Special Report on Reconnecting Children & Nature: Three Michigan Communities

8/6/2019 Special Report on Reconnecting Children & Nature: Three Michigan Communities

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Special Report: Three Michigan Communities

Children & Nature Network | www.childrenandnature.org

Supported in part by:

Special Report onReconnecting Children & Nature:

Three Michigan Communities

February 2011


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Children & Nature Network | www.childrenandnature.org2

Background 4Holland, Michigan 5

Kalamazoo, Michigan 7

Detroit, Michigan 9

Acknowledgements 11

About the Children & Nature Network 12

Table of Contents


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Martin Luther King, Jr. often saidthat any movement any culture

will fail if it cannot paint a picture

of a world that people will want togo to. The first brush strokes are al-ready visible.

Richard Louv, Founding Chairman,Children & Nature Network;Author, Last Child in the Woods

Special Report on

Reconnecting Children & Nature:



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Special Report on Reconnecting Children & Nature:


Background

In 2008 and 2009, the Children and Nature Network (C&NN) received gener-

ous support from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to initiate and implement three

pilot programs in the state of Michigan: one in Holland, one in Kalamazoo, and

a third in Detroit. The major purpose of the funding was to build tangible re-

sults in each of these three communities; infuse the technical expertise and

support of the national level Children & Nature Network (C&NN) into the

three Michigan communities, with a multiplier effect and outreach statewide;

and, through C&NN, document the processes and results for dissemination

nationwide so that children and families in other communities can benefit from

the investment of the Kellogg Foundation, the Michigan partner communities

with their lead organizations, and the Children & Nature Network.

In each case, community members were given significant discretion in choosing the focus and direction of their work within this

unifying framework:

A partner organization was selected to facilitate work in the community;

This partner organization convened community members to use C&NNs

Community Action Guide: Building the Children and Nature Movement

from the Ground Up to establish programs to help reconnect children with

nature;

The three communities made a particular effort to address low-income

communities of color that we believe are especially vulnerable to nature

deficit.

In the months since this grant was received, C&NN and its partnering commu-

nities have made tremendous strides in advancing the children and nature

movement. Each of their stories is unique, providing a sense of the range of

approaches that can be used to reconnect children and nature, and the myriad

benefits these programs provide.


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Holland, MichiganWhen nine-year-old Jared Friend walks into Holland Pediat-

rics for his annual checkup, the nurse registers his height and

weight and asks the usual questions about his diet and how

hes doing at school. But she also asks about how he spends

his free time. Do you like to watch TV? Play video games?

When he answers in the affirmative, she gently asks him and

his mother to estimate the amount of screen time Jared has

each day. Then she continues, Do you get outside to play

much? Jared shrugs. We have recess at school. I play soc-cer on Saturdays, he says.

Recognizing the strong associations between childrens time

in nature and their overall health, the children and nature

campaign of Holland, Michigan, made the health care com-

munity one of three primary targets of its work. The cam-

paign, dubbed Connecting Children and Nature, was fortu-

nate enough to have the participation of Dr. Paul Dykema, a

semi-retired pediatrician with a strong personal sense of the

concomitant decline of young peoples time and nature and

their physical and emotional health. With Dr. Dykemas

guidance, the campaign has created a model program at his

own pediatric practice, soon to be replicated at all the major

pediatric practices and clinics in the city. Many clinics now

provide handouts and running videos about the importance of

nature play. And they take screen time and time in nature

into account when evaluating their patients overall health at

each years checkup, especially if that patient also suffers

from obesity. When Jared Friend walks out of the clinic that

afternoon, for example, he holds in his hand a prescription

for changes to his lifestyle: No more than an hour a day of

screen time. At least 20 minutes of reading. And at least one

hour outdoors in free, unstructured play.


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The Connecting Children and Nature campaign has from its inception been facilitated by Hollands Outdoor Discovery Center, under

the leadership of director Travis Williams. In addition to targeting the medical community, the campaign decided to teach the general

public about the importance of time in nature, and to help shape early childhood programs throughout Holland to incorporate regular

engagement with the natural world.

