Center in the Park’s Senior Environment Corps (CIP/SEC), established in 1997, provides opportunities for older adults to use their varied expertise and experience to improve water quality of local streams by: collecting data, monitoring regularly and reporting adverse findings to regulatory agencies; also, informing the public of its findings and joining other educational and environmental organizations, such as EASI, the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement, to promote watershed health, awareness, and education. CIP/SEC continuously recruits new volunteer participants while maintaining a committed core of some 30 older adult volunteers, with wide backgrounds and varied experience. They work streamside, in the classroom, in the lab and through professional forums and in the community to protect, preserve and conserve natural resources.

Through a recent grant received from the William Penn Foundation, the CIP/SEC is working to establish a Senior Environment Corps at the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center in West Philadelphia. This group will learn to monitor the quality of water and become more effective stewards of the environment.

All adults, aged 55+, are welcomed to participate. No previous experience is necessary. Members of the Center in the Park Senior Environment Corps will train the new senior volunteers to monitor water quality at three sites along Cobbs Creek which is part of the Darby/Cobbs Creek watershed. A fun and exciting Kick-Off Event will take place early this Fall in Cobbs Creek Park at the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center, located at 700 Cobbs Creek Parkway (63rd and Catherine Streets), Philadelphia, PA. For further information and to confirm the date and location, please contact: Ms. Johnnie Henderson, Educational Consultant, Center in the Park, Senior Environment Corps - 215-848-7722, ext. 229/e-mail: jhenderson@centerinthepark.org.

Center in the Park is a community center that promotes positive aging and fosters community connections for older adults in Northwest Philadelphia, whose voices are critical instruments in shaping its activities and direction. CIP is accredited by the National Institute of Senior Centers, a unit of the National Council on Aging as a provider of excellent programs, activities and services for its active membership of more than 5,000 and its 1,000 homebound clients.