Educational Goal 1: This goal was met through Activity #4: Educational family walks, for example, which connected youth and their families to resources like naturalist for our naturalist scavenger hunt. The family-oriented scavenger hunt combined technology, experiences with nature, and fun. This was similar to Activity 1, where the CA naturalists in training were required to utilize naturalist on every one of our hikes and outings as a part of their course requirement. They also had to complete a scavenger hunt that required them to understand local plant communities and what California native plants belong to what local plant community.

Educational Goal #2: In Activity #3: Climate Resiliency Workshops, we discuss climate change and actions that can be taken to help become more resilient and climate-adapted communities. Future workshops include what concerns community members the most and creating a community action plan.

Activity #1: CA Naturalist training, topics include Forestry and land Management, environmental justice, our ocean and rivers, and more. All of our nature trips include a talk on the 7 leave no trace principles, which is interactive as we highlight the principles along the way and model them for participants. In addition, all of our trips include a certified CA Naturalist to share about CA Native plants, ecosystems, and adaptations. In these naturalist talks, we cover at least one of the following topics on our naturalist hike: Stewardship and conservation, watershed health, public land protection/ civic engagement, and environmental justice Educational Goal #4:

During Activity #5: Wellness Workshops, we briefly mention environmental justice in our opening introductions, as that is the work Nature for All is rooted in. At the end of the workshop, we shared our work in public land protection and invited them to sign our petition in support and encouraged them to sign up for other programs with Nature for All that delve deeper into civic engagement, community organizing, and environmental justice.

When Activity #2: Community Leadership Development takes off, we discuss public participation in civic engagement and the need to advocate for green spaces in disadvantaged communities.

Activity 1: The CA Naturalist course delves deeper into local environmental justice issues and impacts. We also have a quick conversation in all of the classes with guest speakers about their pathways to their careers and tips for the youth. These included guest speakers from the Natural History Museum, the US Forest Service, and The Alf Museum. In all activities that last more than 1 hour, we provide healthy nutritional snacks because we believe the barriers to accessing the outdoors vary and food scarcity is a concern within disadvantaged communities, which acts as a barrier to full participation. This is also to encourage participants to seek other healthier options in their everyday lives.

All the nature trips included healthy meal options, conversations around public land protection, and a naturalist talk about CA Native plants, plant communities, watershed health, and more. Nature trip #2: Coastal Trips and Nature trip #3: Channel islands provide ocean education and provide youth an opportunity to experience the lessons firsthand.

The students this year gained a deeper connection to the environment and what it means to be a steward of the land. With resources that Outdoor Outreach has provided for staff, field instructors have been able to teach them more about the impact their day-to-day lives have on the ecosystem, as well as what they could do to protect the environment for the future. Through beach clean ups, trail clean ups, educational trips to both the San Diego Zoo and the Living Coast Discovery Center, students have learned about native and non-native species of plants and animals and how they either benefit or can be harmful to our land. They have participated in organized work to rid our wetlands of invasive species of plants and continue to participate in environmental stewardship projects.

Annenberg Beach House and Santa Monica Conservancy supported our coastal trips and provided space for participants to rest after time on the beach.

The North Valley Care Services were wonderful and provided connections with families and after-school programs. We went on a trip with them and their staff were incredibly supportive.

Stone Barn Nature Center with the City of Burbank: Stone Barn supported us on our October hike and provided a space for participants to eat lunch within their center. Plaza Del Valle, a shopping plaza in Panorama City, hosted us and provided a space at the 'salon commentario' for the CA Naturalist training. This was a great space, located within a wonderful and popular community space.

With the support of LA City Council District 6, we were able to connect with the Sepulveda Recreation Center which provided us a space to host our CA Naturalist course and graduation. Council District 6 provided us with fee waivers to make this course more cost-effective. A reminder/lesson learned was to plan more time than you think you need to process paperwork with the city. The process took a long time and was challenging to schedule around because every other part of the course depended on it. The Natural History Museum's community engagement department was a wonderful partner in providing a guest speaker for the geology course as well as free tickets to both the museum and the butterfly pavilion for our CA Naturslist youth and families.

Partnership on Activities: Santa Monica Mountains Fund partnered with us on our first wellness workshop where we provided meditation and nature walks and they provided 1,000 milkweeds to give away. They also supported us with outreach for this event and was a wonderful blend of nature and mental wellness.

Pacoima Beautiful was also a partner for this event and brought out their summer field rangers to support with setup and breakdown of the event. The youth had a chance to participate in the programming and participated in the nature walk and meditation. The Wild Plum Holistic Center and Spa which is located in San Fernando, partnered with us to facilitate free yoga classes at the park for community members. One lesson learned was to be ready for outside noise from the park. You can do a Bluetooth clipped microphone to a speaker to help with this. Also, it is important to pick a location that is not too exposed. Reports show that 75%-80% of yoga practitioners are women. This was a consideration when choosing our location which was mostly covered but still out in nature to experience that connection.

The Audubon Society volunteer from the San Fernando Valley Chapter, supported us with a bird walk around the Sepulveda wildlife reserve and provided everyone with binoculars for our first family day at the park. Cottonwood Urban Farm in Panorama City provided us with a space to facilitate our climate resiliency workshop. They are a great community-focused space and have a wonderful location. Considering the time of the year, it was great to have lights and still be able to be outside, but as the year ends, we will be looking for an indoor venue.

Outdoor Outreach continues to foster successful partnerships with El Cajon-based schools and community organizations, including El Cajon Valley High School, Cajon Valley Middle School, and the International Rescue Committee clubs at these schools. The community served by this grant includes a large Middle Eastern population. This year our staff connected with many students across language barriers thanks to the support of some more well established students who felt comfortable speaking both Pashto and English. With the support of these students, we were able to make our trips more accessible and enjoyable for other students from this community. Outdoor Outreach ensured that all of the food provided for ECV during programs is Halal, so that should a Muslim participant decide to join the program that day there is no question as to whether or not they can consume anything on our program. This, in turn, created a more inclusive space for our participants and created community appeal.

Technology gap reminders, especially when working with youth. It wasn’t just that many did not own a computer but also that they didn’t use email. Instead of email, texting and calling youth and their parents was the most effective tool for retaining youth in the program and reminding them of the classes. However, this method takes more time. Also, it is recommended to always be in contact with the parents and not assume information if making its way to them through the youth. Having a chat group with parents also helped to disseminate information.

Youth engage best in circles or in conversations and activities. It is recommended to incorporate games or activities that move their body.

Capacity-wise, having multiple staff members to support in the facilitation of the Leadership Training and other workshops longer than an hour or an hour and a half is necessary to have a well-quality program. There should be roles discussed ahead of time, which includes training in most cases. This training time needs to be incorporated as well as time to plan, evaluate, and adjust programs.

One unforeseen challenge that we have encountered was long term partnerships ending, such as with Mount Hope Community Garden, which would have been a fantastic opportunity to expose youth to sustainable farming and food education. Unfortunately, they have been unresponsive. We are keeping our options open for other similar partnerships. Our programs have seen significant engagement with students from Arabic-speaking communities and countries. A significant challenge to serving this population are cultural practices that limit the participation of girls on extended and overnight mixed-gender nature programs. To address this, we are considering running some programs with all-female staff and participants. Language barriers are another challenge and we are seeking to hire an Arabic-speaking field instructor to help students who would benefit from language support.