or contact Martin LeBlanc at
California is home to hundreds of high-quality outdoor environmental education programs, varying from hunter and angler education programs in the Central Valley to wilderness skills trainings in Los Angeles and Police Activity League outings in the Bay Area. Young people who participate in these types of programs develop leadership skills, gain respect for the natural environment and cultural history, relate positively with members of their community and improve their academic performance. These opportunities should not be denied to anyone based on race, economic class or gender.
However, these meaningful outdoor study experiences remain beyond the reach of the overwhelming majority of California’s underserved and at-risk youth. Less than 15 percent of California’s economically disadvantaged students currently participate in outdoor environmental education programs. Recent statistics indicate that youth gang-related homicides in the U.S. have risen by 50 percent since 1999. Ensuring that underserved and at-risk youth participate in high-quality outdoor education programs is a strategic approach to preventing crime and reducing gang violence. Outdoor environmental education offers tremendous benefits, for individuals and society, which is why a diverse coalition called Inside the Outdoors has banded together to lead the charge.
Led by Sheriff Mike Carona of Orange County, Inside the Outdoors seeks to strengthen support and funding for outdoor environmental education programs serving at-risk and underserved youth. Inside the Outdoors has established a diverse coalition of bipartisan organizations, religious leaders, educators, industry and law-enforcement groups committed to ensuring an outdoor environmental education experience for all California youth. There is presently no public or private funding mechanism to sustain California’s outdoor education programs. An ongoing combination of public and private funding is required to ensure that all of California’s diverse communities benefit from outdoor environmental education in the future.
In March, Inside the Outdoors brought together some of the different agencies and organizations that support outdoor environmental education for underserved and at-risk youth at an event called Building Bridges to the Outdoors 2004. Thirty-five members of the Crenshaw High School Eco-Club joined the Sierra Club, Cal State Parks, REI and The New Buffalo Soldiers for a weekend of outdoor and cultural education at Point Mugu State Park in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Tenth Calvary Unit of the New Buffalo Soldiers transformed a grassy river canyon filled with sycamores, oaks and a few native walnuts into what it might have been like over 100 years ago when African-Americans played integral roles settling the West as pioneers, explorers, cowboys, mountain men and soldiers. Ted Jackson, the Southern Division Chief of California State Parks and Jack Shu, the Director of California State Parks Community Outreach program, who are both former Crenshaw Cougars, observed the Buffalo Soldiers’ presentation and later spoke to the students about their careers and how the outdoors transformed their lives. On Sunday morning, students were treated to a talk by Juan Martinez, a 19-year old Dorsey High School graduate and Inside the Outdoors youth spokesperson, who recently completed an 80-day Outward Bound trip in Colorado. Martinez explained the importance of outdoor experiences in helping him stay away from gangs, develop leadership skills and pursue a career in environmental law.
Inside the Outdoors made tremendous progress in 2003 by sponsoring Assembly Bill 1330, an important piece of outdoor environmental education legislation. The bill calls for a comprehensive evaluation of the behavioral and scholastic benefits of outdoor environmental education on underserved populations. The study, which is being conducted by American Institutes for Research, and administered by the California Department of Education, will be released in February 2005.
The passage of AB 1330 represents an enormous victory for the students of California because it is the first time the effects of outdoor environmental education on underserved populations will be examined in the state. There have been thousands of studies since the 1960s that illustrate the benefits of outdoor environmental education, but they are largely anecdotal and do not focus on underserved and at-risk demographics. Describing the benefits of the legislation, Jack O’Connell, the State Superintendent for Public Instruction stated, ‘This bill will support our initiatives for environment-based learning and our efforts to expand and to coordinate existing outdoor education programs throughout California.”
Inside the Outdoors declared another major victory when the governor’s office recently agreed to meet with Inside the Outdoors coalition leaders to explore strategies for expanding outdoor environmental education programs to more underserved and at-risk youth. In 2002, the soon-to-be Governor Schwarzenegger affirmed, “Every California child deserves access to a proven, quality, life-changing after school program.” Inside the Outdoors coalition members are confident that Governor Schwarzenegger is ready to make outdoor environmental education a priority.
For more information, please visit http://www.sierraclub.org/insidetheoutdoors/
or contact Martin LeBlanc at
or 916.557.1100 ext. 116
If you are interested in supporting environmental education opportunities for underserved and at-risk youth - get on the Sierra Club's "Inside the Outdoors" Listserv to find out what you can do.
Jennifer Ruiz-Kohn is the Sierra Club Youth Services Program Assistant
*Not associated with the Orange County Department of Education's Inside the Outdoors Environmental Education Science Study Programs