Project Full Moon Rising Fundraising Application
Project Full Moon Rising Fundraising Application
Client: City of Eugene Recreation Services
Goal: Edit an application for fundraising assistance from the National Forum on Children in Nature. Convey strong, competent message within strict character limits.
Approach: The client had already written the content when he contacted me. He needed help distilling his ideas to fit the application’s tight space requirements. I maintained his consistent tone and eliminated excess words and ideas without sacrificing his core message.
Highlights:
- With more local recognition than funding, we currently cannot provide for all the requests from our youth and family partners.
- While Eugene’s youth aged 0-18 will enjoy PFMR’s immediate benefit, ripples of inspiration and motivation could radiate across the country and into similar programs.
- Involving and empowering parents will multiply PFMR’s impact on youth, and cannot be ignored.
FULLMOON RISING PHASE II
NATIONAL FORUM ON CHILDREN AND NATURE
PART 1
Executive Summary
For the past 32 years, City of Eugene Recreation Services’ Outdoor Program (OP) has empowered all ages to connect with nature with experiential based environmental education. Today, the OP’s inspired staff enthusiastically maintains this legacy dedicated to connecting families with nature through fun and safe experiences.
Project Full Moon Rising (PFMR) will leverage the resources of this successful program by extending experiential education activities to teachers, youth workers, recreation leaders and parents across the country with an empirically formulated working model and online resources to inspire replication.
The primary goal of PFMR is to utilize structured activities to empower and inspire youth of all ages and their families to explore nature independently.
By starting in a safe environment, youth and parents will have positive experiences, explore the benefits of outdoor recreation, and learn to pursue nature on their own.
Equally important to PFMR’s success is educating parents on the perceived versus real risks associated with nature, while highlighting the developmental benefits of nature experiences for their children. Youth cannot reconnect with nature without parental support.
PFMR will progressively and holistically address the barriers children and families face.
The cultural disconnection from nature has evolved over many decades. Barriers between youth and nature include age, geographic locale, ethnic identity, socio-economic status, community resources, family values, electronic distraction, environmental apathy, and media hype of perceived risks. We will meet students at their disconnection and help them gradually towards a more connected lifestyle.
Our established and future programs will provide varying levels of support appropriate to participants’ needs. Manifestations of these solutions include age appropriate programming, transportation, provision of needed resources, instilling an appreciation for nature by having fun in it and demystification of perceived risks through experience. Progressing through the PFMR continuum, independent activities will replace structured ones and PFMR’s key role will change from empowering to providing resources for youth to experience nature on their own. PFMR will facilitate its main goal; establishing a self-sustaining appreciation for nature, by teaching youth how to enjoy it.
PFMR’s curriculum will succeed by fostering the following 10 Competencies:
Outdoor Skill Building – nurturing self-confidence in nature.
Environmental Education – encouraging an understanding of our connection to the earth.
Health & Wellness – highlighting the health benefits of outdoor activity.
Environmental Stewardship – empowering preservation of nature.
Sustainable Living – teaching the balance of environment, economy, and people.
Personal Growth – facilitating self-awareness through nature competence.
Social Connection – nurturing the value of a shared outdoor experience.
Barriers & Myths – dispelling common hesitations to engage in nature.
Outdoor Resources – assisting autonomous exploration of nature.
Fun Factor – encouraging lifelong enjoyment of the outdoors.
PFMR’s curriculum will be applied through direct service and community partnerships.
Year-round activities include the ongoing City of Eugene Recreation programs described in Phase 1; Urban Outdoor Adventures, Outdoor School, Environmental Travels, and traditional camps, classes and special events. With NFCN’s support, additional PFMR programs will be tailored to the needs and abilities of the targeted youth with input from specific community partners.
Once developed, PFMR’s experiential education curriculum template will be published online for adoption and replication in a variety of circumstances beyond the traditional outdoor recreation model.
This curriculum will be an accessible tool for any recreation leader, teacher, camp counselor, or parent. The PFMR interactive website (fullmoonrising.org) will act as a distribution point of resources and a forum for additional ideas and resources.
A. Description of Success: How will you know you have reached success?
Success in the Eugene community will be quantified and measured by:
- Expansion of the nature based curriculum developed by City staff and community partners.
- An increase in nature related activities taught by City Recreation Staff.
- More participating children and families spending structured and unstructured time in nature.
- An increase in parent and child appreciation for the benefits of nature.
- Extending parental education of the perceived vs. real risks of outdoor recreation and unstructured play.
Outside the Eugene we will measure success by the growth of the Full Moon Rising website, the addition of curriculum ideas, and its implementation by other communities, agencies, programs on a national scale.
Providing evidence-based outcomes indicating the benefits of youth engagement in nature activities will also indicate success.
