North Harvard, Massachusetts

Back in late 1997, the State of Massachusetts proposed to site a 300 ton-a-day sludge plant on Fort Devens as part of the reuse plan for the former military base. However, the exact location was on the edge of the base and just 400 feet from the nearest property line of a North Harvard neighborhood. Air pollution and other issues surfaced, and a united neighborhood engaged not only homeowners in the immediate vicinity, but citizens across the town.

In January 1998, NEGEF received a grant request from the North Harvard Neighborhood Association whose campaign was "to prevent the MassBio-Conversion Sludge Plant from being built anywhere near a populated area." This was not the group's first project; that had been five years earlier when they got the speed limit on neighborhood streets reduced. They were not just against the sludge proposal, either. The group's larger mission was to "strategically insure that the original vision of the reuse plan for Devens is implemented over the next several decades and is a win-win situation for both the state and local community."

This success story is very unusual, as the grant was never spent. It has been returned to NEGEF and will be used again to support another group. But in the meantime, Julie Brzek showed that our grants are more than dollars for projects. Thank you, Julie, for these kind words:

"Dear NEGEF,

As a follow-up to our conversation, I am returning the grant money we received in March, 1998. Even though we did not spend the money, it was great to know that if we needed to, it was there. Timing is everything in this world. If we had gotten the money a little earlier, it would have been all gone. In any event, our group gained credibility and some power just from being awarded the grant, and you folks got a lot of visibility in this area. We as a very small group of inexperienced people took on city hall and the state, and won, i.e., the birth of activists.

The state folks admitted (privately) after the smoke cleared, that it would have been the worst mistake of their career if the sludge plant had been built (next to my house). Our whole town was traumatized by it, and it continues to be talked about as a traumatic experience for the whole town, two years later.

I was changed forever by this experience. I developed skills and performed in ways I didn't know I could. I am grateful to you folks and others who supported us. I may be moving, but I now know you exist, and may come back to you, or send people to you, if there is a worthy cause that you could help. Being part of your activist network was as good, or better, than getting a small grant. Our North Harvard group will continue on without me. Our neighborhood group and the Town of Harvard in general still have major issues that could use any support they could get. I hope you will favorably consider giving another grant if someone from our group requests it.

Many thanks and keep up the great work."