Youth Outdoors Richmond
Year 1 Annual Report |
Jump to annual report details (2023-2025)| Amount | $700,000 |
| Grantee | City of Richmond |
| Award Year | 2022 |
| Funding Source | General Fund, Outdoor Equity Program |
| Project Type | Program Operation |
| Project Status | In Progress |
Description
Conduct the Youth Outdoors Richmond Program for residents near Nevin Community Center. This program will include approximately 99 activity days in the community for approximately 12,000 participants and approximately 36 trips to natural areas for approximately 1,200 participants during three years of programming.
Activities in the community will include Restoration and Service Learning; Leadership and Skill Development; Leadership and Mentoring – Shadow National Park Service; Solution based Clean Ups; Educational Mapping and Design Challenges; Educational Walks Tree Planting and Stewardship in Local parks; Kayaking and Marina/Tree Stewardship; Examples of Environmental Stewardship; Preparation and Instruction for Backpacking Trips.
Trips to natural areas outside of the community will include Point Pinole Family Day at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline; Local Horse Ranch and Equestrian Activities; Tilden Regional Park Farm and Creek Exploration; Tidewater Canoeing in Oakland; Lake Anza Swimming and Water Safety; Mount Tamalpais Overnight Camping Trip; and Calaveras Big Trees State Park Camping Trip.
Community Home Base Location
598 Nevin Avenue Richmond, CA 94801
| County | Contra Costa |
| Assembly District | AD 14 Buffy Wicks (D) |
| Senate District |
SD 07 Jesse Arreguín (D) |
| Congressional District | CD 08 John Garamendi (D) |
Program Goals
Service Learning/Career Pathway/Leadership Opportunities
Youth Leaders - 10 participants in each outdoor program cohort will be Youth Leaders. There are 4 cohorts each year, and a total of 12 cohorts over 3 years. In total, there will be 120 Youth Leaders. Youth Leaders will be trained by City staff to mentor other participants and to co-lead activities in the community as well as natural area trips. They will also lead the coordination of seasonal peer-planned celebrations for the outdoor program. Each Youth Leader will receive a stipend and a signed Certificate of Completion from the City of Richmond Community Services Department, Recreation Division and the Mayor. After serving as a Youth Leader, they will be encouraged to apply for paid summer recreation employment through the City of Richmond Community Services Department, Recreation Division or for placement through the City of Richmond YouthWorks Program. These paid positions will provide further experience related to the activities in the community and natural area trips, such as physical activity coaching, activity and trip planning, and mentoring.
Partnerships
Groundwork Richmond – assisted with outreach for the in-person community meeting and neighborhood clean-up with residents. For the outdoor program, Groundwork Richmond will help participants discover nature in action by conducting educational walks to identify flora in local parks, leading outdoor activities such as kayaking in local waters, and conducting tree stewardship activities in local parks. These hands-on teaching methods will help youth learn to appreciate the environment and understand their connection to climate change, green urban infrastructure, air quality, and more, while providing skills that can lead to future employment. Groundwork Richmond will engage participants in 8 activity days each year. For the 3-year program, they will engage participants in 24 activity days in the local community.
The Watershed Project – will engage participants in both environmental justice analysis and solution-based learning through local creek monitoring, educational mapping, design challenge activities, and stewardship activities at local parks. These hands-on teaching methods will help youth learn to appreciate the environment and understand their connection to climate change, green urban infrastructure, air quality, and more, while providing skills that can lead to future employment. The Watershed Project will engage participants in 8 activity days each year. For the 3-year program, they will engage participants in 24 activity days in the local community.
Healthy Richmond – will identify and engage resident leaders to share information about program availability and enroll hard-to-reach youth into the outdoor program.
Richmond SOL - assisted with planning and outreach for the in-person community meeting and neighborhood clean-up with residents. The organization is led by a Richmond resident and community leader who connected English learners to the outdoor program during the community meeting. For the outdoor program, Richmond SOL will engage other residents living near the Community Home Base to share information about program availability.
Iron Triangle Neighborhood Council - assisted with planning and outreach for online meetings with residents, providing time during two of their regular monthly meetings to plan and discuss the outdoor program. For the outdoor program, they will engage other residents living near the Community Home Base to share information about program availability.
