On Thursday, the Metro Council awarded 10 community organizations $700,000 in Nature in Neighborhoods grants to support community nature education work in greater Portland. The funds came from the parks and nature local option levy, passed by voters in 2013 and renewed in 2018.
This year’s grants went to programs focused on nature education and outdoor experiences. More than 40 organizations submitted initial applications. A review committee made of community members with a variety of expertise, including education, restoration and racial equity, recommend the grantees to the Council.
Grants are for one, two or three years, and range from $30,000 to $100,000.
Reflecting on the growth of the Nature in Neighborhoods grants program, Metro Councilor Shirley Craddick said, “It’s been rewarding to see this program develop from when it first started. This really reflects the value this agency has put into racial equity and ensuring that all people have access to nature.”
She continued, “This is a really good example that access isn’t just about walking down a trail or walking through a natural area. It’s developing programs for people to become more comfortable to learn, to be educated, particularly for people who might not be able to visit a natural area.”
Several organizations awarded grants want to increase the access to, visibility in and comfort of people of color in nature. Communities of color, particularly Black community members, often report feeling unwelcomed in parks and natural areas.
Play, Grow, Learn, a Black-led organization in the Rockwood neighborhood, wants to address this by creating nature education opportunities for Black and Brown young people to have safe and welcoming experiences at Vance Park and Nadaka Nature Park and Garden.
In its application, Play, Grow, Learn, said, “This promotes Black community members' presence in the parks in their neighborhoods on a regular basis, making it safer and more familiar to be there.”
Play, Grow, Learn envisions long-term effects from its programs on the young people it serves in a neighborhood that became home to many Black families displaced from the historic Black neighborhoods in North Portland.
“When youth have positive experiences together in the parks, it creates a sense of belonging,” they wrote in their application. “When stewardship values are promoted, under Black leadership, in park spaces, it creates Black decision makers who are connected to green infrastructure and understand the impact on Black families.”
Opening young eyes to nature and its opportunities is also a goal for CAIRO, the Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization, which is piloting a STEM program (science, technology, engineering and math) in the Beaverton School District. The program will introduce high-school-age students to environmental science and its career opportunities. Those students will then help lead nature outings with younger students.
This round of $700,000 is the last from the 2018 parks and nature levy.
Recipents are:
Atabey BIPOC Medicine
Recipient: Atabey Medicine
Grant amount: $50,000
Project Partners: Atabey Medicine, POCA Tech, Alder Commons, Brown Girl Rise, Jessica Rojas Program summary: Atabey BIPOC Medicine program is a local apprenticeship rooted in investing in Black, Indigenous, and folks of color building meaningful relationships with plants, land, and their ancestral healing practices as a pathway to community healing and liberation.
Brown Girl Rise
Recipient: Brown Girl Rise
Grant amount: $70,000
Project Partners: Brown Girl Rise, Feed'em Freedom Foundation, Atabey Medicine, Alder Commons
Program summary: Brown Girl Rise’s mission is to cultivate a sisterhood of girls and non-binary femmes of color engaged in reclaiming their connection to body, community, land, health, and creativity; enabling them to create a just future where we can rise together.
Aves Compartidas Portland Expansion
Recipient: Cascade Pacific Resource Conservation & Development Area
Grant amount: $70,000
Project Partners: Oregon partners: Cascade Pacific Resource Conservation & Development Area, East Metro STEAM Partnership, North Clackamas Parks and Recreation District, Friends of Trees, Candy Lane Elem, El Puente Elem, Davis Elem, OSU, UO, PSU – LSAMP. Mexico partners: University of Guanjuato, Salvemos al Rio Laja, Audubon de Mexico
Program summary: The Willamette River-Rio Laja, Mexico Twinning Partnership, which connects bi-national watershed communities using a platform of shared migratory bird species, intends to continue and expand its youth migratory bird education program into Portland-Metro.
STEM in Nature
Recipient: Center for African Immigrants and Refugees Organization (CAIRO)
Grant amount: $50,000
Project Partners: CAIRO, Portland Metro STEM Partnership, Clean Water Services, Beaverton School District, Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation District, Begona, Reynolds: Multilingual Department
Program summary: Students will learn and practice environmental science focused on water. High school students will also learn about related career paths and act as near-peer leaders for younger student outings.
Nature-Based Bike Camps for Low-Income Youth of Color
Recipient: Community Cycling Center
Grant amount: $100,000
Project Partners: CCC, Latino Network, César Chávez School; IRCO; Menlo Park Elementary; Parkrose Middle; Hacienda CDC; Rose CDC; Self Enhancement Inc; KairosPDX; Urban Nature Partners PDX; Verde; Club Aves; Friends of Trees Village Gardens; Portland Fruit Tree Project
Program summary: CCC’s annual Bike Camp teaches youth how to use a bicycle as a safe, healthy, and empowering transportation tool. Our Bike Camps, which include a special nature education focus, center low-income youth of color including immigrant and refugee populations.
Confluence Outdoors
Recipient: Confluence
Grant amount: $30,000
Project Partners: Confluence, Sandy River Watershed Council, Beaverton School District’s Title IV Indian Education Program, Hillsboro School District’s Title IV Indian Education Program, Native American Youth and Families Center (NAYA), and the Cottonwood School for Civics and Science
Program summary: Confluence Outdoors will connect at least 200 students (a majority of whom identify as Native American) from Hillsboro, Beaverton and Portland with Indigenous educators at the Sandy River Delta to learn lessons in history, culture, ecology and art.
ELSO Culturally Relevant Programming
Recipient: ELSO
Grant amount: $100,000
Project Partners: ELSO, The Blueprint Foundation, BEAM Village, Friends of Tryon Creek, Wild Diversity, Metro, US Fish and Wildlife, Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership, Tualatin Riverkeepers, Prescott Elementary School.
Program summary: Expanding and improving year-round, culturally relevant STEM education programs for BIPOC youth which are designed by and for BIPOC communities in collaboration with schools and community organizations, with a focus on expanding STEAM career pathways.
Cultural Ecology and Trauma Healing Project
Recipient: Parrott Creek Child & Family Services
Grant amount: $100,000
Project Partners: Parrott Creek Child & Family Services, Friends of Tryon Creek; Greater Oregon City Watershed Council; Red Lodge Transition Services; Oregon Food Bank; Ash Creek Forest Management; 16+ member organizations of the Safe Kids Coalition for Clackamas County
Program summary: The goal of the Cultural Ecology and Trauma Healing Project is to return our 80 acres of land to an ecologically and culturally functioning site through restoration practices, community stewardship, and meaningful long-term Indigenous partnerships.
East County Nature Education
Recipient: Play Grow Learn
Grant amount: $30,000
Project Partners: Play Grow Learn, City of Gresham, Afro Village, East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, Friends of Trees, Oasis Wellness Gardens
Program summary: Play, Grow, Learn will incorporate nature education into their existing young workforce development and farmer's market programming.
Wisdom Workforce Development Program
Recipient: Wisdom of the Elders, Inc.
Grant amount: $100,000
Project Partners: Wisdom of the Elders, Inc., Confluence, Wombyn's Wellness Garden, Johnson Creek Watershed Council, PP&R Community Gardens, Zenger Farm, Friends of Trees, Oswego Lake Watershed Council, East/West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation and Leach Botanical Garden
Program summary: The Wisdom Workforce Development (WWD) Program educates and trains Native American adults in urban environmental restoration and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) through paid part-time opportunities and hands-on restoration techniques in the field.