Outdoor Exploration for San Rafael Children
Year 1 Annual Report |
Jump to annual report details (2023-2025)| Amount | $700,000 |
| Grantee | Project Avary |
| Award Year | 2022 |
| Funding Source | General Fund, Outdoor Equity Program |
| Project Type | Program Operation |
| Project Status | In Progress |
Description
Conduct the Project Avary Outdoor Exploration for San Rafael Children with Incarcerated Parents near Pickleweed Park in San Rafael. This program will include approximately 36 activity days in the community for approximately 720 participants and approximately 42 trips to natural areas for approximately 1,300 participants during 45 months of programming.
Activities in the community will include Birding Exploration; Watershed Exploration; and Trip Preparation for Summer Camp and Family Camp.
Trips to natural areas outside of the community will include Summer Camp at Point Reyes National Seashore; Family Camp at Point Reyes National Seashore; Leadership Retreats at Point Reyes National Seashore; Epic Surfing Adventure Days at Stinson Beach State Park; and Family Adventure Days at the American River near Lotus.
Community Home Base Location
50 Canal St. San Rafael, CA 94901
| County | Marin |
| Assembly District | AD 12 Damon Connolly (D) |
| Senate District |
SD 02 Mike McGuire (D) |
| Congressional District | CD 02 Jared Huffman (D) |
Program Goals
Service Learning/Career Pathway/Leadership Opportunities
Junior Counselor Training Program – Junior Counselors (JCs) aged 16-18 serve as counselors in training during summer camp and family camp, apprenticing alongside adult counselors, serving the younger children during summer camp and family camp. JCs are trained in the Project Avary model of therapeutic outdoor programming, which focuses on relationship building, fostering trust through fun outdoor adventures, restorative responses to behavioral issues, and social-emotional fire circle curriculum. At age 18, after they have completed two years of summer camp, JCs receive a certificate of completion and they are eligible to apply for a senior adult counselor position with Project Avary.
30 resident counselor opportunities.
Partnerships
Point Reyes National Seashore Association
Criteria 3. Provides environmental education activities for summer camp, family camp, and leadership retreats. And they rent out the Clem Milled Ed Center, as the camp site for Summer Camp, Family Camp, and Leadership Retreats.
MeWater Foundation
Criteria 3. Provides environmental education and surfing instruction for surfing adventure days.
Blue Water Kayaking
Criteria 3. Provides sea kayaking for family camp, and retreats.
Giant Steps
Criteria 3. Provides therapeutic horseback riding for summer camp
Trips for Kids
Criteria 3. Provides bike riding for youth and adults for summer camp and family camp
Mentoring
The 30 youth from this grant selected for the Junior Counselor program will received mentoring and job training support at least 2 years beyond the grant 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 | 470 | 609 | 1,079 |
| Days for Activities in the Community | 5 | 8 | 13 |
| Nature Area Trips | 35 | 27 | 62 |
Inspirational Quotes or Testimonials
2024
"I appreciate this program for my daughter she has truly been enjoying it and hoping with more time she can feel more comfortable sharing her story as for her story we have a new chapter..."
"I used to be really shy and not want to talk to people - now I can just go up to anybody and start talking to them"
"Avary is like a home - they're all like my family here"
List of Educational Goals Achieved
2023
Nature walks, swimming, surfing, art instruction, building awareness of parks, recreation benefits, water conservation and solutions to prevent pollution, climate change and potential solutions, outdoor safety, camping skills, cooking and learning sound nutrition habits and food storage safety, wilderness survival skills, teamwork and leadership building activities in nature, and therapeutic recreation in nature to heal from the effects of PTSD, trauma and other physical and emotional conditions.
2024
Impact on Climate Change - workshops on how climate change is effecting our planet. Water & Earth Processes - Watershed activities Availability of Natural Resources - Nature Walks with educational components Modification's of Earth's systems by Human Activity - The importance of leave no trace and leaving a location better than how we found it Cycling of Water in Earth's systems - Watershed activities Pollution prevention - Teaching of using non chemical processes at our camp site that flushes water into the grounds Camping Skills - trip preparation Cooking & Learning sound nutrition habits & food storage - at retreat in the kitchen and with farm to table activities Teamwork & Leadership building activities in nature - during all nature trips Therapeutic recreation in Nature - during all nature trips
List of Formed Partnerships
2023
Point Reyes National Seashore Association and their Clem Miller Camp has been the greatest partnership for this award- being able to provide the youths we serve a location in nature that they are familiar with and look forward to coming back to especially when for a lot of them it is their first times leaving their communities and experiencing the state park and all the nature it has to offer. Here we are able to teach camping skills and build awareness of parks and recreation. Me Water has been a great partnership in surfing and allowing the youths to be comfortable in water - bringing the youths out to the California Oceans and teaching of the importance of water conservation and solutions to prevent pollution and climate change
2024
N/A
Lessons
2023
- Hands on experience and investigation
- Teaching in a fun and engaging way.
- Encouragement to explore, reflect and connect with nature.
- Having staff youths can identify with and feel safe.
2024
Ensuring youths have fun, using simple and relatable examples, having energetic teachers and allowing youth to participate and jump into activities have all been successful methods for us.
