26 CityTREES
As we drove through the east side of Indiana, which
is overwhelmed by the impact of its steel mills, the
question we grappled with is what do you do with
these spaces when the mills close down? This remind-
ed me of the Ruhrgebiet, or Ruhr region, in Germany
(cultural capital 2010), and the reindustrialization of
Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, for the purpose of
tourism. While not at the same scale in Gary, however,
the City's efforts to restore the declining population
and devastated landscape
is ongoing. The take-
aways here for me includ-
ed understanding how
to engage the local com-
munities based on their
immediate needs and cre-
ate community ownership.
El Valor: alternative edu-
cation and community
development
El Valor, a non-prof-
it social service agency
with programs focused
on engaging adults and
children with cognitive
and physical disabili-
ties, serves communi-
ties mainly comprised
of immigrant families,
a majority of them from
Mexico. Monarch butter-
fly symbolism is used as
a cultural metaphor for
migration and journeys.
Integration of environ-
mental art using cultural
connections like "Dia de
Los Muertos" (a cultur-
al celebration of our life
cycle in remembrance
of relatives) is a corner-
stone of their program.
As a non-traditional part-
ner, the El Valor children's
centre and programming
supports 500 families
to train families togeth-
er. Parents are valued as
their child's first teacher; as such, much importance
is place on family engagement in the knowledge
sharing and learning process. It may be common to
walk by a piece of artwork created by a child and
not realize the complexity or the impact behind it.
The takeaways here for me included a better under-
standing of using symbols as cultural connections
for environmental education, that everyone is a
stakeholder and can be involved in the process of
El Valor Photo credit: Adrina C. Bardekjian
