Featuring our 2023 BUBBAS Grand Prize Winner!

Growing up in urban Southeast Washington DC, Principal Michael Powell was shaped by the time he spent in his mother’s garden. This early exposure to nature inspired his thinking as an educator. The desire to connect his students to nature and help bridge the achievement gap in an innovative way led Principal Powell to convert his school’s underused grassy field into a thriving ecosystem of native plants, paired with a complementary eco-curriculum for students and teachers. With support from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and grant funding through the Community Foundation and matching support from Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities, alongside many volunteers, the space was planted with 187 native plants, 53 shrubs, and 16 trees designed to mimic forest succession with a meadow, understory, and mature trees.

Join Neil Friedman from the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay for an interactive webinar that highlights the ways in which community engagement can transform our spaces and places. Friedman will walk us through the vision of Principal Powell’s eco campus, from the importance of partnerships and community engagement to the design, implementation, and maintenance.