After teaming up to open the doors to nature for children of color, Self Enhancement, Inc. and Metro also teamed up to win a statewide award for their work.
The two organizations received the 2015 Distinguished Service Award last week at the Oregon Recreation & Park Association annual conference, where they urged fellow park providers to help ensure that communities of color benefit from outdoor experiences.
“As parks leaders, we really have an opportunity – and I believe a responsibility – to create welcoming and inclusive places and programs,” Metro Parks and Nature Director Kathleen Brennan-Hunter told an audience of more than 200 parks directors, planners, rangers, educators, natural resource scientists and other professionals.
Self Enhancement, Inc. students and Metro naturalist Alice Froehlich (second from left) taste rose hips at North Abbey Creek Natural Area.
“Unfortunately, racism and income disparities have adversely impacted many people in our communities for way too long,” Brennan-Hunter said. “We know it’s kept them from experiencing parks, trails and natural areas, and we shouldn’t accept that – and I don’t want to accept that. That’s what this partnership is about: trying to make a difference.”
SEI and Metro worked together in 2014 to develop nature lessons, projects and field excursions for hundreds of the young people served by SEI. Based in North Portland, SEI supports at-risk urban youths through a charter school, summer and after-school programming, and family support services.
This collaboration is one of several new Partners in Nature projects that Metro has developed to engage underserved communities. The initiative was made possible by a 2013 levy that the region’s voters approved to care for protected land and connect people with nature.
Nature experiences need to start early so children of color consider working in the outdoors, SEI Director of Program Advancement Gerald Deloney told parks professionals at last week’s award ceremony.
Gerald Deloney of SEI (second from left) and Kathleen Brennan-Hunter of Metro (second from right) accept the Distinguished Service Award from the Oregon Recreation & Park Association.
“For way too long, children of color have felt unwelcome in the outdoors. ‘It is icky. It is scary. We don’t see ourselves working in the outdoors,’” Deloney said. “So with this project, it wasn’t just about getting kids outdoors. It was about creating a pipeline for children to be interested in the outdoors in terms of careers. If we can’t do this right here, right now, where else in the world can we do it?”