Fostering Stewardship: Leave no Trace Lessons, service learning projects Instruction in Science that connects Nature Experiences/NGSS Curriculum: Hike to El Polin Spring- Water Cycles, Muir Woods- impact of fire on forest cycles, SF Botanical Garden- photosynthesis/plant lifecycles. Healthy Lifestyles & Sounds Nutritional Habits: The inportance of nutrition in all day field trips, Recycling & Composting conversations during mealtimes

Our outdoor program achieved educational goals through NGSS-aligned, curriculum-based activities that: a] connect youth to nature by exploring their school grounds via birding, scavenger hunts, and more, b] teach environmental issues via fun science experiments and art projects like urban heat mapping and watershed modeling, c] empower stewardship via activities like litter clean-ups and awareness posters, and d] prepare residents for NATs via Leave No Trace lessons and camping basics. NAT events brought multigenerational families on recreational trips across San Diego County, removing barriers by covering fees and providing transportation, food, and guided experiences with multilingual staff. Highlights included beach boogie boarding, an outdoor movie night at Crestridge, hikes, whale watching, kayaking, birding at Tijuana River Estuary, overnight camping, Zoo trips, and more. Our internship program also provided 4 locals with leadership development, 2 of whom are now employed at EDI!

National Park Service: Our continued partnership with the National Park Service has allowed us to bring participants to multiple NPS Sites (Maritime Museum, Muir Woods, Presidio) free of cost, and have provided opportunities for youth to interact with Park Rangers. NPS is not currently offering service learning opportunities, so we are seeking additional partnerships to build our environmental stewardship opportunities throughout the year. Additionally, we learned that there are bus requirements to go to Muir Woods, which required our team to be creative about transportation solutions.

We’re excited to share that we formed new partnerships to better serve our community! In El Cajon, we collaborated with local Title I schools—including EJE Academies, W.D. Hall, Magnolia, Chase Avenue, Meridian, Johnson, and Naranca Elementary—reaching 2,972 participants through our Activities in the Community programming. New partnerships for Natural Area Trips allowed us to bring multigenerational families to exciting locations, including the San Diego Zoo and Safari Park (with discounted rates from San Diego Zoo Global), the Tijuana River National Reserve (permitting fees waived), and Fletcher Cove Beach Park (which offered pristine amenities with fewer restrictions than Silver Strand State Beach). Additionally, we formed a relationship with community liaisons Samar Alayas and Doaa Polus, helped us connect with new families, bolstering the success of these events. All of this is in addition to continued work with partnerships that we formed in the previous reporting period.

One of our largest successes in this program has been the effort of ensuring that there are components of outdoor programming that include the whole family unit/community. Our family park days and family camps are very well attended and have gotten very positive response from the participants. YRangers, our summer day camp program, is also very popular, and the youth are having great experiences in nature. During Summer 2023, one of the youth participants was at Muir Woods and said to a staff member "You know, I'm a city kid, but this is pretty cool". One of our biggest challenges and largest barriers to this program has been that the Community Liasion role has been, and continues to be vacant. We are working to find ways to pair this role with more hours and similar work to create a full time position with benefits, but has prevented the operation of YSC & ESC. Currently, we are working with this team to see if we can get operational by March 2024. Additionally, we are working on expanding the locations for our field trips, as the YMCA is no longer operating out of the Point Bonita YMCA in Sausalito. However, youth and families are showing positive response to our YMCA site in La Honda, as well as other camping and outdoor exploration opportunities. It would be interesting to see what additional opportunities exist within the State of CA Park System to further enhance program offerings if/when unforseen circumstances arise.

Challenges: A scheduling conflict with a popular community Halloween event led to high no-show rates for one of our events. General no-shows remain an issue. Balancing reliance on community liaisons while building independent recruitment capacity is critical. Limited availability at CA State Parks restricts event dates. Weekend transportation is challenging as bus drivers often decline those shifts. Tips: Proactive communication (e.g., texting/calling guests before events) improves attendance. Providing clear, multilingual ads and emails ensures guests are well-prepared. A streamlined registration process allows easy sign-ups. Multilingual staff or those fluent in key languages enhance communication with liaisons and participants. Adding optional activities (e.g., scavenger hunts) makes events more engaging and skill-building. Consider community schedules when planning events (e.g., avoid busy months like June, and consider cultural holidays the community may celebrate like Ramadan).