity book.
- BEAN (Boston’s Environmental Ambassadors
to the National Park Service) continued as well. During the spring 2003,
the BEAN internship program ran after-school Monday-Friday,
March-June, and included several Saturday field trips and community
service activities. The Island Alliance was able to provide an innovative
after-school paid internship/education opportunities for 12 urban students.
This fall, the program expanded from a spring only program into a full
school year. The students are currently preparing to begin their internships
at a variety of locations including the Boston African American National
Historical Site, Charlestown Navy Yard’s New England Museum Service
Center, and Minute Man Historic Park.
- Continued the two-hour lunchtime Discovery
Cruises through the Park. In addition, the Boston Light trips
were expanded to an additional day. The Mooring program launched
last year has increased private boater access this summer as well.
- Hosted the 7th Annual Awards Dinner
on October 20, 2003. The mission of the dinner is to bring the harbor
community as well as the legislator together and celebrate the past
year’s accomplishments, as well as raise general operating support
for the organization.
- Hired a Spectacle Island project
manager during the summer of 2003. The visitor center was recently
finished and the island is scheuled to open June 26th. Spectacle Island
will be the potential host to new and ongoing programs. Boston Public
Middle Schools will use Spectacle as a site for exploring many in class
topics such as wind, weather, and intertidal pools. Free family events
this summer will include kite making sessions, storytelling, fishing
tournaments, and a Nature Day including a visit from the New England
Aquarium, Children’s Museum, Franklin Park Zoo, and Science Museum
of Boston.
- Peddocks Island development is
also under way and working toward restoring utilities and developing
a visitor center. A Peddocks Island development team is now in place
and an architect and engineering firm has been selected.
2002
- Helped begin the Natural Resources Inventory
& Monitoring Initiative to understand the environmental
impact of development and increased usage.
- Co-sponsored a Biodiversity Seminar with MIT
to provide a forum and information exchange for researchers.
• Funded a new education program on Little Brewster
Island that focuses on lighthouse technology, the life of the light
keeper, and the role of the US Coast Guard.
- Supported a branding effort to create an identity
for each of the islands and of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park
Area as a whole.
- Launched a two-hour lunchtime Discovery Cruise
through the Park in conjunction with several other partners. The tours
ran three days per week and featured a different theme each of day.
- Raised funds to expand the Youth Corps program
from a summer to a year-round after school program. This exciting project
engages Boston youth from diverse backgrounds in environmental career
mentoring and fosters their interest for a future career path in this
sector.
- Helped to raise funds and awareness for the Deer Island
opening kickoff.
- Became the island manager of Spectacle Island
and will plan for the opening and management of the island as the new
island gateway in 2003/2004.
- Hosted an Island Art Auction featuring paintings
of the islands by Boston artists; this event served as both a fundraiser
and as an event to create awareness of the Park.
- Sponsored a free Boston Landmarks Orchestra Concert
on George’s Island hosted by the MDC. We also hosted a new sporting
event, Balance Bar’s 24-Hour Adventure Challenge.
2001
- Our island-based Curriculum Project
has seen impressive and measurable success, growing from one school and
100 students to ten schools and 2,000 students in its four-year development
phase. This project is targeted at middle-school children from diverse
ethnic backgrounds in the City of Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Jamaica
Plain, Salem, and Danvers children.
- Completion of the first Economic Development Plan
for a national park, exploring the market for, and financial feasibility
of, several revenue generating opportunities on the islands and at major
gateways.
- Growth of Little Brewster Island Tour Program,
which allows the public to tour Boston Light, the oldest, continuously-manned
lighthouse in the United States. Money generated from these tours goes
directly back into the Park to support its overall operations.
- Began a small boat mooring program within the
Park. Fifty moorings are positioned in six clusters among the islands
and a user fee is charged for daytime or overnight use.
- Co-sponsored two new on-island events, a Boston
Landmarks Orchestra concert on George’s Island and a Harbor
Islands Triathlon with 270 athletes, followed by a family festival
on George’s Island.
1998-2000
- Met increasing revenue goals from $750,000 to $1 million in 2000;
• Created the Boston Harbor Islands Education Project;
- Opened Little Brewster Island and Boston Light to the public;
- Created the Discovery Center at the Federal Courthouse on Fan
Pier;
- Established a retail store;
- Launched the Boston Harbor Islands web site;
- Developed a concept plan and feasibility assessment for the adaptive
reuse of the buildings at Fort Andrews on Peddocks Island;
- Completed initial building repairs on Peddocks Island; and
- Added six new members to the Board of Directors, created a Board
of Trustees with six members; hired a full-time Development Director;
hired an accounting firm; established Board Committees, including finance,
personnel, programs and events, communications and marketing.
1995-1997
- Incorporation and IRS designation
- Creation and expansion of the Board of Directors;
- Dissemination of educational brochures and posters and a newsletter
for the Boston Public Schools;
- Promotion and marketing of the islands and events;
- A Park opening celebration and free concert;
- Logo design for the Park and the Island Alliance and trade mark
registration;
- Hiring of the Executive Director; (now the President)
- Completion of an early-stage Business model; and
- Production and sale of Park merchandise.
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