Sponsorship now open for this year's Party on the Pacific Plate event on Saturday, September 23.

Youth in Parks

Youth in Parks (YIP) is a partnership between Point Reyes National Seashore Association (PRNSA) and local Bay Area nonprofit organizations focused on community building and mentorship primarily in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and low-income communities. YIP allows us to reshape accessibility for all by offering environmental experiences at the Seashore for youth who have historically been underrepresented in public lands, and who are disproportionately impacted by environmental and social inequalities.

YIP photo gallery

We are committed to working year-round with each program partner to co-create meaningful and repeat outdoor exploration and science experiences. Youth in Parks experiences build environmental literacy and share potential career paths with youth. With each visit to the Seashore youth feel a growing sense of belonging and bit-by-bit the park becomes their own. Through the program we aim to inspire a lifelong love for nature and a desire to preserve public lands.

Support Youth in Parks

 

Support Youth in Parks

Youth in Parks Partners

 

Our programs are growing! We are proud to build new community group partners and are pleased to work with school districts to bring classes to Point Reyes for experiences in nature with the support of Youth in Parks funding. Additional partners include: Marin County Free Library, El Dorado Union High School District, Oakland Unified School District, and Shoreline Unified School District.

Acta Non Verba

Acta Non Verba: Youth Urban Farm Project (ANV) elevates life in Oakland and beyond by challenging oppressive dynamics and environments through urban farming. Founded and led mainly by women of color from the surrounding neighborhood and larger community, ANV creates a safe and creative outdoor space for children, youth, and families in East Oakland, CA. ANV engages and strengthens young people’s understanding of nutrition, food production, and healthy living as well as strengthens their ties to the community.

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Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT)

Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT) is an environmental and social justice organization committed to dismantling racism, sexism, classism, and other forms of oppression that stand in the way of all people fully participating in outdoor activities. We believe that people visiting the outdoors should be represented by the full diversity of races, genders, income levels, and other identities that exist in the San Francisco Bay Area. To create more equity and increase access to the outdoors for traditionally underrepresented communities, we prioritize services for low income youth and youth of color.

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Big City Mountaineers

Big City Mountaineers (BCM) works alongside the transformative power of nature and youth agency partners to leave a lasting impact on the lives of young people. Their programs focus on providing access to the outdoors for underrepresented youths from communities that have long-standing barriers to accessing to nature. By providing free, fully outfitted, and professionally led backcountry trips, they’re able to give youth ages eight to 18 the opportunity to connect with nature and reconnect with their strengths, skills, and resilience.

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Brothers on the Rise

Brothers on the Rise (BOTR) is a dual direct service-systems change organization that responsibly empowers male youth to achieve individual success, develop healthy relationships, and contribute to a more just and equitable society. BOTR uses comprehensive gender-responsive, culturally appropriate, preventive, pipeline programs that directly serve boys and young men of color. Through these programs, BOTR and its partners help to raise, educate and develop boys into responsible, peaceful, caring and productive young men.

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Canal Alliance

Canal Alliance breaks the generational cycle of poverty for Latino immigrants and their families by lifting barriers to their success. As a nonprofit champion of immigrants who are challenged by a lack of resources and an unfamiliar environment, the Canal Alliance team works tirelessly to educate, empower, support, and partner with motivated immigrants and their families to best meet all their unique needs—from putting food on the table, to becoming U.S. citizens, to learning English, to graduating from college.

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Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

The Graton Rancheria community is a federation of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo groups recognized as a tribe by the US Congress. The Miwok of west Marin County have been referred to as Marshall Indians, Marin Miwok, Tomales, Tomales Bay, and Hookooeko. The Bodega Miwok (aka, Olamentko) traditionally lived in the area of Bodega Bay. The neighboring Southern Pomo Sebastopol group lived just north and east of the Miwok. The town of Sebastopol is located about 1 mile between the north boundary of Miwok territory and the southern edge of Southern Pomo territory.

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GirlVentures

GirlVentures inspires girls to lead through outdoor adventure, inner discovery, and collective action. As the only nonprofit of its kind, GirlVentures combines outdoor adventure with social emotional learning for adolescent girls, at a critical time in their lives. Their programs nurture and empower girls’ self-esteem, resilience, and leadership skills, catalyzing their development as empathetic, confident conservationists and allies. As a nonprofit organization, GirlVentures is dedicated to providing equitable access to outdoor education.

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Project Avary

Project Avary works to help children heal from the impacts of having a parent in prison. They do this by surrounding youth with a long-term supportive community of peer and adult mentors and by empowering them with leadership development skills so they can break free from generational cycles of trauma and incarceration. Project Avary has been working with children of incarcerated parents for over two decades and are national leaders in supporting children with incarcerated parents through the power of community and relationships full of welcome and belonging.

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Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance

The Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance is the go-to agency for youth in need of social and emotional support or those facing family or cultural barriers to success. Since 1996, the Mentoring Alliance has helped school children by pairing them with caring adult mentors who make a big difference in their life. Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance currently provides mentors for 375 students throughout the Sonoma Valley Unified School District and maintains professionally-staffed Mentor Centers at all eight K-12 public schools campuses in the Sonoma Valley.

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The Unity Council

The Unity Council is a non-profit Social Equity Development Corporation with a 55-year history in the Fruitvale neighborhood of Oakland. They work to promote social equity and improve quality of life by building vibrant communities where everyone can work, learn, and thrive. The Unity Council’s programs aim to provide the community with the tools, knowledge, and resources to transform their lives and ultimately achieve their long-term educational, career, and financial goals. These holistic programs and services reach more than 8,000 individuals and families annually in five languages.

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The Watershed Project

The Watershed Project’s mission is to inspire San Francisco Bay Area communities to understand, appreciate, and protect our local watersheds. The Watershed Project envisions a future where everyone in our communities has equitable access to a healthy environment that provides clean air and water. Along with their many community and local group partners, The Watershed Project is committed to building environmental resiliency and equity in the San Francisco Bay Area through education, community organizing, restoration, and vital green infrastructure projects.

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Weekend Adventures

Weekend Adventures (W-A) works to create opportunities for youth to explore what’s possible for themselves and their lives that motivate and empower them to create a life of their choosing. As a fiscally sponsored program of the Social Good Fund since 2018, W-A envisions an end to generational poverty in black and brown communities. W-A serves youth grades third through eighth, with life-shifting adventures in the arts, sciences, and outdoors. Their trips are designed to show youth that they belong in safe, fun spaces that are free from stress, violence, and drugs.

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YES Nature to Neighborhoods

In partnership with nature, YES Nature to Neighborhoods nurtures leaders who champion the wellbeing of our community. They envision a future where Richmond youth, adults, and families lead healthy, connected lives; motivate change in their neighborhoods; and inspire a safe, thriving community. YES’ programs cultivate leadership, increase access and break down barriers for those who have historically been excluded from public lands, reclaim their local community’s connection to earth, and create brave spaces that unite people in a common cause.

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