To inform the general public, the Outdoor Discovery Center has created outreach materials about the importance of nature play. The-

se include posters and informational handouts, in English and Spanish, which are available at medical offices, health department fa-

cilities, schools, and public areas. In 2010, the center devised a flip calendar with 52 nature activities families can do in the Holland

area. This too is being distributed through medical, health, educational, and nonprofit settings. Finally, Outdoor Discovery Center

staff offer weekly outdoor adventure programsfree of chargeat local

parks and preserves. To date, these programs have reached approximately

700 children and 300 families.

Even more impressive, the Outdoor Discovery Center organized ground-

breaking preschool programs with the potential to serve as models for otherpreschool programs around the country. From the start, the preschool initia-

tive in Holland has been carefully crafted to maximize impact and ensure that

results can be evaluated at regular intervals in the program. Last year, staff

members visited seven preschool programs in Holland to gather baseline

data, including the amount of green space available to children and the extent

of existing nature programs. Additionally five classrooms are serving as a

control group for the evaluation. In the selected schools, Outdoor Discovery

Center staff members have developed 45-minute nature curricula, which they

deliver on site once a week. In addition, they offer professional development

training so the teachers themselves can incorporate nature activities into the

rest of their week, and have distributed materials to give parents ideas of the

many ways to enjoy the outdoors with their children.

To evaluate their programs, the Outdoor Discovery Center has enlisted the

help of faculty and students from nearby Hope College with backgrounds

ranging from development psychology to nursing to kinesiology. Students will be evaluated twice annually for the next two years,

and their results compared to students from the control group.

To date, the Holland children and nature collaborative has reached thousands of young people with its various outreach programsand those numbers continue to increase each day. Thanks to partnerships with Holland Pediatrics, Holland Hospital Center for Good

Health, Holland Health Clinic, Ottawa County Health Department, 12 local preschools, the Holland Area Ready For School Initia-

tive, Holland Public Schools, Allegan Area Educational Services Agency, and the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District, the edu-

cational programming and awareness campaign is making great strides.


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Kalamazoo, Michigan

When staff members at the Kalamazoo Nature Center (KNC) sat down to organize their children and nature campaign, they came up

with a list of 40 potential members of the community to include: planners, park officials, doctors, faith community representatives,

educators, and more. Their goal was a working group of about twenty-five, but in their first twenty-five calls, not a single person

declined their invitation. According to Jennifer Wright, director of education at the nature center, it was the first moment she realized

how widely shared is the concern about childrens nature deficit.

In its first four months, Kalamazoos coalition, dubbed the Kalamazoo No Child Left Inside steering committee, met four times. Us-

ing C&NNs Community Action Guide as their primer, they decided to gather baseline data on socio-economic indicators and exist-

ing green spaces, both of which would contribute to a Geographic Information Systems Green Community Map of Kalamazoo Coun-

ty showing where kids are underserved by natural areas. The group also outlined three primary goals for the year ahead: to create a

communications plan to reach the media, health care professionals, educators, and recreation professionals about the importance of

connecting kids to nature; to increase connections between the community and natural places in Kalamazoo; and to positively affect

kids health by having them spend more time in nature.

Creating the Green Community Map of Kalamazoo County was a time-consuming effort, as data was gathered and carefully ground-

truthed to determine where children live and how much access to green spaces they have. As soon the map was complete, it became

a touchstone for conversations and planning efforts. The map made clear that kids in low-income neighborhoods had decidedly less

access to natural areas than those in higher income areas. As one response, the Kalamazoo Nature Center incorporated principles

developed by the Steering Committee into their ongoing project to develop an Urban Nature Park in downtown Kalamazoo, adja-

cent to a low income neighborhood. They also met with officials from the County Land Bank Authority to discuss the possibility of

converting tax-abandoned properties throughout the city and county into thriving and accessible natural green spaces. Dozens ofproperties are available for consideration. KNC will continue to work with the County Land Bank to implement this plan as funding

is available.

