Nature to Neighborhoods Not just nature to neighborhoods but building self confidence in kids YES Nature to Neighborhoods has been providing youth, adults and families living in Richmond and surrounding West Contra Costa County access to outdoor activities, camps and retreats in hopes of igniting their imaginations, building self-confidence and enhancing leadership skills. “‘YES’ youth and families face many barriers to participation in outdoor programming including financial, transportation, and language barriers; perceived and actual safety issues; as well as cultural norms which may deter families from allowing their children to leave home overnight, or may include negative associations with the outdoors as dirty are, as mentioned before, unsafe,” said Claire McMurtry, YES’ Development & Communications YES to Manager. McMurtry pointed out that an outof school time programs study (West Contra Costa Ed Fund, 2016) identified that of the estimated 19,768 out-ofschool opportunities needed for lowincome West Contra Costa County youth, only 4,561 program spaces were available, leaving 77% of low-income youth in need of access. “Despite the known benefits, summer camp is often cost-prohibitive for low-income families. YES supports families by providing 90% – 100% scholarship funding for camp. By providing low-cost or no-cost access, YES opens the door for many families who would otherwise not have the opportunity to send their children to a week-long camp away from home,” she said. This year, YES Nature to Neighborhoods is partnering with the East Bay Regional Parks district to pilot a new program that will give YES Summer Camp youth the opportunity to expand their outdoor skills, natural history knowledge, and expose them to what it’s like being employed by the East Bay Regional Parks and the Parks department. The program will include Saturday outings twice a month, two overnight trips during spring and summer, and monthly Family Nights for the participants and their parents/ caregivers. “We are always trying to identify more opportunities to expose kids to things,” said Eric Aaholm, Executive Director of YES. “The comment I hear most from parents is that kids are not nearly as shy when they come back. By Jade Shojaee
Contra Costa Marketplace - April 2017
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