Programs | February 26, 2025
Working at NYRP for 28 Years and Counting
Jessie Santiago (left, middle row) with students from NYRP's Summer Youth Program in 1997. When Jessie Santiago joined New York Restoration Project in 1997, NYRP crews were hauling cut-up cars, abandoned appliances, and mounds of tires out of Northern Manhattan parks. Like so much of the city’s open space at the time, these areas suffered from decades of neglect, and groups including NYRP decided to intervene.
Jessie has been central to NYRP’s operations since those early days. For almost three decades, she has helped assemble, onboard, and support the skilled NYRP field crews who continue our essential work. She has also helped engage thousands of volunteers across parks, gardens, and partner sites around the city, and will happily get her hands dirty, too. Jessie has been called our operations crew’s “secret sauce,” and has no doubt helped scores of greening professionals throughout the city begin their careers at NYRP.
Below, Jessie shares more about the early days at NYRP and her lifelong work to help green New York City.
The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Jessie in an early NYRP field office.
How did you get involved with New York Restoration Project?
Jessie Santiago: I started as a summer intern in 1997. I was studying sociology with a concentration in social work, and NYRP needed someone to assist with operations and lead the Summer Youth Program that we had back then. I was in charge of making sure that everyone was on time and where they needed to be. I would organize field trips with the summer youth. When I wasn’t in the office, I would be out in the field helping the team. That was my role for the three summers I was in college, and then NYRP hired me full-time once I graduated in June 2000.
NYRP’s Summer Youth team removes litter from a park in 1997.
How has your sociology/social work degree influenced your work at NYRP?
JS: It has been very helpful in trying to figure out people’s personalities and helping them thrive here. Especially with bigger crews, you have to have the mindset of empathy and understanding. I was the person the kids would come to when they just wanted to talk. I have always had an open-door policy. I’m here for all the administrative stuff, but if you need to sit down and just chat, I’m always here to chat with you.
Jessie (left) shovels mulch with the NYRP crew at Davidson Avenue Community Garden in The Bronx, one of our 2020 Gardens for the City garden renovations. Credit: Ben Hider
Why do you think green spaces are so important, especially in a place like New York City?
JS: I love what we do. The services that we provide for people in the communities where we work, in a sense, are very therapeutic. It is essential for people’s wellbeing to have a green space to go to and forget the worries of the day.
What have been some of your favorite memories at NYRP?
JS: One of my favorite things to have witnessed is the transformation of Highbridge Park. We started working in Highbridge in 1997, and it was BAD back then. My brother worked for NYRP as an AmeriCorps volunteer, and I remember him just hauling out tons of junk and debris. Everyone was motivated. They were going in there, committed to cleaning up this park and bringing it to a state where it could flourish.
Being part of the Gardens for the City garden renovations throughout the years has also been amazing. It’s rewarding to see so many people coming together for the common goal of providing a space for kids and families to enjoy nature together.
Oh, and I loved rappelling down the slopes with Edwards to get the hard-to-reach pieces of trash!
The NYRP crew gets into waders in to clean up the Bronx River in the 1990s.
What is the best part of your work?
JS: The best part of my job is working with the team and connecting with people. The work our crew does is not easy, but at the end of the day, what we do for the communities we work in is amazing. It’s what has kept me here for nearly 30 years: knowing that we are providing beautiful spaces for people who need it and improving the environment as much as we can with our gardens and parks. And we’re connecting with other organizations that are likeminded and have the same goal to preserve our world for future generations!
Jessie at the TD Tree Day Volunteer Event in 2015. Photo Credit: Anna Yatskevich
What are your dreams for the next 30 years of NYRP?
JS: I would love to see us expand our Gardens for the City program and build even more gardens and green spaces each year across the city, and I would love to see us expand our educational programs like the Urban Agriculture program as well. I hope to see more and more people, especially kids, getting involved in the work that we do, because they will be the ones who take over when we’re all gone.