Of course, access to green spaces isnt the only issue when it comes to a nature deficit. Jennifer Wright observes that in driving

through Kalamazoo County, she typically sees many more children in low-income neighborhoods actually outdoors playing, albeit

on sidewalks and streets. To motivate parents and caregivers of all backgrounds to give their kids time outdoors, the Kalamazoo No

Child Left Inside steering committee organized a variety of media efforts. They worked with local pediatricians to create a prescrip-

tion pad encouraging daily time in nature, an informative poster, and fact sheets about the health benefits of time in nature. These

materials are now available in every major pediatric office and health clinic in Kalamazoo County. In addition, a local public televi-

sion station taped Bill Rose, director of the Kalamazoo Nature Center, talking with a local pediatrician about the health benefits of

time in nature. The 30-minute segment was aired on public television on numerous occasions and later posted to YouTube. Most

recently, a prescription checklist of fun family-friendly nature activities was created to encourage parents to go outside with their

kids. Additional media exposure for children and nature programs in Kalamazoo has resulted from a strong level of interest in the

issue from the publisher of the Kalamazoo Gazette.


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Finally, and perhaps most importantly, members of the steering group suc-

ceeded in dramatically increasing on-the-ground programs to help kids spend

more time outdoors. At the Kalamazoo Nature Center, one thriving program

is called Annies Big Nature Lesson. Students and teachers from through-

out the county visit the center for a week-long outdoor nature education pro-

gram. Educators who once feared losing control of their students if they took

them outdoors routinely describe the opposite effect: the most difficult stu-

dents often become most attentive when their learning moves into nature. The

children have expressed so much enthusiasm for these experiences that their

teachers are beginning to incorporate outdoor lessons into their regular school

days.

The Kalamazoo Nature Center also initiated a program called Outside in Our Schoolyard, which brings together third-grade students and teachers

from schools around the county that have distinctly different racial and socio-economic representation. This program has grown from 68 students

from three schools in its first year to more than 150 students from four schools in its second, and has enjoyed a partnership with Western Michigan

University to offer service projects for the third graders. What is perhaps most remarkable about this initiative is not only the measurable growth in

kids knowledge about nature (native species, invasive species, and so on) and interest in time outdoors (in a pre-evaluation, 25% said they prefer

spending time indoors; at the end, only one or two students did), but the profound social growth of the kids. All but six of the kids in year one said

that they had made a new friend through the program, transcending racial and economic differences. The same sense of social connection occurred

among the teachers and parent volunteers. At this point, the program is so popular that the Kalamazoo Nature Center is creating a model to share

with other centers and programs.

Elsewhere in the county, the Kalamazoo Parks and Recreation Department committed to taking its summer campers to more than 23 city parks,

motivated in part by the steering groups Green Map. The Kalamazoo County Mental Health Services worked with the Kalamazoo Nature Center to

give kids with emotional impairments nature experiences at local parks, including a camping trip. The Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service

Agency has incorporated outdoor nature into a host of activities for preschool-age children and their families, reaching 150 families in its first year.

Kalamazoo Audubon began offering interpretive nature walks and activities along a new section of a county hike-bike trail that now runs through

one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods in the county. Later the County donated bicycles to help low-income youth explore the trail. Public

safety officers stepped in to offer clinics in bike safety. The Kalamazoo Public Library was soon offering trailside story hours. This kind of collec-

tive, aggregating outreach captures so well the essence of what has been achieved in Kalamazoo through the No Child Left Inside initiative. As Bill

Rose of the Kalamazoo Nature Center explains, three factors were essential: gathering people together for the steering group who represented dif-

ferent constituencies, having a convener (in this case, the Kalamazoo Nature Center) able to be the clearinghouse for communications and infor-

mation, and working through the Community Action Guide to develop a shared vision and plan. Interestingly enough, many of the most impressive

achievements to date have not been bullet items on the plan, but creative ideas inspired by the planning process, the attention to the issue, and the

sense of community the steering group created. Each member seemed to go back to his or her organization with a renewed sense of purpose. With a

slight shift in programming or emphasis, or a call out to a new partner, the various organizations were able to achieve significant success on tight

budgets. In many cases, groups that rarely communicated (for example, the Boys and Girls Club and the Hispanic American Council) began to

work actively together. Building on these new partnerships and finding support for the more ambitious ideas in the plan will be the primary focus of

the Kalamazoo steering group as it moves forward.


