Media Contacts:
Karen Imas, Attentive Energy: karen.imas@totalenergies.com
Rebecca Bullis, Trust for Public Land: rebecca.bullis@tpl.org
Newark, New Jersey — November 2, 2023 — Attentive Energy Two is proud to announce its partnership with Trust for Public Land through the organization’s Newark Community Schoolyards Program. In connection with the 1,342 MW Attentive Energy Two proposal which was submitted in August 2023 to the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, this effort represents an exciting step forward in Trust for Public Land’s ability to deliver more new schoolyards in Newark and Attentive Energy’s mission to deliver clean, renewable energy while fostering environmental sustainability and community well-being.
Attentive Energy Two leverages Trust for Public Land’s unique experience in creating student-designed community schoolyards, transforming them from blacktops with few amenities into vibrant play spaces, with many amenities and green spaces that connect students and neighbors alike to the benefits of the outdoors.
Parks are essential for healthy, equitable communities. In many mature cities, finding new places to turn into parks is a fruitless or expensive proposition. A solution, however, is right in front of us. Opening all schoolyards to the public during non-school hours would instantly put a park within a 10-minute walk of nearly 20 million people—solving the problem of outdoor access for one-fifth of the nation’s 100 million people who don’t currently have a park close to home.
A proposed investment of $1M as part of the Attentive Energy Two project aims to provide the Newark community with essential recreational spaces while promoting sustainability and environmental stewardship. These new areas will foster outdoor learning, physical fitness, creativity, and a sense of belonging within the community. At the same time, asphalt schoolyards will be redesigned into community green spaces that incorporate vegetation, color, and outdoor activities with amenities such as athletic fields and play equipment aimed at positively impacting the community’s health and wellbeing and Newark’s climate resiliency goals.
Sites are designed by students in educational workshops that ensure that design meets their needs. Each completed site is planned to open to the entire community outside of school hours.
By converting asphalt lots into green spaces, the program will reduce heat islands in the city, improve air quality, and mitigate stormwater runoff. Each schoolyard design incorporates green infrastructure elements such as permeable pavers, trees, turf fields with a gravel sublayer, green roof gazebos, rain gardens, and bioswales – that mitigate the effects of climate change, which include increasing temperatures and extreme weather events.
The funds will support:
- Completing four schoolyard projects;
- Connecting 29,000 Newark residents to the benefits of nature, including more than 2,500 students (approximately ¾ of these students qualify for free or reduced lunch);
- Increasing access to healthy food options and environmental education for students at three to five schools.
“Working in partnership with Attentive Energy Two, we will lead the charge in converting these schoolyard Newark schoolyards into dynamic, green spaces that contribute to a healthier, more resilient community,” said Scott Dvorak, Associate Vice President, New Jersey State Director for Trust for Public Land. “Our twenty-five-year-old and growing Newark Community Schoolyards Program manifests our ongoing commitment creating spaces that encourage outdoor education and play for students, while improving the communities around them.”
“Attentive Energy Two’s investment in the Newark Community Schoolyards Program underscores the project’s dedication to creating positive, lasting impacts in New Jersey communities statewide. This initiative exemplifies the power of collaboration between industry and nonprofit organizations to bring about positive change,” said Damian Bednarz, President, Attentive Energy. “We believe in the transformative potential of green spaces, and we are committed to making a meaningful difference in the lives of Newark’s residents.”
This partnership reflects Newark’s evolution as a vibrant, resilient, and environmentally conscious city.
About Attentive Energy Two
Attentive Energy Two (“AE2”) is an offshore wind project designed to help New Jersey meet its nation-leading offshore wind targets and will strengthen and expand upon the State’s foundational offshore wind investments. Attentive Energy has developed a holistic offshore wind proposal, informed by engagement with hundreds of stakeholders over four years, that will create economic opportunities statewide reaching all 21 counties. Approximately 42 miles from its nearest point in New Jersey, the project will power over 600,000 homes with clean renewable energy. As a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Corio Generation, a partnership representing one of the largest offshore wind portfolios in the world, Attentive Energy Two is uniquely positioned and committed to delivering this major offshore wind project for New Jersey. For more information, please
visit attentiveenergy.com/attentive-energy-two/.
About Trust for Public Land
Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national nonprofit that works to connect everyone to the benefits and joys of the outdoors. As a leader in equitable access to the outdoors, TPL works with communities to create parks and protect public land where they are needed most. Since 1972, TPL has protected more than 4 million acres of public land, created more than 5,364 parks, trails, schoolyards, and iconic outdoor places, raised $93 billion in public funding for parks and public lands, and connected nearly 9.4 million people to the outdoors. To learn more, visit tpl.org.
