Concrete Safaris Youth Outdoor Programs
Concrete Safaris / East Harlem Neighborhood Health Action Center, 158 E 115th St, Ste 144, New York, NY 10029
About
Concrete Safaris Youth Outdoor Programs involves children and teens in activities such as planting, weeding, raking, shoveling, cleaning up trash, growing food, and beautifying outdoor spaces. Participants also take part in gardening, landscaping, outdoor play, placemaking, photography, evaluation, health promotion, and nonprofit management, and they can join field trips in East Harlem and beyond. Daily participating children ages 7–11 are active in all cohorts, weekly or single-day participating children are introduced to one or more cohorts per program, 14–15-year-olds learn to specialize in a particular cohort, and 16–24-year-olds learn to specialize in a particular cohort and gain exposure to at least one additional cohort while leading activities for children, youth, and community.
• Ages: 7–18 years old
• Schedule: April–June and September–December, two Saturdays per month, 10am–1pm
• Price: These events are free and open to the public.
Since 2008, Concrete Safaris has prepared youth in East Harlem and beyond to lead healthy lives and shape their environment through outdoor education, play, exploration, and community engagement. Green Exercise Days are outdoor, educational field trips and community service experiences in the program’s gardens, and the Outdoor Leadership Academy is an internship program for 14–24-year-olds divided into cohorts in gardening, landscaping, outdoor play, placemaking, photography, evaluation, health promotion, and nonprofit management. The organization also offers the option to apply to serve for 300–675 hours as an AmeriCorps Member at Concrete Safaris’ PlacemakingCorps and offers cohorts in nonprofit management.
The leadership team includes Programs Director Christopher Hartsfield, who oversees the Outdoor Leadership Academy, AmeriCorps, and single-day events throughout the community, and Founding Executive Director Mac Levine, MPH, who is dedicated to providing outdoor education opportunities by and for children, youth, and community. Concrete Safaris states that access to outdoor play experiences in early childhood can help kids to stop taking ADD medications with just 30 minutes of walking in nature, which it states has the same impact as a dose of a leading ADD drug. The organization states that it provides youth with outdoor experiences to build soft and hard leadership skills so that they can transform public spaces into safer spaces where they teach the community soft and hard skills and become greater assets to their community and beyond.
Since 2008, Concrete Safaris’ community involvement has included partnerships with schools, government entities, foundations, community-based organizations, and corporations. Partners include schools such as Amber Charter School, City-As-School, City Tech, City University of New York, Columbia University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, The Lewis & Clark School, Mosaic Charter School, New York City College of Technology, Public Schools 7, 38, 50, 57, 72, 83, 96, 101, 102, 115M, 155, 182, and 198, and Trevor Day School. Government partners include AmeriCorps, Community Board 11, FDNY, Manhattan Borough President's Office, NYC Department of Design & Construction, NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Youth & Community Development, NYC Housing Authority, NYC Human Resource Administration, NYC Parks, NYCService, NYPD, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Office of Children & Family Services, New York County Office of the District Attorney, and the Offices of Council Member Elsie Encarnacion and Senator Serrano. Foundation partners include City Gardens Club of NYC, Clif Family Foundation, Concord Group, First Cornerstone Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Solon E. Summerfield Foundation, The Morrison & Foerster Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, and The Scripps Family Fund for Education & The Arts. Community-based organization partners include The Association to Benefit Children, Boys' Club, Children's Aid Society, Community Association of Progressive Dominicans, El Barrio's Operation Fightback, Harlem RBI, Harvard Business School Club of New York, New York Cares, PASE, SCAN-Harbor, StreetSquash, and Union Settlement Association. Corporate partners include Abacus Federal Savings Bank, Ares Management, Bartlett Tree Experts, Con Edison, Davis Brody Bond, J.P. Morgan, London Stock Exchange Group, Morrison & Foerster, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Seward & Kissel, The Bluestone Organization, and West Monroe Partners.
Last updated July 29, 2026.
• Ages: 7–18 years old
• Schedule: April–June and September–December, two Saturdays per month, 10am–1pm
• Price: These events are free and open to the public.
Since 2008, Concrete Safaris has prepared youth in East Harlem and beyond to lead healthy lives and shape their environment through outdoor education, play, exploration, and community engagement. Green Exercise Days are outdoor, educational field trips and community service experiences in the program’s gardens, and the Outdoor Leadership Academy is an internship program for 14–24-year-olds divided into cohorts in gardening, landscaping, outdoor play, placemaking, photography, evaluation, health promotion, and nonprofit management. The organization also offers the option to apply to serve for 300–675 hours as an AmeriCorps Member at Concrete Safaris’ PlacemakingCorps and offers cohorts in nonprofit management.
The leadership team includes Programs Director Christopher Hartsfield, who oversees the Outdoor Leadership Academy, AmeriCorps, and single-day events throughout the community, and Founding Executive Director Mac Levine, MPH, who is dedicated to providing outdoor education opportunities by and for children, youth, and community. Concrete Safaris states that access to outdoor play experiences in early childhood can help kids to stop taking ADD medications with just 30 minutes of walking in nature, which it states has the same impact as a dose of a leading ADD drug. The organization states that it provides youth with outdoor experiences to build soft and hard leadership skills so that they can transform public spaces into safer spaces where they teach the community soft and hard skills and become greater assets to their community and beyond.
Since 2008, Concrete Safaris’ community involvement has included partnerships with schools, government entities, foundations, community-based organizations, and corporations. Partners include schools such as Amber Charter School, City-As-School, City Tech, City University of New York, Columbia University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, The Lewis & Clark School, Mosaic Charter School, New York City College of Technology, Public Schools 7, 38, 50, 57, 72, 83, 96, 101, 102, 115M, 155, 182, and 198, and Trevor Day School. Government partners include AmeriCorps, Community Board 11, FDNY, Manhattan Borough President's Office, NYC Department of Design & Construction, NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene, NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Youth & Community Development, NYC Housing Authority, NYC Human Resource Administration, NYC Parks, NYCService, NYPD, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, NYS Office of Children & Family Services, New York County Office of the District Attorney, and the Offices of Council Member Elsie Encarnacion and Senator Serrano. Foundation partners include City Gardens Club of NYC, Clif Family Foundation, Concord Group, First Cornerstone Foundation, Joy of Giving Something, Solon E. Summerfield Foundation, The Morrison & Foerster Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, and The Scripps Family Fund for Education & The Arts. Community-based organization partners include The Association to Benefit Children, Boys' Club, Children's Aid Society, Community Association of Progressive Dominicans, El Barrio's Operation Fightback, Harlem RBI, Harvard Business School Club of New York, New York Cares, PASE, SCAN-Harbor, StreetSquash, and Union Settlement Association. Corporate partners include Abacus Federal Savings Bank, Ares Management, Bartlett Tree Experts, Con Edison, Davis Brody Bond, J.P. Morgan, London Stock Exchange Group, Morrison & Foerster, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Seward & Kissel, The Bluestone Organization, and West Monroe Partners.
Last updated July 29, 2026.
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