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What Rego Park lacks in parkland is being made up in greenery, thanks to an activist mother and her new community group.

The Rego Park Green Alliance is barely a year old, but it is determined to unite the neighborhood’s residents.

“We promote education and sustainability for our future,” said co-founder Yvonne Shortt, 36. Born on Long Island, Shortt sought a diverse community for her two children. “Where I was raised, we were the only minority family.” For this reason, Shortt sent her two daughters Rebecca, 11, and Clara, 6, to PS 139.

Not content with routine PTA meetings, Shortt organized after-school classes in robotics and animation for the students.

Shortt and her husband Richard West run Small Biz Booster, which provides tech solutions for businesses.

“I work in technology, and I wanted to do something with the kids,” said Shortt, a technology consultant. The classes took students to competition with the Lego League, where students addressed a problem through inventions.

“When the community comes together, they start recognizing one another,” said Parul Datt. Her daughter Ashlyn, a fourth grader, takes animation classes with Shortt.

Shortt’s activism is often the result of things she observes in her daily life. Between her Alderton Street home and the elementary school, a railroad underpass was constantly plagued with graffiti.

The Rego Park Green Alliance reached out to the Long Island Rail Road about painting a mural on the wall. Pedestrians who passed by also participated, and the signature attributes the mural to “the citizens of Rego Park.” The 131-foot long mural was completed in June.

Two of the mural’s designers, Shana Siegel and Eve Biddle, both 27, were retained by Shortt for a more ambitious project, a nearly 200-foot wall that spans the width of a city block behind the PS 139 schoolyard.

“We’ve had two different ideas,” said Biddle. “A robotics theme, but the kids wanted a garden in the yard.” In a neighborhood that lacks for large parks, the mural responded to the call. “If we can’t have a garden, we can paint one,” said Biddle.

The project has the support of PS 139 principal Monica Powers-Meade. “She has done quite a bit of volunteering,” Powers-Meade said of Shortt, who bid for the wall spot through the mayor’s office. “Everyone was invited to participate. It makes our environment more appealing.”

In the center of the mural, there is a nod to PS 139: “Where dreams begin,” the motto of the school. “Everybody that walks by is excited,” said Siegel. “We’ve had all kinds of people come up.”

Painting on city-owned walls requires the approval of city agencies, but with Mayor Michael Bloomberg promoting volunteering, the process can be expedited. “He really wants the public school children to get a taste of volunteering,” said Powers-Meade.

“With this mural, we were chosen to be the spokespeople for city volunteering,” said Shortt.

As the mural approaches its completion, Shortt continues to reap the harvest of a greener community. Her organization had hydroponic and gardening workshops, flower planting, and jazz concerts to bring people together.

The concerts take place on the lawn of Our Savior Lutheran Church, across the street from PS 139. “The church has a pretty little lawn, and the pastor is the co-sponsor,” said Shortt.

With a block grant from the mayor’s volunteer corps office, Rego Park can expect a greener future. For now, Shortt is focusing on practical lessons to empower individual property owners, such as seminars on building green roofs. For the future, there are plans to add more greenery to Rego Park, including a “green wall” with plants for the railroad underpass on 63rd Drive, green roofs on bus stops, and more plants for the PS 139 schoolyard.

“We planted 1,500 bulbs around the community,” said Shortt. “We need gardens; there is so much cement here.”