Due to the tragic impact and displacement from the Pajaro flood and winter storms of 2022-23, our central goal for this year has been community support through programs and fostering connections that instill trust and a sense of stability. We are meeting this goal by participating in family-centered events in the community and providing activities that foster appreciation for and connection to nature.

We participated in the County Fair, where we raised awareness about the importance of pollinators through interactive Mobile Museum exhibits and encouraged local residents to join our free upcoming programs and mailing list.

We also participated in the Monterey Bay Festival of Birds, Watsonville Earth Day, and maintained a bilingual presence at local farmer’s markets (a central hub and community gathering place) offering activities and program information in English and Spanish. During the devastating storm events in 2023, we provided nature-centered educational activities at flood relief distribution centers, supporting families in need of services by providing youth an on-site opportunity for respite and nature-centered activities amid community-wide chaos and uncertainty. We measure these goals by tracking the number of people we engage with at our events and programs.

Our secondary goal this year was to launch several of our grant-funded programs, including our Family Fun Programs, Afterschool Programs, High School Programs, and Family Nature Walks. Our Afterschool Programs are in collaboration with the Environmental Science Workshop, these are free drop-in programs for youth focused on hands-on science projects and nature activities. Our Family Fun Programs, in partnership with County Park Friends, are designed to get the whole family excited about nature through fun nature-based crafts and games.

We are working with two local continuation high school groups on a weekly basis. New School is located next to a wetland with rich biodiversity, where we take the students on weekly guided nature walks and facilitate nature connection activities. El Nido High School participates in a weekly service-learning project focused on practicing environmental stewardship, cultivating a relationship with the natural world, and gaining exposure and experience in green careers. Our Family Nature Walks are the most recent addition, where we bring entire families together for multigenerational nature experiences. We measure participant numbers for all of these programs and are working to implement further evaluative systems.

We regularly provided Watsonville residents with STEAM programming aligned with California state standards, youth with environmental stewardship service learning, & reached wider audiences with environmental science activities. Activities focused on connecting youth with nature through art. During our Family Fun & Afterschool Programs, we facilitate nature-based art projects, providing accessible, hands-on ways for children to engage with nature through creativity & exploration. We hosted a week-long summer day camp called “Art & Science in Nature” provided engaging hands-on games, crafts, & STEAM activities for youth ages 5-11. The camp included trips to the Museum, Seabright Beach, & Monterey Bay Aquarium. In the weekly Earth Stewards Project, high school students engaged in environmental stewardship projects at parks & open spaces while learning about environmental science & careers. These programs give youth real-world skills & experience working in the environmental field.

We have engaged with multiple community partners, including the Watsonville Environmental Science Workshop, Watsonville Public Library, local Farmers Markets, the Monterey Bay Festival of Birds, Santa Cruz County Fair, County Park Friends, Racíes y Cariño, Community Bridges, Santa Cruz Metro, and schools in the region. For the outdoor experiences and educational programming for non-English speaking community members to be successful, the first step has been building relationships in the community. The area we serve was dramatically impacted by unprecedented flooding and displacement this past winter and is still recovering. Our team has fostered strong relationships with highly trusted community partners to communicate about the programs and connect with the community at many events where we provide educational activities and promote our outdoor programs. The programming is being met with enthusiasm. The response has been very positive.

The Museum delivered programs in partnership with existing partners including the Environmental Science Workshop & Watsonville Youth Center, including after school STEAM activities and nature walks. Another partnership with New School’s Outdoor School & Character Development Program provided youth with wildlife-viewing catamaran excursions at Elkhorn Slough Reserve. Other regular activities offered through the program include a monthly “Toddler Tumble Time” at the Watsonville Public Library and the weekly Environmental Stewardship Program with where El Nido High School students. Outreach events helped us reach new audiences. At the Bug Barn at the Santa Cruz County Fair in Watsonville, we connected with 7,406 people (not included in reported data). Additional events included Pajaro Valley High School College & Career Fair; Esperanza Community Farms’s Open House, & Alianza Elementary School’s Children’s Day. We also hosted outreach events with new partners Arte del Corazón and Somos.

We have learned that an essential component of offering successful outdoor/nature centered programming is fostering connections and trust within the community. We have been able to accomplish this via partnerships with trusted community partner organizations and through community engagement at family-centered, multigenerational events. As we continue to build foundational relationships within a highly traumatized community experiencing tremendous loss and displacement due to the impact of the 2023 winter storms and Pajaro levee flooding, we have found a growing number of people engaging with our programs and looking forward to our upcoming events.

We have also learned the importance of adaptability to meet the needs of a community. Our “Community Home Base” experienced devastating flooding during the winter storms of 2022-23, which displaced people from their homes and has had many lasting impacts on the community. Given this disruption, we have adapted our programming to meet the community at this particular moment. Many community partners are still being impacted and are working towards rebuilding their capacity to pre-flood levels. We have been able to step up and fill in the gaps by providing programming that would otherwise be lost due to a shift in priorities as the city still struggles to recover from the tremendous economic and social impacts of storm damage. Our nature-based programs provide respite and promote healing for community members by fostering a sense of appreciation for and connection to the natural world.

One of the challenges the Museum has effectively overcome this grant period was continuing to build deeper connections with a variety of community partners to ensure we’re reaching the community with outdoor & STEAM programming. Toward the beginning of the grant period, we discovered the importance of developing a greater number of partnerships to reach new audiences & connect people to programs. Since then, our team has successfully connected to new partners, including community-based organizations & schools. This reporting period, we collaborated with 14 partners to offer many activities. Developing connections in the community took time, & we learned that the longer we consistently showed up to provide quality STEAM education & outdoor activities with partners, the more new organizations reached out to request our engagement with their audiences. Community outreach is now an integral part of the programming we offer in addition to regular recurring programs.