Running a successful ecology and environmental justice summer program: a recipe for collaboration among high-schools, local non-profit organizations and ecologists

In densely populated cities such as New York City (NYC), public parks (i.e., greenspaces) provide ecosystem services including improved air quality, heat mitigation, and better health outcomes for residents. However, these benefits are often distributed unequally among community members. Such socio-environmental inequities can be addressed by engaging students in research about increasing greenspace access and introducing them to career pathways in science and conservation. In NYC, few high-school students have opportunities to conduct place-based environmental research. To address this gap, we created a six-week summer program in Washington Heights, Manhattan, during 2021–2023 to give students the tools to study and plan the ecological community they envision Here, we provide a program “recipe” for scientists and educators interested in co-creating urban ecology and environmental justice research programs for their own communities based on our collaboration between university researchers, public high-schools, and locally-based non-profit organizations. The primary goals were to demystify the scientific research process and empower high-school students to conduct ecological research in their communities through paid summer internships. Prompted by student interest, the program emphasized the ways in which environmental injustices degrade urban habitats used by students. Specific research questions examined the effects of greenspace restoration in public parks on biodiversity, air quality, and water quality along the Harlem River. Each summer, the program hosted a forum where students presented their research to community members and local leaders, advocating for evidence-based recommendations to improve greenspace access and quality. This program therefore accomplishes a key goal of environmental justice: to put knowledge production and its implications in the hands of the people directly affected by climate-change.