Urban Community Montessori School

« Rooted in Community

The Friends of Birmingham Botanical Gardens is pleased to announce the launch of our inaugural Rooted in Community awards program. We are partnering with organizations that want to serve and benefit their local communities through grassroots projects.

Rooted in Community serves as a platform for participants to actively contribute to enhancing their local areas and beautifying the communities where they live and work.

 By Cassia Kesler

Courtney Davis, head of Urban Montessori School, said, “Our school community had already been talking about ways that we can give back to our neighborhood in Titusville, so this opportunity was right in line with it.” Part of the goal of Montessori education is to teach students stewardship—to care for the world around them. At Urban Montessori, the students often take a walk from the school campus down Center Street to the Titusville library. When the teachers heard about the FBBG Rooted in Community program, they decided to plant pollinators and native plants along their route to the library, and they also planted some in the library’s pollinator garden

“This was just a great community effort for our school,” said Courtney. “A lot of the neighbors were home when we had our planting day, so the children had the opportunity to meet them and talk to them. We discovered that some of them had lived there all of their lives, going back for generations. They were so happy to see the children out and about. Being able to give back to Titusville was a meaningful way to connect with our neighbors.”

Make Your Vision A Reality

The Rooted in Community program is designed to help interested community groups take practical steps toward
improving and beautifying public spaces. Participants receive a $500 monetary award that may be used to kick-start a new project or to supplement an ongoing project. Our goal is to encourage community involvement in projects that enhance our neighborhoods, help foster connections within our community, and contribute to civic pride.

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