Seven Trees Community OEP
Year 1 Annual Report |
Jump to annual report details (2023-2025)| Amount | $46,500 |
| Grantee | County of Santa Clara |
| Award Year | 2022 |
| Funding Source | General Fund, Outdoor Equity Program |
| Project Type | Program Operation |
| Project Status | In Progress |
Description
Conduct the Seven Tree Community Outdoor Equity Program for residents at and near Seven Trees Community Center in San Jose, CA. This program will include 10 activity days in the community for approximately 510 participants and 11 trips to natural areas for approximately 480 participants during one year of programming.
Activities in the community will include Natural Resources Presentation and Bioblitz Preparations; Recreation Facilities Near You: Archery, Boating; Healthy Living Presentation; Trails Safety and Cycling Preparation; Camping demonstration and local parks presentation.
Trips to natural areas outside of the community will include Bioblitz at Hellyer County Park, Vasona Lake County Park, Coyote Creek Trail and Los Gatos Creek Trail; Cycling at Alviso County Park; Boating at Vasona Lake County Park; Archery at Santa Teresa County Park; and Education Excursions at Coyote Valley Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, Sanborn County Park, Penitencia Creek County Park, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, and Coyote Creek Trail.
Community Home Base Location
3590 Cas Drive, San Jose, CA 95111
| County | Santa Clara |
| Assembly District | AD 25 Ash Kalra (D) |
| Senate District |
SD 15 Dave Cortese (D) |
| Congressional District | CD 16 Sam Liccardo (D) |
Program Goals
Service Learning/Career Pathway/Leadership Opportunities
25 opportunities will be available including internships assisting with Activities in the Community at the Community Home Base and Nature Area Trips.
Partnerships
Santa Clara County Office of Education – The County Office of Education is uniquely positioned to assist with reaching youth and families from local schools while forging partnerships with schools throughout the County. They can also partner with Social Services to provide direct information to low-income/free reduced lunch families. Furthermore, they are part of a statewide committee on youth mental health dedicated to implementing recommendations from the ‘Every Young Heart and Mind’ Mental Health Service Oversight & Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) report.
Santa Clara County Public Health Department – The County Public Health Department will assist with the latest information on local covid mitigation protocols and available resources. The Department partners with a multitude of community organizations and government agencies to provide direct information and services to families County-wide. This includes partnerships on mental health aimed at providing residents access to local parks with interpretative services. They also have information on the latest employment and volunteer opportunities available to residents throughout their network.
San Jose Community Center Network, San Jose Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services – The San Jose Community Center experienced staff provide specialized services serve a range of teens and work to understand their needs for tailored programming. The center partners with a multitude of community organizations and government agencies to help bolster their offering of services. The County Parks Department will work to provide new holistic County Park services for visiting youth led by the San Jose Community Center staff.
Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful - Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful is a known regional leader in multiple areas on youth outdoor access, environmental conservation, and the creation of job opportunities in the environmental sector. Their experienced staff serve a range of teens, college students, and environmental internship programs. These services have created several opportunities for new employment and partnerships with community organizations and government agencies.
Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority – Overseeing a vast number of regional open space preserves the expertise provided is essential for providing youth and families information on local preservation efforts for Coyote Valley and how these regional investments link with Santa Clara County Parks managed open spaces and wildlife corridors. These services have the potential to create several opportunities for youth and families regarding employment in open space jobs, as well as partnerships with community organizations and government agencies.
Mentoring
This was optional. Grantee elected not to proceed with this option.
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 | 0 | 888 | 888 |
| Days for Activities in the Community | 0 | 26 | 26 |
| Nature Area Trips | 0 | 5 | 5 |
Inspirational Quotes or Testimonials
2024
"If we don't take them, they'll never go."
List of Educational Goals Achieved
2023
Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.
2024
Learn about how insects are the ecosystems. To explore water quality and water issues in California, participants will have the ability to learn about the importance of water conservation in conjunction with learning about insects. Learn about what environments birds like - ocean water or lake water. Address communication - how do birds communicate with each other. Teach about bird migration. Learn about geology on their coastline. Coastal Discovery will help promote different exploration activities participants can engage in such as water sports, hiking opportunities, and other outdoor recreational activities. The methods used to measure the objectives range from quizzes and worksheets to check for understanding, projects and assignments where students plotted bird migrations, learning to fish, participating in water table discussions and discussing drought conditions, the cloud seeding project currently going on in SLO County, and other hands-on activities.
List of Formed Partnerships
2023
Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.
2024
We made a new contact with agroup called Wilderness Youth Project who has several 12 and 15 passenger vans but not enough drivers so we are working on a collaboration to leverage the budget to take more students and parents. With their outdoor expertiese, we also hope to work together to further improve the student's learning outcomes. We also explored a new partnership with an artist to add an art component to the outdoor experience.
Lessons
2023
Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.
2024
We worked out most of the unforeseen challenges the previous year but we did learn more lessons and implemented them this year. Call your donor pool to see if anyone wants to attend the field trips because they have a special skill or resource that will complement the students on the trip. For instance, we had an "expert" fisherperson teach the kids about fishing, we had a donor that had experience with zoology that was able to explain ecosystems and animal behavior in great detail on another trip. A conservationist was able to speak very intelligently about the importance of sustainable practices. Designate a photographer for each trip and do not assign them any students to watch over so they can "rove" and capture more moments, unpack emergency/first aid kids FIRST on every trip, prepare videos in advance so kids can have an expectation of where they are going and get excited, finally, over-estimate time for each activity by 50%. Good luck
