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293
Youth Served
14
Community Activity Days
7
Nature Area Trips

Amount $700,000
Grantee La Familia Counseling Center
Award Year 2022
Funding Source General Fund, Outdoor Equity Program
Project Type Program Operation
Project Status

Description

Conduct the La Familia Counseling Center- Juntos Afuera Program for residents near La Familia Maple Neighborhood Center. This program will include approximately 49 activity days in the community for approximately 900 participants and approximately 26 trips to natural areas for approximately 600 participants during three years of programming.

Activities in the community will include Teatro Nagual’s play on Environmental Justice; Community Platicas; Paseos de Naturaleza; “A year of Forest School;” and “Antes de Salir – Before Leaving.”

Trips to natural areas outside of the community will include Park Discoveries at McKinley Park, Southside Park, Land Park, Capital Park; Water Days at Pond Clay Banks, fishing trips, Ocean Birdwalk Coastal Access Trail at Bodega Bay; Families Outdoors at Stinson Beach, Lake Tahoe Clark’s Hole Trail, American River, Sacramento Zoo; Intro to Camping at Beal’s Point Campground; Comunidad y Naturaleza at American River Parkway, Effie Yeaw Soda Springs Lake Tahoe and Calaveras Big Trees.

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Community Home Base Location
3301 37th Ave Sacramento, CA 95824
County Sacramento
Assembly District AD 10 Stephanie Nguyen (D)
Senate District SD 08 Angelique V. Ashby (D)
Congressional District CD 07 Doris O. Matsui (D)

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 Total
Youth Served 293
Days for Activities in the Community 14
Nature Area Trips 7

List of Educational Goals Achieved

2023

An example of how our educational goal was met is through our older adult outing to San Francisco where the community was able to receive a demonstration of arts through the Japanese Tea Garden as well as foster stewardship at the Golden Gate State Park. An older adult ambassador presented a lecture with history on the Golden Gate Bridge, Pier 39, and Fisherman's Warf, while the Garden tour gave the community an experience of natural beauty, tranquility, and harmony of a Japanese-style garden in the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park. On the commute back the ambassador presented her peers with a quiz to test the information they were able to retain.

List of Formed Partnerships

2023

La Familia collaborates with community-based organizations like Always Knocking, Hooked on Fishing Not Violence, and United Latinos. What we all have in common is serving our at-risk and underserved communities through inclusive approaches and social rehabilitation programs as trusted messengers in the community. We have all combined our resources and brought our communities together to provide fruitful outdoor opportunities that they otherwise would not have access to if not for this program.

We are also eager to continue exploring partnerships with JEDI, a sector of the California Department of Fish & Wildlife as well as the California State parks. In August of 2023 our staff and 6 of our partner's youth leaders and staff which included Always Knocking, Hooked on Fishing Not Violence, and United Latinos completed the California State Park's 3-day overnight training in order to become certified outdoor recreation leaders. This Juntos program granted us the opportunity to attend training to become more knowledgeable and now we will be able to safely host camping trips for our communities, which we are looking forward to completing for the upcoming summer of 2024.

Lessons

2023

A tip that our Juntos Afuera team would recommend for future Outdoor Programs would be to have an understanding of the history and landscape you are visiting that goes beyond a browser search.

A successful method in guaranteeing a great outdoor experience is asking the community first where they would like to explore. With the community's input, our team invested time researching the trips that we would eventually plan and travel to. The process of planning a trip and having ambassadors within the community is an important part of the process in aiding them to experience first hand the healing in nature and become better stewards of our environment.

An unforeseen challenge can be visiting places that are not handicapped or wheelchair accessible. A recommended solution would be visiting the area beforehand if is within your home radius or consulting a staff member to ensure your community can have an inclusive experience.

Lastly, traveling with an emergency plan is essential to assure the safety of the community and staff.

Other Program Goals

Service Learning/Career Pathway/Leadership Opportunities

Twenty five residents will have the following opportunities: three community translators, four youth outreach ambassadors, two youth producing social media and videos, eight youth apprentice tour guides/presenters and group leaders, and eight community apprentice tour guides/group leaders.

Partnerships

United Latinos – Assisting with outreach and meetings

Teatro Nagual – Capacity building, cultural awareness, mentoring, STEAM

Birth and Beyond – Provides language translation, child development services, AmeriCorp members to help with activities

Manito’s Group – Senior group for Latinx older adults that can help with outreach and event plannin

Mentoring

La Familia (LFCC) will recruit youth from the Youth Voice program, from local high schools and colleges to be participants, Outreach Ambassadors, Apprentice Tour Guides, and also Historians to provide social media and videos for this program. At least 8-10 youth and as many as 15-20 youth and community members will be a part of the team. Youth will be selected based on ability, possibly prior experience and mostly their interest in learning and participating in an outdoor program. Youth who have had lack of access but high interest will be strongly considered for helping to launch and implement the program. At the end of the program a selection process will be developed that identifies between 4-6 youth’s continued interest in environmental issues, as well as challenges that have prevented youth from pursuing these areas of interests and their growth and participation in the grant activity programs. LFCC anticipates being able to provide youth continuing in the mentoring program with a small stipend for continued participation. Youth will be mentored by Youth Staff Case Managers as well as program partners. Youth mentees will have the opportunity to lead Youth Voice groups and share information to other youth about environmental issues and involvement in civic decision making events or conversations. Youth will be assisted with the Career Center into career exploration. LFCC anticipates that youth will be mentored for at least 9 months after the grant period.

Annual Reports Start in December 2023!

Grantee will report the number of children served, partnership accomplishments and lessons learned, how educational goals were achieved, and unforeseen challenges and recommended solutions, with the goal of inspiring and building capacity for future outdoor program providers throughout California.