B. Sustaining the Program: How does your organization plan to sustain this project after National Forum support?
NFCN’s support will initiate our vision. The City of Eugene cannot guarantee that the funds acquired through this award will be carried over into our general fund operating budget. Sustained financial support for the expansion and growth of project FMR will be based on external foundations and sponsorships.
PART 2
Organizational Background and Budget Instructions
A. Organizational Background: Describe your organization’s mission and expertise.
Citywide Support in Green Eugene.
As a dedicated component of city services, the mission of the Youth & Family Recreation Services (YFRS) Outdoor Program is to “Create opportunities that inspire a lifelong passion to imagine, explore, learn, grow and contribute.”
The 2008-2011 Eugene Budget Committee mandated an Operating Strategy supporting this program to “Reconnect people to nature, educating them on the developmental benefits of outdoor recreation, and increase their opportunity to recreate outdoors.”
One of the five City Council Goals supporting this project is fostering “Accessible and Thriving Culture and Recreation – A community that recognizes that the arts and outdoors are integral to the social and economic wellbeing of the community and should be available to all.”
The YFRS Outdoor Program is a service component of the City of Eugene, a governmental agency operated by an eight member City Council and Mayor, supervised by a City Manager, and supported by taxpayers.
Leadership
Our contribution to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Association (OPRA) has established us as a statewide resource. Our staff has sat on the Oregon State Parks’ Youth Steering Committee for the Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan. Outdoor Program representatives will speak at the National Recreation and Park Association Environmental Stewardship Summit in May, 2008. We are situated to affect change.
Progressive Programming characterizes our Service.
Since 2004, the YFRS Outdoor Program has progressively molded its traditional strategies of “increasing our human connection to nature”. We explore and implement program strategies that engage youth and families that have not reached us in the past. Our partnerships with schools and non-profit agencies that support underserved populations fostered local demand beyond our present capacity. With more local recognition than funding, we currently cannot provide for all the requests from our youth and family partners. To address this issue critical to our role as a community resource we developed the PFMR curriculum.
Expected accomplishments with support form the National Forum on Children and Nature.
Moderate support from the NFCN will expand PFMR and increase services to the Eugene community and programs associated with the community partners described in Part 4. With these programs we will provide evidence-based research and an effective model that can be replicated nationally. Moderate support will also increase the capacity to expand PFMR’S curriculum; the lesson plans, educational materials, and strategies.
Exceptional support from the NFCN will create an interactive Full Moon Rising website; offering an immediate and comprehensive resource to outdoor and environmental agencies, programs, and classrooms across the nation. The website will provide a uniting link to myriad agencies and programs with similar goals in connecting children to nature. We will leverage popular spaces on the Internet by establishing sites on Youtube and MySpace. The sites will catalyze discussion about how to reconnect youth to nature.
B. Profile of the individual (or individuals) who will assume responsibility for achieving your results.
Craig H. Smith, Program Manager. BA Education, MS Leisure Studies and Therapeutic Recreation. Current President ORPA Outdoor Recreation Section, 30 years experience working with youth in therapeutic environments.
Aimee Goglia, Coordinator of Urban Outdoor Adventures. BA Education, and currently pursuing an MSW. 15 year history of outdoor education instruction to families.
Tom Powers, Coordinator of Outdoor School program component. BA Geology. 10 year history of introducing youth to the outdoors through outdoor recreation, social and educational events in outdoor settings.
Roger Bailey, Recreation Program Supervisor for all Outdoor Program. BS in Biology. Outdoor instructor and trainer since 1986 with the goal and passion of helping people get outdoors.
Kellie Nemke, Recreation Program Supervisor. BA/MA in Child Psychology. Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist. 15 year history of facilitating positive outdoor experiences for youth.
Melinda Penwell, River House Front Office Coordinator. BS in Plant Science. Has spent six years working with youth in Wetland restoration and native plant propagation.
Julie Grossman, YMCA. Connector of resources, and developer of community fitness and recreation.
PART 3
Target Population and Impact Instructions
Please indicate the target audience for your program and why it is an important audience for the Children and Nature movement.
Reconnecting youth indiscriminately.
While Eugene’s youth aged 0-18 will enjoy PFMR’s immediate benefit, ripples of inspiration and motivation could radiate across the country and into similar programs. PFMR will target youth with varying barriers in connecting to nature; low-income, urban, fringe, and culturally diverse youth, was well as “overly structured youth”. Disconnection from nature, regardless of the cause, needs to be addressed. The developmental differences of each age group of children and youth offer unique opportunities for intervention. The diversity of PFMR’s target demographic will provide a rich bed of research data for the final modular curriculum.
Replacing common parental fears of the outdoors with supportive appreciation for their child connecting with nature will be the greatest challenge and asset for the curriculum’s success. Involving and empowering parents will multiply PFMR’s impact on youth, and thus cannot be ignored.
