With the motto, “Changing Places, Changing Lives,” Groundwork Lawrence (GWL) is a good example of how government-philanthropy partnerships increase productivity. In the late '90s the EPA, the National Park Service and the City of Lawrence created a steering committee to obtain federal start-up funds, by demonstrating community involvement in urban-environmental planning. The steering committee identified priorities, funding sources and an institutional structure, and in 1999 GWL was born. Separately incorporated in 2001, they followed their motto, mobilizing neighborhood and community-wide volunteers. Results: over $1 million in capital improvements to parks and public spaces, with another $4.2 million of projects in the pipeline; 12,000 hours of clean-ups, horticultural plantings and other beautification of over 200 acres (75%) of Lawrence’s green space; hundreds of school students monitoring ecosystems; environmental service-learning projects; two community gardens and a farmers' market. GWL has won a “Governor’s Award for Smart Growth Leadership” (2004), and their Executive Director an “Excellence in Public Service Award” from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (2003). You can join them.