Community Team

The mission of the Merrimack River Watershed Council is to protect, improve and conserve the watershed for people and wildlife through education, recreation, advocacy and science. The quality of the Merrimack River’s water matters, because it is the only major New England river used as a drinking water supply. In fact, nearly 600,000 people rely on the 125-mile long river for their drinking water, including the communities of Lowell, Lawrence, Methuen, Tewksbury, and other towns. That number is likely to grow by one third within a decade. In the 1970s, the Merrimack was listed as one of the nation’s ten most polluted rivers. Even though the 1972 passage of the federal Clean Water Act (as well as citizen advocacy) had made enormous strides in cleaning up the river, there is still much work to be done. Merrimack River Watershed Council work hard to ensure that our drinking water will be clean and healthy for generations to come.

Groundwork Lawrence has been making change happen since its beginnings in 1999. Through its environmental and open space improvements, healthy food access programs, youth education, employment initiatives, community programming, and events, Groundwork Lawrence creates the building blocks of a healthy community and empowers residents to improve their quality of life. Groundwork Lawrence achieves results by engaging the whole community – residents, youth, nonprofits, city government and businesses – in the planning and realization of its projects. With this collaborative approach, Groundwork Lawrence ensures that all stakeholders are mutually invested in its outcomes, the key to healthy, stable neighborhoods and sustainable change. Groundwork Lawrence leads and supports a variety of partnership-driven efforts that bring together the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to solve complex environmental problems and sustain a long-term vision for neighborhood change and renewal.

The YWCA of Lowell is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, and dignity for all. Through its many programs, the YWCA engages young people in learning about themselves, careers, health and safety and more. One such program - Girls Going Green - especially focuses on personal and environmental health issues. For example, recent Girls Going Green work has included developing and distributing educational awareness materials regarding toxins in commercial personal care and beauty products at such community events a Peace in the Park National Night Out, the Lowell Folk Festival, and Winterfest. Girls Going Green participants have also distributed over 700 homemade non-toxic lip balms that they created, at these and other events.