Depending on NFCN funding, PFMR could reach from up to 5,500 Eugene children to untold numbers across the country. With proper marketing and implementation, www.fullmoonrising.org could enter communities across the country.
Importance of Target Audience and Project Impact.
Our model must comprehensively approach the barriers each demographic faces. The 10 Competencies (Part 1) focus PFMR’s objective to engage youth in the benefits of playing in nature.
What specifics we learn from our diverse local population we can apply to our national curriculum. PFMR’s key concept is that it can be replicated and adapted to the needs and environment of any specific group of children.
The Fun Factor is critical to the development of the 10 Competencies. SCORP research supports our belief that fun is the most important criterion for youth to repeatedly engage in outdoor activities.
Our experience shows that including a healthy dose of fun in every nature contact opportunity helps advance our mission to “Create opportunities that inspire a lifelong passion to imagine, explore, learn, grow and contribute.”
PART 4
Partnerships Instructions
Who are your partners in this project?
Local Schools
Since 1998 we have partnered with the two major school districts in the Eugene area; Eugene 4j & Bethel 52, to share funding and other resources to offer out-of-school activities. These school districts provide access to their students and a community based location for program implementation. This relationship helps us market our programs in the schools and collaboratively increase the education, health, and wellness of their students.
Higher Education
Eugene has utilized students from the University of Oregon in roles as interns, volunteers, and as excellent recreation instructors. The University provides students from their Outdoor Pursuits Program, the Environmental Education Program, and the Family and Community Service program. These students offer us a rich resource in increasing our ability to connect with youth and to help shape our curriculum with new ideas and concepts.
Non-profit Agencies
Currently we identify 75 agencies as community partners through our shared mission to serve and empower youth. These relationships help us reach a variety of fringe youth diverse barriers to accessing traditional outdoor recreation.
Centro LatinoAmericano, a local agency supporting the Latino and Hispanic community, is a primary candidate for complementing the PFMR curriculum. This partnership is integral to eliminating financial, linguistic, geographic urban location, and cultural mistrust barriers to our services particular to this community. Partnering with Centro LatinoAmericano will provide mutual benefits; our staff will gain valuable cross-cultural training, we will reach out to Latino youth and families, and can support Centro staff to teach outdoor skills and environmental education.
Nationally Recognized Organizations
With a common mission and values, a partnership with the local chapter of the YMCA is a natural step for PFMR. In partnering with the YMCA we not only strengthen the local program, but create an opportunity for national replication of the PFMR curriculum. With its history of propagating successful programs in its many chapters across the country, PFMR has another means to provide a national model.
PART 5
Measures of Success Instructions
Local Impact:
Expanding the Outdoor Program’s nature curriculum and doubling the number of activities will affect a series of ancillary impacts. Heightened appreciation of outdoor activities, combined with an improved understanding of the perceived vs. real risks of outdoor recreation will motivate families to spend more structured and unstructured time in nature. Previously isolated communities will get to enjoy new pastimes in the outdoors.
We will measure these impacts by collecting data from and about our participants through course evaluations, simple counts, pre- and post- activity surveys, case studies, focus groups, interviews and city-wide demographic research. With this data we will refine our understanding of our participants and continue to adapt the curriculum and its delivery.
Measurable Impact Nationally
By promoting PFMR’s website nationally, the measurable impact would parallel that of the Eugene Community. Evaluation tools shared on the website, and an on-line reporting tool would also facilitate national data collection.
What is your basis for expecting these outcomes?
Existing data from our post-activity surveys show high satisfaction with skills development, social interaction, improvements in self-confidence, and enjoyment during outdoor classes. These measurements reflect acquisition of the 10 competencies identified as key to reconnecting with nature. We expect participation to grow as we focus on this direction.
Evaluation Process
We will continually collect and compare participant survey information from youth and parents. The self-reported measurements will relate to the measurable impacts identified above.
Advisory Team
At the end of each curriculum cycle the PFMR Advisory Team -composed of youth, teachers, parents, recreation staff, project staff, and research staff- will review feedback. The team will monitor the project’s delivery, the achievement of the stated goals, and make recommendations for adjusting the project strategies.
How would you help an external evaluator understand your project and measure these outcomes?
We strive to improve our means of measuring impacts and improving curriculum; an external evaluation to help refine those tools is most welcome. The evaluator would have access to the City of Eugene’s database of clients and citizens’ geographic and demographic data. Our informal partnerships with other local outdoor providers could provide comparison groups for more research.
Finally, the City of Eugene already has relationships with the Community Planning Workshop and other University of Oregon research groups that could provide local, knowledgeable research services to implement an excellent evaluation program.
