Environmental Education for Title One Students and Boys and Girls Club

The Authority contributed funds towards San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory's (SFBBO) Coyote Creek Field Station Environmental Education Program. SFBBO operates a research bird-banding station at Coyote Creek, located at the urban boundary of San Jose and Milpitas, and engages dozens of volunteers and hundreds of visitors each year. For this project, SFBBO worked with interns from local universities to develop a place and a inquiry-based education module to bring students from six classrooms to engage in both classroom and field learning activities.

The urban bird banding station Coyote Creek Field Station performs research, skills training, and innovative science-focused educational outreach. The grant will fund field station improvements to accommodate the expansion of education and community outreach activities. Facility improvement planning will be extensively informed by consultation with educators, with a priority focus on engaging with underserved communities, to ensure that the expansion serves local needs.

The Authority helped fund Bay Area Older Adults’ Environmental Education Park Crawl program. The project consisted of eight, 4-hour walks in different parks and one wildlife lecture. Each two- to four-mile walk had an environmental theme that educated the participating adults age 60+ about our valley’s parks, natural resources, and urban green spaces. It also included lunch, coordination of transportation, parking fees, and three trained guides. Participants benefitted in multiple ways: safely walking outdoors in a group is critical in reducing the risk of heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer and depression, and learning about nature promotes cognitive health and reduces the risk of dementia.