Partners

Since its founding in 2013, Latino Outdoors has expanded from a California-based organization to a national volunteer movement connecting approximately 1,500 people each year to hiking, backpacking, camping, and other transformative experiences in nature. The organization has also grown into an inspirational platform for sharing cultural connections and narratives to nature that are often overlook by the traditional outdoor movement. By strengthening the presence and voice of Latinos in outdoors recreation, conservation, and environmental education, Latino Outdoors is contributing to the renewal and growth of the country’s conservation constituency.

US Forest Service is dedicated to conducting a diverse range of programs that help children learn about the nation's forests and grasslands. The Forest Service Conservation Education program helps people of all ages understand and appreciate our country's natural resources and how to conserve those resources for future generations.

"Discover the Forest" is a PSA campaign, sponsored by the US Forest Service, to encourage tweens (ages 8-12) and their parents to reconnect with nature and to experience it first hand. Explore the resources at discovertheforest.org and use this tool to find a forest or a park near you.

National Recreation and Parks Association is the leading non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of public parks, recreation and conservation. The organization's mission is to advance parks, recreation and environmental conservation efforts that enhance the quality of life for all people.

Sierra Club is the nation's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization with more than two million members and supporters. Their successes range from protecting millions of acres of wilderness to helping pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act.

The mission of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Schoolyard Habitat Program is to get students across the country outside to experience nature. To accomplish this mission the program helps schools create natural spaces on their grounds where students can connect with the outdoors, using it as a classroom to observe, draw, write, think and question. In Connecticut the program is a partnership between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Audubon Connecticut and the Long Island Sound Study.

Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) promotes the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the mountains, forests, waters, and trails of America’s Northeast. AMC helps people of all ages and abilities to explore and develop a deep appreciation of the natural world. With chapters from Maine to Washington, D.C., guidebooks and maps, and unique lodges and huts, AMC helps people get outdoors on their own, with family and friends, and through activities close to home and beyond.

The Children & Nature Network is leading the movement to connect all children, their families and communities to nature through innovative ideas, evidence-based resources and tools, broad-based collaboration and support of grassroots leadership. The Network provides a critical link between researchers and individuals, educators and organizations dedicated to children's health and well-being. C&NN also promotes fundamental institutional change and provides resources for sharing information, strategic initiatives and success stories.

Girls Inc. inspires all girls to be strong, smart, and bold, providing more than 138,000 girls with life-changing experiences and real solutions to the issues they face. Girls Inc. gives girls the tools and support to succeed, including trained mentors, a safe, girls-only environment, peers who share their drive and aspirations, and research-based programming. At Girls Inc., girls learn to set and achieve goals, boldly confront challenges, resist peer pressure, and explore nontraditional fields such as STEM. Informed by the experiences of girls and their families, Girls Inc. works with policymakers to advocate on key legislation and initiatives.  With Girls Inc. in her corner, every girl can be healthy, educated, and independent.

The mission of the MassAudubon society is to protect the nature of Massachusetts for its people and for wildlife. MassAudubon serves as a leader and a catalyst for conservation, by acting directly to protect the nature of Massachusetts and by stimulating individual and institutional action through conservation, education, and advocacy.

OAK is a national strategic partnership of organizations from diverse sectors with a common interest in connecting children, youth and families with the outdoors. OAK’s members are brought together by the belief that the wellness of current and future generations, the health of our planet and communities and the economy of the future depend on humans having a personal, direct and life-long relationship with nature and the outdoors.

NEEF is the nation’s leading organization in lifelong environmental learning, connecting people to knowledge they use to improve the quality of their lives and the health of the planet.  We achieve this by providing knowledge to trusted professionals and other leaders who, with their credibility, amplify messages to national audiences to solve everyday environmental problems.

American Camp Association is a leading authority in youth development that works to preserve, promote, and improve the camp experience. The association is committed to providing exceptional programs to give children and adults the opportunity to learn powerful lessons in community, character-building, skill development, and healthy living lessons.

National Summer Learning Association serves as a network hub for thousands of summer learning program providers and stakeholders across the country, providing tools, resources, and expertise to improve program quality, generate support, and increase youth access and participation. NSLA's mission is for every child to be safe, healthy, and engaged in learning during the Summer.

For more than four decades, NAAEE has been a leader in promoting excellence in environmental education throughout North America. NAAEE’s influence stretches across North America and around the world, with members in more than 30 countries. NAAEE and its 54 state, provincial, and regional affiliate organizations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico have more than 16,000 members. These members are professionals with environmental education responsibilities and interests across business, government, higher education, formal (K–12) education, nonformal education, early childhood education, science education and STEM, and other sectors of society.

