TPL Participation Certificate for Activities in the Community - All participants of the Activities in the Community will receive a Certificate of Participation with a description of what that meant in terms of leadership and/or learning about natural resources or environmental justice. 240 Residents

Outward Bound Adventures (OBA) Participation Certificate for Natural Area Trips - All participants in the Natural Area Trips will receive a Certificate of Participating with a description of the natural resources education, environmental careers exploration, and leadership, team-building and communication roles. 240 Residents

OBA Youth Advisory Council (YAC) program is dedicated to increasing the leadership and wilderness advocacy skills of community youth by providing them a structured platform. All youth, once they turn 14, will be invited to participate. Youth meet on a bi-weekly basis and follow a rigorous self-structured curriculum dedicated to upgrading leadership skills through fundraising, public speaking, and environmental education. Youth plan their own trips and learning activities. Many YAC participants move on to participate in the Diverse Outdoor Leaders Institute (DOLI) and become OBA field instructors or become employed in other outdoor/environmental organizations. 240 Residents

Castellanos Elementary

Castellanos administration and staff participated and provided input to shape proposed programming.

Outward Bound Adventures

OBA worked with TPL’s community organizer to develop the presentation at the meetings and discuss the options and logistics for the nature-based trips, including designing the natural area trips for Castellanos Elementary, utilizing existing trip structures to meet the needs expressed in the community planning meetings, and to accommodate age-appropriate programming. OBA will work with families that have children in middle school or high school to offer youth and family day hikes and youth and family overnight trips.

Once the grant funds expire TPL’s community organizer will continue collaborating with engaged community members to execute community clean ups, outreach events with local partners, monthly meetings on environmental subjects and further nurtured relationships with the Castellanos youth. The goal is to provide opportunities for families but especially the youth to continue to grow their leadership and stewardship of the outdoors. The structure of this youth engagement is still to be defined but one option is for TPL’s community organizer to engage with youth once a month in an environmental science or environmental club at their school along with leadership from a science teacher(s). Youth engaged would continue to learn about stormwater capture, local groundwater, the urban heat island effect, and related environmental subjects by learning about urban greening and access to nature near their schools. To make this mentoring opportunity relevant to youth, the youth will have the opportunity to identify areas of interest including but not limited to careers in the environmental arena, civic engagement, and who represents them and their interest.

In addition, all youth in the Outdoor Equity Program will be invited to participate in the OBA Youth Advisory Council (YAC) once they turn 14, and then when turn 19 they will be invited to apply to the OBA Diverse Outdoor Leaders Institute (DOLI). Both programs are a no-cost benefit during the grant period and will continue to be available to these youth after the funding period ends.