East Bay Regional Park District - will provide in-kind services and contributions, including park reservations and permits, supplies and equipment rentals, food for activities in the community, partner services, and trip planning. They will also engage participants in leadership, recreational, self-reflection, and educational activities such as team building exercises, journaling, fishing tutorials, animal identification, hiking, and service learning. East Bay Regional Park District’s partnership for the outdoor program will strengthen participants’ connection with the natural world. East Bay Regional Park District will provide in-kind services and contributions for 6 activity days in the local community and 8 nature trips each year. For the 3-year program, they will provide in-kind services and contributions for 18 activity days in the local community and 24 nature trips.
National Park Service - will provide job shadowing opportunities to participants to discover future environmental and park-related career opportunities. National Park Service will also provide tours of the Rosie the Riveter National Historical Park located near the Community Home Base to help participants learn about local history. National Park Service will engage participants in 4 activity days each year: 2 for job shadowing and 2 for park and museum tours. For the 3-year program, they will engage participants in 12 activity days in the local community.
Trips for Kids - will engage participants in cycling activities during nature area trips. These activities will contribute to healthy family lifestyles and improve participants’ experience with outdoor recreation. Trips for Kids will engage participants in 6 nature area trips during the three-year program.
Mentoring
Recruitment and Identification of Future Leaders - Youth participants in the outdoor program, particularly those who served as Youth Leaders, will be encouraged to apply for various mentorship opportunities with the City of Richmond and its partners. The City will collaborate with the Department of Children and Youth to reach out to future program participants as well as their board of community members, many of which are youth and young adults who are budding leaders in the community. The campaign will also be extended into the schools and afterschool programs to reach youth. The focus will be on health and wellness; physical, social, and developmental. Youth will be selected based on letters of recommendations from teachers and community leaders as well as a completed letter of interest detailing their ambitions in the environmental justice/ awareness field.
Mentoring and Empowerment - After the grant performance period, youth will be encouraged to apply for YouthWorks, a City of Richmond program, for job and mentorship placement in a safe adult-supervised environment. In addition to job placement, YouthWorks staff provide mentorship through case managed services to at-risk and in-risk youth, including academic support, transportation assistance, life skills and pre-employment training. The City’s program partners such as Groundwork Richmond and The Watershed Project have the Green Team, Green Collar Corps, and internships. The Green Team receives exposure to careers in the outdoors and participates in youth leadership summits and educational enrichment activities under the mentorship of trained environmental professionals. Green Collar Corps members gain a wide variety of environmental careers by working side by side with environmental professionals, both in the field and in the office, and on personalized projects based on their own interests. In addition to these projects, they participate in frequent educational trainings and team-building activities.
15 youth will be selected annually for mentorship with the City of Richmond and its partners upon conclusion of the grant performance period.
Annual Report Details
Programs may span from one year to multi-year, not to exceed four years. The specific length of the program is contained in the description above.
| Category | 2023 | 2024 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Youth Served | 334 | 320 | 654 |
| Days for Activities in the Community | 13 | 12 | 25 |
| Nature Area Trips | 12 | 22 | 34 |
List of Educational Goals Achieved
2023
Activities in the community:
Foster stewardship of the environment by allowing the youth to take care of the local environment. Our activities take place in the youth’s community and promote service-learning opportunities between schools and local communities. East Bay Regional Park staff are trained park rangers and The Watershed Project staff are trained educators and environmental specialists with experience in studying, researching, and teaching in nature settings. Both The Watershed Project and East Bay Regional Park also expose the youth to career exploration in their respective environmental fields with the participating youth. They work with the youth to mentor them while doing coastal clean up projects to explain the importance of marine ecosystems and the effects on marine life.
The Watershed Project engaged youth in local creek monitoring, educational mapping, and design challenges. Students used tools and equipment to gather data on creek water quality measurements and benthic macroinvertebrate (BMI) monitoring to assess the health of the creek. Students also examined maps of their local watershed from an inquiry-based approach to learn where stormwater travels when it rains, and the connection between community and watershed health. They examined evidence about anticipated climate change impacts to draw conclusions about the role of urban greening and stormwater management as a form of climate resilience.
Youth Leaders:
Leaders were given a budget and manage a project, thus giving them skills including but not limited to entrepreneurship, interpersonal communication skills, and leadership training in an effort to introduce them to and prepare for leadership roles in school, teams, business, and beyond. Nature Area Trips Our educational nature activities include nature walks, tree planting and kayaking. These activities meet the educational standards that are based on questions about the relationships between the Natural and Material World. It explores that scientific knowledge can describe the consequences of actions but does not necessarily prescribe the decisions that society takes.