American Hiking Society is the only national organization that promotes and protects hiking trails, their surrounding natural areas, and the hiking experience.  As the national voice for hikers, American Hiking Society recognizes that foot trails and hiking are essential to connect people with nature, conserve open space, provide biological corridors for diverse plants and wildlife, and for the health of Americans and our natural environment.

SciStarter is an online citizen science hotspot featuring almost 1,000 active, searchable projects in need of your help. It's your one-stop-shop to learn about and get involved in valuable projects near you!

EcoTarium is New England's leading science and nature center, an indoor-outdoor experience dedicated to inspiring a passion for science and nature in visitors of all ages. The center includes a museum building with three floors of interactive exhibits and is home to live animal habitats, interpretive nature trails through forest and meadow, the Alden Digital Planetarium, a tree canopy walkway (seasonal) and a narrow-gauge railroad. For more information, visit www.ecotarium.org.

Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $775 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine.

The nation's leading voice for afterschool, the Afterschool Alliance is the only organization dedicated to raising awareness of the importance of afterschool programs and advocating for more afterschool investments. Today the Afterschool Alliance boasts more than 25,000 afterschool program partners and our publications reach more than 65,000 interested individuals every month.

Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow - all while having fun. Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.

The West End House is an independent Boys & Girls Club in the City of Boston that provides outcomes-driven programs to Boston youth residing in the most underserved neighborhoods. These high-impact programs provide opportunities in critical areas of youth development, ensuring that young people most in need are succeeding academically, exploring the arts, developing career readiness skills and adopting healthy lifestyles.

Girl Scouts USA members earn badges, hike and camp, participate in the cookie program, and much more. They improve neighborhoods, protect the planet, design robots, and establish sports clinics. Girl Scouts is committed to building girls of courage, confidence, and character, to make the world a better place.

With TRACK Trails, Kids in Parks provides a network of family-friendly hikes that get kids unplugged, outdoors, and reconnected with nature on public lands across the country. Each TRACK Trail includes a series of self-guided brochures that turn an ordinary hike into a fun-filled, discovery-packed adventure that gets hearts pumping and minds exploring. For a complete list of trail locations, descriptions, and downloadable materials, please visit kidsinparks.com.

For nearly two decades, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund has partnered with various organizations across North Carolina to help develop an infrastructure for improving STEM education through teacher training and public policy initiatives. These partnerships have also built connections within the informal science community and between scientists and classroom teachers, with the goal of inspiring a new generation of scientists.

Project Learning Tree® (PLT) is a national environmental education program designed for teachers, parents, youth group leaders, and community members. We provide training, curriculum materials aligned to state and national academic standards, grants, and other resources to engage students in learning about and caring for the environment—both outside and indoors. Our hands-on, minds-on multi-disciplinary lesson plans for PreK-12 teachers make learning core subjects fun and relevant, and develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. Our easy-to-do nature activities for families offer ideas for parents and children to explore the outdoors together.

Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network (EDN) works with over 50,000 partners in 192 countries to broaden, diversify and mobilize the environmental movement. All of EDN’s activities, whether greening schools or promoting green economic policies at home and abroad, inform and energize populations so they will act to secure a healthy future for themselves and their children. With its partner organizations, EDN provides civic engagement opportunities at the local, state, national and global levels.

Since its inception in 2002, "e" inc. has been developing curricula and teaching young people in outreach and in-school programs across Metro-Boston. "e" inc. science educators offer standards-based science residencies using hands-on, exciting STEM activities. "e" inc.'s teaching techniques allow children to clearly grasp the science concepts of how the planet 'works.' These award-winning programs stand out because young people become actively engaged in making a difference in environmental challenges.

Since 1995, New Century School has been a K-5 public school option for all residents in the Verona Area School District in Wisconsin. Since 2010, we've refined our charter to include a focus on environmental studies and most recently a move to integrate STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into our curriculum. Our environmental themes connect core subjects, nature provides an engaging context for scientific exploration and hands-on learning, our integrated arts program provides cultural context, and partnerships with local non-profits and businesses encourage a sense of community and inspire students to understand the larger world beyond the classroom.

Wellcoin's mission is to help the world get healthier by increasing the frequency and diversity of healthy activities in our daily lives. Wellcoin is a vibrant, close-knit community of users, local merchants, and healthcare providers, in which participants are rewarded for their healthy activities with virtual currency, which then translate to real world rewards.