Jordan Ashby Photo
Doreen Abubakar receiving the Audubon Connecticut Lifetime Achievement Award with Mike Burger, Executive Director of Audubon New York & Connecticut
People were buzzing about bees — and about the person behind putting together an event calling attention to the role they play in nature.
That was the scene at a double-bill “All Things Pollinator” event Saturday at the Urbanscapes Native Plant Nursery, where the Farmington Canal Trail hits Hazel Street and Shelton Avenue in Newhallville.
The “All Things Pollinator” event was hosted by the Menunkatuck Audubon Society and Community Placemaking Engagement Network (CPEN) and aimed to raise awareness about the importance of native plants in a fun, family friendly space.
Dozens of people milled in and out, stopping by educational booths with experts sharing information on native plants, soils, birds, bubble bees, and gardening. Native perennials and shrubs were sold.
During “All Things Pollinator,” a second event was held to honor one of the organizers: Doreen Abubakar. The Audubon Society of Connecticut awarded New Haven’s Abubakar its 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award.
The award honors individuals who demonstrate exceptional leadership and commitment to the conservation of birds, wildlife, and their habitats.
Abubakar’s work focuses on creating green spaces in New Haven that meet the needs of people “on the ground” first and foremost.
One such project with the creation of the “Learning Corridor,” a once infamous drug-dealing zone that she and other greenspacers transformed into a community oasis.
Another is Urbanscapes itself that, across the street form the Learning Corridor, serves as a community education space. In partnership with Audubon Connecticut, Abubakar’s nonprofit CPEN has built a greenhouse, woodworking, and planting space for native plants and hosts weekly community volunteer hours to engage and educate youth in the community.
People check out plants on sale.
At the Ecotype Project booth, where people could get seed bombs filled with native flower seeds.
Growing up in West River as an “urban basketball player,” Abubakar said, she had her first real exposure to nature in high school on a school-sponsored camping trip. While bugs were a stark adjustment, she left the trip with a burning desire to bring that nature back to the city.
“A lot of people start these initiatives for saving the world. Me, I know about the initiatives for saving the world, but I’m about starting the foundation. The connection. Making sure that young people, minorities are exposed is key,” Abubakar said.
It is not possible to start an initiative and have it trickle down into the community, she noted. Instead, communities of color need to be at the foundation of the environmental movement in New Haven.
She works to establish this foundation by going into schools and telling kids about the opportunities they have either as volunteers or workers in urban greenspaces.
Darnell Moye, age 16, and Quayson Pearson, age 15, are two of those youth. They work at Urbanscapes, planting and helping with events. “You get to get paid for having fun,” Darnell said. “And it’s fun meeting new people.”
High school students Darnell and Quayson, who have worked for Urbanscapes for eight weeks.
Jillian Bell of Hamden and the Audubon Society talked about how Abubakur can see a place and envision it in an entirely different way.
“Everything she touches turns to gold,” said Dennis Riordan, president of the Menunkatuck Audubon Society.