Bike Riding:
The City of Richmond, East Bay Regional Park and Trips for Kids staff will use the interactive/ participative teaching method during the bike rides and the content-focused teaching method when between some of the cycling “pit stops”. Topics include but are not limited to: trees, erosion, ocean recycling, birds, health and wellness. Environmental activities such as park stewardship are combined with fun activities such as bike riding so that youth will be comfortable and will associate the environmental education experience with learning and fun.
Our community surveys indicate that the youth are very interested in learning nature survival skills. Most youth learn best when they do not realize they are learning. This begins with basic navigation skills such as starting with hiking trails, teaching how to read a trail map and how to read and use a compass. Students learn how to set up a campsite and how to respect nature as their only source of survival. Camping Trip- During the camping trip, they will be surrounded by and dependent on nature. Night time activities include stargazing and learning about how our bodies adapt depending on the circumstances. Educational principals discussed will be MS-ESS1-3. Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
Ranch Day:
The City will partner with a local bay area ranch that is pioneering sustainably raising livestock within the confines of urban environments by using horses and its surrounding agriculture as a medium to inspire positivity within our inner-city communities. The local ranch will use the interactive/ participative teaching method during horseback riding and the content-focused teaching method when caring for horses and while doing ranch work. They will experience mechanical function in action and also learn the responsibility associated with the care of mammals.
Treasure Island Sailing:
The activity meets Principle 2 -People Influence Natural Systems. The long-term functioning and health of terrestrial, freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems are influenced by their relationships with human societies. Principle 1 - People Depend on Natural Systems. The continuation and health of individual human lives and of human communities and societies depend on the health of the natural systems that provide essential goods and ecosystem services. Large bodies of water are massive and can be very humbling to individuals who do not respect it. Being immersed in a paddle boat teaches the youth to respect nature and also that we depend on it for survival.
2024
List of Formed Partnerships
2023
Richmond Police Activity League: provided the Vans/ Transportation for all events that did not include a bus. Lesson, plan for vans as soon as the date is scheduled.
Trips for Kids: Provide Bike Riding lessons and guidance while touring the shoreline and pier. Build confidence in the youth during the bike ride. There was a sense of freedom the youth exhibited while riding along the trail and pier. The day encouraged peer to peer engagement and communication.
The Watershed Project: Provided hands-on learning and team building through watershed model building, plant identification, bird watching, nature journaling, creek monitoring, and restoration projects. The partner has done an outstanding job at engaging participants in learning about our environment.
Groundwork Richmond: Provided an introduction to trees and tree safety to participants; guided participants through mulching and other tree activities to learn about the local environment.
East Bay Regional Park District: provided park rangers for local stewardship activities as well as nature trips/ hikes. The rangers provide a wealth of knowledge with the youth about the environment and science. It it well worth taking the time to coordinate a ranger talk/ activity.
Urban Cowgirl: The staff provided great detail in the mannerisms, communication style and temperament of various ranch animals. They learned to calm to the pace of the animals and truly enjoy and relax into nature. They learned about the importance of sustainability in ranch-life.
Treasure Island Sailing: The leaders provided information about how sailing works and importance of the shoreline. The youth were encouraged and empowered by the water activities.
Pacific Gas and Electric (PGE): Provided free tickets to Filoli House and Gardens for a family filled event initiated by the community. Lesson is be flexible to allow the community to lead for events they are interested in. All learned so much about sustainability and lifestyles in the past (early 1900’s).
2024
Lessons
2023
Our first school-year cohort in the fall was not without its unforeseen challenges! There was a scheduling mix-up on our first day which was supposed to be an environmental learning project, but staff were very quick to adjust the activity to focus on team building and ice breakers at the park. The initial mix-up turned out to be the best because through the team building and ice breaker activities, participants got to know one another and open up. This set a strong social-emotional foundation for the rest of the program!
The fall cohort was also our first cohort with our Youth Leaders. Summer participants of Youth Outdoors Richmond were invited to return for the fall as Youth Leaders. We had 4 Youth Leaders who helped engage our other participants and provided feedback to staff on things like meals, snacks, and team building activities that their peers wanted. They also helped plan the end of cohort celebration! Youth Leaders have proven to be critical to program success and engagement, and we are looking forward to having returning and new Youth Leaders for each cohort. We recommend the Youth Leadership aspect to all other programs as well!
