May 23, 2014 Students at Codman Academy Share Codman Square History in the D-Tour
Seniors at Codman Academy Charter Public School organized their own tour of Codman Square in May to highlight the community?s assets and history. It builds on “My Dot Tour,” a youth tour of historic and cultural strengths in Dorchester’s Fields Corner, developed in 2010 by a local collaborative including HBI.
Seniors at Codman Academy Charter Public School organized a tour of Codman Square to highlight the community?s assets and history in reaction to a French travel advisory warning French tourists about walking in the neighborhoods of Dorchester, Roxbury, and Mattapan. Students? efforts to convince the French Consulate to retract the warning made national news last fall and students have since been working to encourage people to visit their community through a walking tour cleverly named ?The D-Tour?. A tour for community stakeholders was organized last Friday (May 16th), and was attended by representatives from the Mayor?s Office, Boston?s Department of Neighborhood Development, Codman Square Health Center, Friends of the Codman Square Library, Second Church, and the Institute for International Urban Development, as well as several teachers and administrators from Codman Academy. Students presented the history of various buildings (Great Hall, Second Church) and the history and missions of different community organizations (Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation, Strive) while describing what make these places community assets.
The team of teachers, students, and other community stakeholders involved in the tour are currently seeking grant funding to develop physical installations to mark the tour sites and a web-based platform to host research and engage visitors.
Visit The D-Tour?s Facebook page for updates on this initiative!
