open space authority funds contributed to project
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The Authority contributed funds towards the Santa Clara County Public Health Department's Park and Play Initiative, which aims to address health equity related to park utilization by underserved communities. The goal of this Initiative is for families to visit Santa Clara County Parks, participate in park programming, and become comfortable utilizing parks on an ongoing basis to increase their physical activity and overall understanding of environmental stewardship. Park utilization has many known benefits including diabetes management and prevention, depression and anxiety reduction, and increasing community cohesion. Many of the families in the geographic focus area for this initiative (Milpitas and East San Jose) have had limited opportunities to visit parks and limited exposure to environmental education.
The Authority helped to fund Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful’s Coyote Creek Environmental Education Project, which engages students, educators, and the public through Watershed-in-a-Box kits for K-12 students and public education events, such as walks, public presentations, and student-led art projects. The goal of the program is to build awareness and value of the creek environment so that people will become involved in advocacy and creek cleanups.
Saved By Nature’s Cultural Competency Project engages over one thousand people of all backgrounds and abilities through three types of environmental education programs: 16 natural & culturally relevant guided nature hikes for underserved multigenerational communities and first time park users; 14 weeks of hand-on science day camp activities for 3rd - 5th graders in collaboration with seven clubhouses from the Boys & Girls Club of Silicon Valley; and two immersive 2-day, 1-night backpacking experiences for up to 30 at-promise-youth teens and their staff in partnership with Youth Alliance. The program mentors and elevates other organizations by sharing best practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Participants discover and explore breathtaking open spaces near home together, gain skills and confidence that will embolden them to return many times over, steward our natural areas, as well as engage in restorative practices that foster joy and healing in the open space areas of our region.