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Detroit, Michigan

This year, schools in Detroit, Michigan, had a chance to nominate themselves for an unlikely award: Ugliest Schoolyard. This might

sound like a joke, but the reality behind the contest is anything but funny. From the University District to the Osborne Neighbor-

hood, Detroit public schools struggle to maintain grounds that are safe and clean, much less green and ecologically vibrant. Nomina-

tions for ugliest schoolyard will allow staff from the East Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC) to identify some of

the most desolate schoolyards. And the winners will receive the best kind of extreme makeover: funds and staff to turn the belea-

guered grounds into gardens, grass, and inviting green spaces.

For the last year, the Children and Nature Network has partnered with EMEAC to enhance outdoor opportunities for the Detroit ar-

eas youth population. For EMEAC, which organized as an environmental justice organization, the partnership has opened up new

thinking and new programming that emphasizes the positive nature experience kids can have even in the most strained urban envi-

ronments.

The cornerstone of EMEACs new work this year is outreach at several local schools. At each of these schools, staff members

worked with teachers and students to come up with a mission statement and curriculum related to connecting to nature. At Barbara

Jordan Elementary School and the Cooley Schools, the mission is getting kids outside to learn about their surroundings. A multidis-

cliplinary program has them interviewing elders in the neighborhood, designing outdoor classrooms, mapping green spaces, and

more. At the Nsoroma Institute, an African-centered school, students opted to focus on food securityempowering school members

to learn about their food, grow their own food, and so on. At the Detroit Institute of Technology, students chose to transform aban-

doned spaces and even the trash within them into welcoming, beautiful environments and materials.

Support for these efforts have come through several channels. A new program called Community Environmental Fellows funds two

people from the community each year to work on EMEACs educational projects. As a clear indicator of the programs success, both

fellows from year one were hired into EMEACs permanent staff in year two, and two new fellows were added.

In addition, outreach into the neighborhoods has put the students into direct contact with elders in their community who now have a

real stake in the projects and programming. EMEAC was able to secure funding to further support these relationships through a new

Senior Engagement Project with several local senior communities. The seniors have renamed themselves the schools Gardening

Angels as they provide advice and assistance on local gardening programs.

Additional support for the re-greening of these schools has come from the University of Michigans Landscape Architecture pro-

gram. Graduate students involved the Detroit students in rigorous Participatory Landscape Design programs in which they inter-

viewed neighbors about the past appearance of their area, identified something inspirational in what they learned, and applied that to

a specific design plan. At Barbara Jordan Elementary, the process was revelatory. Students learned that their school had been created

as an agricultural school. The schoolgroundcompletely covered in concretehad once provided verdant plots so that every class-

room could develop skills in growing flowers, tending vegetables, raising chickens, and more. Deeply inspired by this history, the

students partnered with a local high school and spent a summer digging up the concrete. In the next school year, each class adopted a

section of the revitalized school grounds. One class planted native grasses. Another created a butterfly garden. Others are tending

small vegetable gardens.


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At the Nsoroma Institute, the school day begins with a daily

meditation. After taking part in the Participatory Landscape

Design program, students decided that they wanted their daily

meditation to incorporate time outdoors. Together they con-

structed a natural labyrinth in their schoolyard. Now students

can walk a slow path through living things as they do their

daily reflection.

One final program area inspired by the partnership with C&NN has been to revitalize Belle Isle Day, held every second

Saturday, at this local park. Sanaa Niajoy, one of EMEACs first community fellows, proposed a partnership with the De-

troit Nature Zoo to make this a more engaging, attractive, and educational event. She has brought in experts in composting,

naturalists to teach about insects, storytellers, and more. She provides healthy treats to the young people who attend. One

winter day, kids took part in The Snowshoe Shuffle, trying out snowshoes for the first time in their lives. They later en-

gaged in winter animal tracking. In just one year, a program that historically attracted about ten kids each month was draw-

ing as many as 150 children and their families.

