Adventure Crew and Little Miami Conservancy launch environmental youth project
Adventure Crew and the Little Miami Conservancy, with grant endorsement support from Roads Rivers and Trails (RRT) in Milford, have secured funding from Patagonia to help initiate a new Adventure Crew environmental leadership program, The Crew Pathway.
Geared specifically toward bringing greater equity to the outdoor industry and changing the face of outdoor spaces, The Crew Pathway is designed to advance city teens through several levels of programming in environmental education and training for green careers. From their first introduction to nature through outdoor recreational adventures like hiking, kayaking, biking and skiing, city teens discover a whole new world through Adventure Crew. Now, the organization has designed a formal program that also introduces them to a whole new world of opportunity for their futures in green careers.
Little Miami Conservancy (LMC) has long served to protect and restore our area’s only National Wild and Scenic River, the Little Miami. Their collaboration with Adventure Crew in this new educational endeavor helps also to meet their new strategic goal to “inspire diverse inner city youth populations to pursue careers in environmental protection through hosting onsite river experiences.” Through activities such as fish and mussel identification, as well as river monitoring, analysis and clean-up, the LMC education will reach an all-new group of youth. They’ll learn to care for the river’s ecosystem in ways that improve the quality of life for all our city’s residents, up and down the entire river corridor.
“We are thrilled to spotlight our important work and partner with Adventure Crew to help our city’s youth better understand the positive or negative impact each of us can have on our environment,” said Eric Partee, executive director for Little Miami Conservancy.
The learning experiences will not stop at the river’s edge with LMC. City teens will also take part in a reforestation project and learn about erosion control, the oxygen and carbon cycle, and restoration of wildlife habitats.
“By first helping our city’s teens come to know nature through the fun recreation we provide, they instinctively grow to care about the earth,” said Kirsten MacDougal, executive director of Adventure Crew. “Our Crew Pathway now helps them take the next steps in exploring their newfound love of the outdoors and learning how it can better their lives with vast opportunities in the ‘green’ industry.”
Partners like Little Miami Conservancy are integral to providing advanced environmental science, conservation and ecological learning to Adventure Crew city teens. And businesses like RRT that promote and support the mission of such not-for-profit organizations help bring valuable initiatives to a larger community level of recognition and engagement.