City of Dallas
News Release
Public Inform ation Office
www.dallascityhall.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Yvonne Dupre 214-671-9276
Dallas Water Utilities
Dallas Water Utilities announces Youth Corps Water Conservation program
Summer program to focus on water conservation through planting of native Texas plants
(June 15, 2011-Dallas, Texas)
Officials with Dallas Water Utilities today announced a program to
give young people a working understanding of water conservation through the planting of native
Texas plants and vegetables. The Youth Corps Water Conservation program kicks-off Friday, June
17th at 9am at the East Dallas Community Garden at 1415 N. Fitzhugh.
The Youth Corps Water Conservation program includes approximately 40 young people who will work
at one of three community gardens. The participants will work under the guidance of Gardeners in
Community Development. The multicultural gardening group will introduce the young participants to
gardeners and techniques from different regions of the world.
“This program will give the next generation of community leaders hands-on experience in ways to
promote water conservation in our landscapes,” said Yvonne Dupre, water conservation coordinator
with Dallas Water Utilities. “And by using social media, the participants will be able to spread the
word to friends and other young people,” Dupre added.
In addition to learning water saving gardening techniques, designated students will use handheld
video cameras to record progress at the gardens each Friday. Those video updates will then be
posted to social network sites so others can see how the program work is progressing.
The three gardens taking part in the Youth Corps Water Conservation program include the East
Dallas Community Garden, the Live Oak Community Garden located at Live Oak and Fitzhugh and
the Peace Community garden at Virginia Avenue and Grigsby. The student participants will have
weekly assigned tasks at each garden and will work from 9am to 2pm each Friday through July 29th.