For Sanaa Niajoy, the rewards from these new endeavors sometimes come in small packages. Several months into her work

at Barbara Jordan Elementary School, she looked up to see a group of kids climbing a schoolyard tree. The fact that they

were climbing a tree was success in and of itself. What made it even more impressive was that the kids couldnt get up in

the tree without helping each other. They were cooperating, working as a team, Sanaa recalls. In our school, thats a so-

cial skill we dont always see. Something was changing about the kids relationship to nature and, in the process, to one

another.

Diana Copeland, Executive Director of EMEAC, agrees that something powerful is happening through these programs that

she hadnt quite anticipated. By reaffirming the importance of connecting to local nature, these programs are building up a

positive sense of place for the local students. And that, she realizes, is vital to supporting their self-esteem. Even Sanaa

Niajoy, who grew up attending Barbara Jordan and spent time in Washington, DC, and elsewhere, admits that she always

believed that to be successful she had to leave Detroit. Now she and the students alike are forming a positive identification

with the place where they live and a more positive image of who they are as individuals and members of the community.


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Acknowledgements

Outdoor Discovery Center Team, Holland,MITravis Williams, Executive DirectorBrad Klow, Development Director

Jamie Krupka, Program DirectorBrian Vander Meer, Business Development ManagerDan Vinson, Facilities ManagerDougg Wright, Interpretive Naturalist

Dylana Eisaman, Interpretive Media SpecialistRuth Cronk, EducatorBonnie Ryzenga, EducatorVicki Miller ,Educator

Kalamazoo Nature Center Team, Kalamazoo, MIMichelle Karpinski, VP DevelopmentLisa Panich, Marketing & Communications/NCLI Coordinator

Sarah Reding, VP Conservation StewardshipBill Rose, President & CEOSarah Reding, VP Conservation Stewardship

Eastern Michigan Environmental Action Team, Detroit, MIDiana Copeland, Executive DirectorLottie Spady, Associate Director - RemediaAhmina Maxey, Associate Director - Environmental Policy

Lizzy Baskerville, Greener Schools CoordinatorSonya Green aka Sanaa, Community Fellow - Greener Schools

Priscilla Dziekbek, Community Fellow - Greener Schools

Photo Credits:Brother Yusuf Burgess, photos on pages 3 and 4.

Cheryl Charles, photos on pages 5, 6, 8 and 10.

The Children & Nature Network is gratefulto the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for the

support it provided for this exemplary, in-

spiring and replicable project. The accom-

plishments would not have been possible

without the enthusiasm and dedication of

the convening organizations in each com-

munity, their staff, and the support and

investment of community leadership in

Holland, Kalamazoo and Detroit.


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About the Children & Nature Network

The Children & Nature Network (C&NN) is the only organization focused solely on building a national and international moveme

that reconnects children with nature to optimize their healthy developmentcognitively, emotionally, socially and physically. Our

purpose is to reverse the three decade trend in which youth spend less and less time outdoors, to their detriment and that of their

communities, and to address the accumulating disadvantages that have affected low-income children for generations. C&NN build

awareness, provides access to state-of-the-art resources, supports the grassroots with tools and strategies, develops publications an

educational materials, synthesizes the best available research, and encourages collaboration to heal the broken bond between child

and nature.

C&NN Board of DirectorsMartha Farrell Erickson, Ph.D., Acting ChairMartin LeBlanc, Vice President

Brother Yusuf Burgess

Howard Frumkin, MD, MPH, DrPHFran MainellaBetsy Townsend

Ex OfficioCheryl Charles, Ph.D, President and CEORichard Louv, Founding Chairman

Amy Pertschuk, Managing Director, Treasurer

Key Project PersonnelRobyn Bjornsson, Executive Assistant

Avery Cleary, Natural Families Network CoordintorSuz Lipman, Social Media DirectorJuan Martinez, Natural Leaders Network CoordinatorSara St. Antoine, Senior Writer and Switzer Fellow

John Theilbahr, Co-Lead Strategic AlliancesNancy Herron, Chair, Grassroots Leadership Team

Children & Nature Network7 Avenida Vista Grande, B-7, #502

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87508

www.childrenandnature.org

[email protected]

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Special Report on Reconnecting Children & Nature: Three Michigan Communities