Sen. Anthony Williams (right) and Carole Williams-Green (2nd from left), founder of Cobbs Creek CEE Center.

Corporate partners are catching the vision of the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center, said state Sen. Anthony H. Williams (D-Philadelphia).

This week Sen. Williams attended a check presentation by the DuPont Marshall Lab site, which offered a $10,000 grant for the center and its mission.

The center, located just off a busy thoroughfare in West Philadelphia, is more than a haven for naturalists; it is one of the few centers of its sort in the nation, providing intense, hands-on environmental study for urban students, teachers and residents.

“This grant helps us come that much closer to developing a generation of scientists of color, of conscious individuals who will be knowledgeable about environmental policy and its potential impact on every community,” Sen. Williams said.

The Philadelphia Marshall Laboratory funding specifically addresses support for CCCEEC’s award-wining, 6-week Park Management Program for Youth (PMPY).

The program involves a half-day of outdoor environmental restoration work (stream studies, community gardens and trail development) followed by a half-day of classroom work that helps students aged 14 to 18 understand the interrelated activities of the outdoors. The program serves as a partnership for other environmental organizations, businesses and government agencies, bringing a wide range of information, expertise and career development.

“We believe that the DuPont Community Fund is the perfect vehicle to achieve the goals of training our children in the tenants of environmental excellence,” said Dr. Martin Breucker, site director of the Marshall Lab.

This grant is one of more than 100 projects worldwide being supported in 2006 by the DuPont Community Fund, a program that has provided more than $2 million for innovative programs that address community sustainability in the areas of social progress, economic success and environmental excellence.

Dr. Breucker said that he looks forward to future opportunities for partnering between DuPont and the Cobbs Creek Environmental Center, as did Williams.

“When we speak of partnerships, the relationship being forged between DuPont and the CCCEEC stands to provide the model for civic corporate engagement, and investment in our collective future,” Williams added.

For more information, visit the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center website.

6/23/2006