D&R Greenway Farewell ~ "Project 55" Pr. U. Fellow, Nadeem Demian

NEWS: Princeton, N.J. — Mentoring future environmental leaders to carry on their preservation mission is crucial to D&R Greenway Land Trust. The nationally-accredited nonprofit has preserved 21,000 acres of land in New Jersey in 31 years. This week, D&R Greenway bids farewell to their 2019/2020Community Conservation Fellow, Nadeem Demian. Princeton University Class of 2019, Nadeem’s degree is in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, with a certificate in Environmental Studies. Contact: Linda J. Mead: 609-658-6519 – Leave message for call back

The year-long fellowship is awarded to exceptional Princeton University graduates, with an interest in learning leadership skills from nonprofit organizations, through Princeton AlumniCorps’ "Project 55", launched in 1989, the year of D&R Greenway’s founding, by the Class of ’55. AlumniCorps’ Fellowship Program “connects talented Princeton graduates with some of the most effective and innovative public interest organizations around the United States.” Program leadership invited D&R Greenway to participate five years ago when students expressed heightened interest in learning from an environmental nonprofit. The program matches Princeton University’s new graduates to effective nonprofits, who are hired and supported by the organization for a year-long experience.

Born in Amman, Jordan, Nadeem lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania most of his life. Nadeem’s wide-ranging talents continually expanded the land trust’s stewardship reach, well beyond the land trust’s Conservation Campus, where he lived during his fellowship year. A natural leader, Nadeem’s contributions were particularly noteworthy in the realm of audience-building, especially his outreach to involve diverse communities with D&R Greenway’s preservation mission and commitment to the natural world. Nadeem’s electronic communication skills considerably enhanced D&R Greenway’s transition to the world of virtual events during the unprecedented COVID pandemic. Nadeem provided technical support for D&R Greenway’s virtual Gala in May that raised sixty-thousand dollars to support stewardship and creation of two bird habitats. He was instrumental in designing a new virtual format for D&R Greenway art exhibits, the most recent going live June 22. Nadeem‘s geo-spatial analysis of D&R Greenway’s audience database will continue to support well-informed programming.

His key achievement with the land trust has been designing the upcoming Kayak Education Program at Bordentown Beach, on the New Jersey banks of the Delaware River. Coordinating with Princeton mural artist Marlon Davila, and with Tulia Jimenez-Vergara and Anna Obika and the students of Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund [LALDEF] and their high school mentorship program Futuro, Nadeem oversaw the concept and creation of a vivid mural honoring the Delaware. It will be completed for the Fourth of July. The public is welcome to visit Bordentown Beach to oversee its progress, observing all social distancing requirements, including face masks.

D&R Greenway CEO& President, Linda Mead declares, “Nadeem’s most significant contribution, launching the new Kayak-supported Education Program at Bordentown Beach, brought us farther than I ever imagined. It has been magical to watch this public art mural come into being. Nadeem is a future leader who holds community and conservation in his heart. Our D&R Greenway staff will miss him. We can’t wait to see the effects of his civic leadership in the years ahead.” Noting that this is the third Fellow that D&R Greenway has hosted in partnership with Princeton University, she adds, “As a long-time leader recognized for our innovative and impactful programs, D&R Greenway has a responsibility to ensure the future of conservation, not only in perpetuity through preservation and care of land, but also by inspiring a conservation ethic in young people who will take on leadership positions in our region and in our country in twenty years.”

Looking to the future with a more diverse population, through this Fellowship, D&R Greenway has been able to establish important new partnerships. Nadeem shares, "The most rewarding part of my fellowship has been the relationships I have been able to foster with people from the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund and their high school mentorship program 'Futuro.' A major part of our purpose in connecting people new to the Delaware River is to strengthen their ties to it, and to demonstrate best ways to protect it. Collaborating with these energetic partners has been so rewarding -- especially with artist Marlon Davila and Tulia Jimenez-Vergara and the Futuro students.”

To follow in Nadeem’s effective footsteps, is Project 55 Fellow Maria Stahl, Princeton Class of 2020. She achieved her B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, summa cum laude, at the University’s virtual May Commencement. As a sophomore in 2018, Maria earned the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence. Having grown up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Maria reports that regular field trips with its Urban Ecology Center proved “formative in my appreciation of the value of natural spaces in urban environments.” An outdoor club leader at the university, Maria’s winning interview with Linda Mead revealed that “a canoe trip was life-changing, truly a watershed moment in my thinking and future career choice.”

As he moves on to enter Yale University this fall, pursuing an M.A. in International and Development Economics and an M.S. in Environmental Management, Nadeem reflects on his Fellowship year, “I experience D&R Greenway as creating tight, long-lasting bonds with these members of the Latino community, effectively broadening the scope of the land trust’s preservation mission. While the COVID-19 crisis has been a significant roadblock, together the artists and I were able to overcome adversity. We are creating the Bordentown public art mural as a symbol of perseverance, dedication, and love."

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Background

D&R Greenway Land Trust, an accredited nonprofit, has preserved 21,000 acres of land in New Jersey since 1989. By preserving land for life and creating public trails, it gives everyone the opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. The land trust’s preserved farms and community gardens provide local organic food for our neighbors—including those most in need. Through strategic land conservation and stewardship, it combats climate change, protect birds and wildlife, and ensure clean drinking water for future generations. D&R Greenway’s Johnson Education Center in Princeton is home to art galleries and presentations that celebrate the natural world and inspire a conservation ethic. D&R Greenway's mission is centered in connecting land with people from all walks of life.

D&R Greenway Land Trust, One Preservation Place, Princeton NJ 08540 609.924.4646 is currently closed due to COVID-19. Visit www.drgeenway.org to learn more.

https://www.alumnicorps.org/engage/project-55-fellowships/ [from their web-site unaltered]

AlumniCorps Princeton Project 55 Fellowships Program “connects talented Princeton graduates with some of the most effective and innovative public interest organizations around the United States. Our Fellows spend a year working in substantive, paid positions and join a lifelong community of more than 2,000 Princeton alumni, who have launched their postgraduate lives through Project 55 since the program’s inaugural cohort in 1990. What makes a Project 55 Fellowship unique is our holistic approach to personal and professional development. Fellows engage in enrichment and community building through intentional aspects of the Fellowship program: a professional placement, mentors from within our network, professional development seminars and webinars, a mid-year, weekend- long retreat, and community building via social events. This formative, immersive experience instills in each Fellow a greater awareness of critical social issues, a deeper understanding of their capacity to bring about change, and a lifelong commitment to civic engagement. Fellows are able to affect social change by contributing to an organizational mission that is personally and professionally meaningful.”