Program areas at The Friends of Governors Island
Landscape stewardship program: The Friends fills a critical role in helping The trust for Governors Island (tgi) meet The rigorous demands of caring for The Island's new and historic landscapes. Together The two organizations work to balance stewardship and sustainability. The Friends supplements tgi's limited budget for horticulture by funding gardeners, tools, plants and equipment, and by leveraging volunteers to ensure The Island's green spaces remain in world-class condition. At The same time, The Friends works to document and communicate The performance of The new landscapes over time, serving as a model for sustainable and resilient park care. To meet these goals, in 2022, The Friends funded 1 arborist, 6 full-time gardeners, a full-time volunteer coordinator and 2 seasonal gardeners.
Volunteer program: The Friends volunteer program recruited, trained, deployed and engaged 250 active individual volunteers and 2,000 corporate employee volunteers to provide direct services to Governors Island in horticulture, visitor services, public events, public tours, public art and more.together, these groups contributed over 8,400 hours of service in 2022.
Visitor services & community outreach: The Friends provded visitor services to The public on Governors Island, operating two welcome centers that provide information and essential retail items and offer free public walking tours. Visitor services staff, volunteers & interns also served as exhibition attendants for public artworks and as event support at free public events run by The Friends, such as pumpkin point and earth day of services.
Public events & gatherings: The Friends hostedtwo major free public events, pumpkin point, and earth day of service,which collectively served over 25,000 people. In addition, The organization hosted multiple team offsites for companies, nonprofits and other groups to enjoy a day of relaxation, recreation and activities on Governors Island.