SoundWaters, Young Mariners Foundation to Merge

SoundWaters and the Young Mariners Foundation have announced an agreement to merge under the SoundWaters brand to enhance the educational opportunities they offer to students in Stamford and Greenwich.

“What emerges is a highly synergistic coalition of nonprofits with a focus on the underserved community, committed to enriching the quality of the educational experience for young people and the protection of Long Island Sound,” officials for both organizations said in a statement.

“Together will we also transform Stamford Harbor into a vibrant destination for the Waterside neighborhood and the larger community, helping to make the harbor a clean, swimmable resource,” said Scott Mitchell and Tom O’Connell of Greenwich, the board chairmen of the two nonprofits, and Dr. Leigh Shemitz, the president of SoundWaters.

The merger becomes effective Jan. 29.

O’Connell joins the executive committee of a reconstituted board of directors with three members of the Young Mariners Foundation, Maureen Baillie, Greg Gigliotti and Fred Lorthioir. Other members of the foundation’s board and volunteers are being added to the SoundWaters administrative committees.

The partnership intends to revitalize Boccuzzi Park over the next three years, converting the Young Mariners Foundation property into an ecological and economic zone, upgrading and expanding the Harbor Center in the Waterside section of Stamford Harbor into a flourishing educational center and sailing facility for adults and students alike.

In addition, the site provides docking facilities for the three-masted schooner SoundWaters, an 80-foot replica of an 18th century sailing ship that serves as a floating laboratory for studying the coastal waters and biodiversity of Long Island Sound.

Since SoundWaters (www.soundwaters.org) was established 26 years ago, operating out of the Coastal Education Center and Laboratory at Cove Island Park, more than 250,000 students have learned the tactics of sailing and studied the ecosystem of the Sound with its tidal marshes and wildlife and marine habit.

The Young Mariners Program, which has provided afterschool enrichment classes and summer sailing camping to more than 2,400 student in the past 18 years will be folded into SoundWaters as the Young Mariners Academy, continuing at Stamford Harbor and Greenwich Point in collaboration with the Greenwich Boys and Girls Club.

At the same time, the coalition allows for expanding the SoundWaters Academy to 100 students headed for grade five this year in Stamford’s public schools, ultimately to be adapted and exported to other communities in Connecticut and across the U.S.

It is planned that the Harbor Center will become an anchor for the Mill River Greenway and the stewardship of Stamford Harbor.

Contributed photo: Dr. Leigh Shemitz, center, president of SoundWaters, with board chairmen Tom O’Connell, left, of the Young Mariners Foundation and Scott Mitchell of SoundWaters at the SoundWaters Coastal Education Center on Cove Island.