Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
410 MRAK HALL
DAVIS,CA 95616-8671
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The University of California and University of Maryland Eastern Shores 4-H Sustainable Community Project will implement and evaluate the ResilientRoots: Empowering Youth for Climate and Environmental Justice program to empower youth of color to meaningfully connect with and build resilience to climate and environmental justice issues within their local environment. Using culturally relevant curriculum, this program will engage youth of color ages 10-14 to explore their outdoor environment, learn about the locally relevant climate and environmental justice issues, and design and implement service-learning projects to build community resilience. Youth participants will come from low-income families and immigrant communities, who are often the most exposed to climate impacts, but are typically excluded from climate decision making. Site locations in California include Sonoma, San Diego and San Mateo counties, and in Maryland include Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester. These locations are all coastal communities that are sensitive to climate change. Projects will integrate 1) community collaborations with locally based organizations and to support youth in making positive impacts in places they live, learn, work, and play; 2) technology through the introduction of relevant mapping tools, such as CalEnviroScreen, GIS or other technology to explore environmental and climate data, and artificial intelligence tools, such as ChatGPT, Climate Change AI to enhance their service learning projects; and 3) sustainability by cultivating and building capacity of our educators, partner sites, and institutions. By participating in the program, youth will demonstrate increased locally relevant scientific knowledge, technological skills, meaningful social connections with peers and mentors, and efficacy and commitment to addressing community issues.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The University of California (UC) and University of Maryland Eastern Shores (UMES) 4-H Sustainable Community Project will empower youth of color to meaningfully connect with and build resilience to climate and environmental justice issues within their local environment. Through 24-hours of programming integrating community, technology, and sustainability, youth in the ResilientRoots program will learn about locally relevant climate and environmental justice issues, with a focus on how their communities are already being impacted, and then engage them in a service-learning project to address these issues.
Project Methods
The project will engage youth at three coastal sites across California (Sonoma, San Diego and San Mateo counties) and three coastal sites in Maryland (Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties) in 15 sessions to explore their outdoor environments and the locally relevant climate and environmental justice issues impacting them. These sessions will draw on published curriculum from Project Learning Tree and Climate Smart, as well as developing modules that are responsive to the needs of youth of color. Youth will then design and implement a service-learning project to build local resilience. For these activities, we will draw on content from The Community Futures, Community Lore curriculum, which was designed to support youth in taking action to build more socially just, resilient communities. We will offer a total of 24 hours of high context participation.Methods emphasize a community collaboration approach where youth (1) tap into the expertise of professionals and community members that will provide information and help serve youth in their advocacy efforts; and (2) connect to college campus resources including centers and/or faculty who focus on climate change, climate justice, environmental justice, and public health. Project will also integrate technology including suite of AI and mapping tools, such as ChatGPT, Climate Change AI, and GIS mapping.Trained professional educators, including staff from UC, UMES, or partner sites, will facilitate lessons. These educators will be trained and supported by UC and UMES 4-H professionals to deliver program content; procure any necessary supplies and materials; recruit youth to programming; establish opportunities for advocacy within the school and community; and provide overall cohort coordination. We will employ Lesson Study, a sustained professional development model, that involves educators working together over time. The foci of the Lesson Study group planning will be to (a) discuss adherence to the program model and technology integration plan, (b) implementation of the curriculum, and (c) support youth in strengthening their critical consciousness and scientific literacy.