Greetings!
  
It is harvest time, and for many, that conjures up images of rural fields and full silos.  For us, that means city neighbors sharing their bounty with friends and family, canning and freezing produce to last through the winter, and sharing vegetables with emergency providers in the region, like the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.  Urban gardeners understand firsthand the impact of hunger on kids, the elderly, and neighbors here. 
 
This season, Isles’ network of school and community gardens has grown to record levels – 58 sites around the city and region.  Tens of thousands of pounds of vegetables are being harvested.  Riding through the city, you can see gardens tended by all types of cultures and ethnic groups:  Central Americans, African Americans from the south, Puerto Ricans, Russians, Jamaicans, Liberians, youth, Caucasians, Pakistanis, and so many more creating a United Nations- style harvest!
 
Bees pollinate plants – yes, even city plants.  Isles now has two beehives in the city, and the bees are happily performing their free pollination services.  Bees support agriculture in important ways, and since we are bringing agriculture to the city and suburbs, bees come along with us.  This is particularly important because of the global threat to bee populations.  We recently had our first harvest of honey! 
 
Next week, we celebrate the harvest with a Haunted Harvest 5K Run/Walk.  Help us celebrate this great time of year, get a bit more fit, and enjoy raising money for an important and “growing” tradition.
 
In community, 

Marty

We face many challenges in the Trenton region that directly link to each other:  high unemployment, soaring dropout rates, record homicides, expensive police and prison costs, fractured communities, and more.  In 1995, Isles organized an innovative response to these threats and called it Isles YouthBuild Institute – until now.  With the introduction of YouthCorps and family based services, we changed the name to Isles Youth Institute (IYI).  Since its inception, we have offered 900+ high school dropouts the chance to earn a diploma, obtain vital life skills, learn construction basics, and rebuild vacant homes and open spaces in their own communities.
  
This fall, IYI is in an exciting phase of growth and transition, so this newsletter highlights that part of Isles which targets challenged youth and their families.  Let us know what you think.  Really.
  
In community, 
  
Marty Johnson

Greetings!
 
Since our goal is to help make challenged urban places more self-reliant and healthy, we always ask, “What’s getting in the way?”  After years of research and testing, we found one surprising answer: our homes.  They are making us sick.
 
The presence of lead in homes is poisoning thousands of kids.  Other home hazards trigger asthma and have driven nearly epidemic levels of asthma in the city.  As science becomes more aware of the real costs and impacts of these hazards, we have worked to find low-cost ways to identify and clean up homes.  
 
One important effort is training local residents, contractors, visiting nurses, and others that enter homes on a regular basis through Isles’ Healthy Homes course.  They can help identify the hazards and give tools to the residents of the homes to protect themselves. This summer, we’re expanding our Healthy Homes impact by collaborating with Mercer Street Friends, a nonprofit that runs a Visiting Nurses program, to train a cadre of home assessors to go out into the community and help mitigate these threats.
 
As always, we’re grateful to our community partners and all those that help us keep our eyes on the prize and act with thoughtful urgency.
 
 
In Community, 

Marty 

Greetings!
 
This summer, the news in Trenton seems focused on violence and disorder. It’s important to view our challenges through clear lenses – the annual murder record will be set soon, and it’s only August – but it’s also important to see the good work and positive news.  The Trenton region has strong groups and leaders with integrity that, like us, live and work here.  We choose to be here, investing in places and people with thoughtfulness and yes, high expectations for the long haul.  Isles is one of numerous groups that collaborate across the region to see meaningful change happen.
  
They may not get the media coverage, but these collaborations are evident all across the city and county.  You can see them building 50 community gardens and beautifying the Princeton landscapes of Morven Museum & Garden and Drumthwacket.  Working with residents and other organizations, Isles and volunteers have created lush oases and beautiful art in Trenton, while encouraging young people to learn and grow outside the city.  At the same time, volunteers gain new skills and knowledge, and the landscapes of the county become more beautiful.
  
 Enjoy the rest of the summer and keep your eyes on the prize – not just the challenges we face.
  
In community, 
 
Marty

Recently, Isles was introduced to Felicia, an Isles Home Buyer Workshop participant who will buy her first home this month. Her new place is a formerly vacant, now beautifully restored, affordable and energy efficient 120 year-old home on Stockton Street in Trenton. And she’s excited.
 
But didn’t we just learn from the recession that homeownership can hurt working families?
 
The answer to that is yes. But if we are smart, this can be a great time to buy a home. If we provide quality homes that cost little to operate in places that are stable, with good low cost mortgages to prepared buyers, then the benefits of homeownership become clear – for buyers and the entire community. 
 
Isles’ goal is self-reliance, and homeownership can offer both stability and ‘forced savings’, both key to building self-sufficiency. To be successful, new homeowners benefit from housing and budget counseling and workshops. Since 2003, Isles has counseled and trained more than 1,500 prospective home buyers. 
 
Homeowners create more stakeholders in a community, if the conditions are right. The magic is in knowing those conditions. Having 32 years of experience really helps.

In community, 

Marty

June is always a powerful month. The gardens are looking great, construction is in full gear, and we have the honor of witnessing Isles YouthBuild Institute (IYI) students graduate and begin the next phase of their lives. 
 
These students make us proud, both because of where they have come from and now where they are going. Their challenges have been awesome – a number were homeless, with deep family health issues. A number were incarcerated, gang-connected, and on the way to a life in prison. Others have been abused. Nearly all had dropped out of high school. 
 
For them, it seems obvious that traditional classroom settings will not work. Here at IYI, these 18 young men and women have overcome many obstacles to earn a diploma and found a last chance to learn how to learn, be employed, and self-reliant. They’ve learned to be accountable to each other and themselves, and to be responsible to their community. They’ve built sound relationships with friends, mentors, and staff. And, they have earned self-respect. 
 
But the ‘proof is in the pudding’, as they say. One YouthBuild graduate, Lamar Allen, works for Princeton University’s dining services. Working with Isles Financial Solutions services being offered at Princeton University, he plans to buy a house this summer!
 
Marty