Here is what others have to say about the Neighborhood Environmental Educations Project (NEEP):

“Working with the Urban Ecology Center has been truly one of the most inspirational experiences that our school, and me personally, have experienced. Our students who are now in high school can’t wait to get back to the Center to enjoy it and to volunteer.”

- Janet Mays, guidance counselor, Oliver Wendell Holmes elementary school

“The Urban Ecology Center is one of those many grassroots organizations which have made possible so much environmental progress in the past few years.  With local organizations like the Ecology Center, anything is possible.  Without the grassroots, not much will work.”

- Gaylord Nelson, Founder of Earth Day, Former Governor and U.S. Senator – Wisconsin

“Director Ken Leinbach and his team had worked wonders in transforming this long-neglected Olmsted Park into an outdoor laboratory for inquiring minds of all ages.”

– Whitney Gould, Journalist, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“The Urban Ecology Center’s Community Science program demonstrates a clear commitment to community-based environmental education.  We are thrilled to be a part of their precedent-setting mission and look forward to a long-term collaboration.”

- Mindy LaBranche, Coordinator for Urban Bird Studies, Cornell Lab of Ornithology - Ithaca, New York

“The UEC program is a perfect ‘wedding’ of science education and active learning in a format that is highly attractive.  The alignment of the program to MPS standards and the ability to wrap around the school’s requirements is both ingenious and seamless.  The Urban Ecology Center is a perfect example of well-designed, student-centered educational programming.”

- Spence Korte, Former Superintendent, Milwaukee Public Schools

“As a fifth grade teacher in a metropolitan public school, The Urban Ecology Center has made it possible for my students to apply abstract ecological concepts to the natural world. Without their program, it would be impossible to offer opportunities such as those we enjoy with the Urban Ecology Center. The scientific skills of inquiry that my students read about and practice in a limited way in my classroom flourish with the Center’s varied outdoor offerings that I can tailor to my curriculum.

“The Center is not only staffed with professional scientists but, more importantly, they are effective teachers, with excellent class management skills and teaching strategies that capture and hold the student’s attention and imagination (not an easy task).  Our school considers our relationship with the Center to be a partnership. We know the instructors and they, in turn, have come to know our students. In short, the Urban Ecology Center brings our science curriculum, literally, to life.”

- Jeff Cartier, Fifth Grade Science Teacher, Golda Meir School