Wilderness Youth Project’s Bridge to Nature Program

About

Wilderness Youth Project’s Bridge to Nature Program was created to reduce barriers for youth to access nature connection programs and mentorship opportunities. Barriers include transportation, cost, and the lack of a sense of belonging.

Categories Program BIPOC Children & Youth Mental Health Therapeutic

Program Details

The mission of the Wilderness Youth Project (WYP) is to foster confidence, health, and a lifelong love of learning in young people and families through active outdoor experiences and mentoring.

The fundamental belief of the Wilderness Youth Project is that all children have a birthright to nature. The Bridge to Nature program is intended to identify and overcome societal barriers to this birthright. In the beginning, these efforts were focused on addressing the barriers of cost and transportation—as such, we raised enough money to provide these programs free of cost. We also partnered with the Santa Barbara Unified School District to offer programs during the school day as well as after school so that caregivers did not have to rely on transportation to access our programs.

As this partnership evolved, so did our understanding of different community needs, particularly the need to cultivate and support the general sense of belonging to places of wild character. To this end, Wilderness Youth Project is committed to being present at community events and effectively addressing language barriers in the communities we serve. Our goal is to provide all necessary resources that support family engagement with our organization.

Wilderness Youth Project is highly regarded within the Santa Barbara South Coast region. We just completed a 5-year strategic plan, which includes the continuation of our current programs and the search to expand community partnerships. Our mission is to support the community by helping other organizations leverage the benefits of nature connection to grow their own services and programs.

Services Offered
Wilderness Youth Project Bridge to Nature programs serve preschool students through high school teens with mentored nature connection programs. Each program typically serves 10-15 kids with 3-4 staff. We try to maintain a 4:1 ratio of staff to kids and adjust for any special needs. Preschool programs remain at select locations for 5 hours. All other programs travel by van to numerous places of wild character throughout the Santa Barbara South Coast. These programs, generally 3-4 hours long, consist of exploration, games, crafts, and nature connection activities.

Cost to Participate
Bridge to Nature programs are offered free of cost.

Contact Andrew Lindsey, Director of School Based Programs andrew@wyp.org (805) 698-8686 Website

Populations Served
Bridge to Nature programs meet at community centers, low-income housing facilities, schools, and youth service partner agencies. These programs are also centered around schools and communities in which more than 50% of families qualify for free and reduced meals. Our programs are open to all ages, from preschoolers to teens.

Staff Composition
Wilderness Youth Project aspires to have its staff, leadership, and board reflect the demographics of the Santa Barbara South Coast. At present, our staff demographics are:
Latino - 20%
White - 38%
Asian-American - 7%
Black - 2%
Indigenous - 4%
Unknown/Decline to state - 29%
Female - 51%
Male - 22%
Non-binary - 2%
Decline to state - 25%
Without disability - 69%
With disability - 7%
Unknown/decline to state - 24%
LGBTQIA+ - 24%
Heterosexual - 49%
Unknown/decline to state - 27%

Four kids in hiking clothes lay by the edge of a cliff that overlooks the ocean. They eagerly admire the landscape spread before them, which includes a sunny, cloudless sky and a vividly blue ocean that disappears into the horizon.

Two participants closely watch their steps as they navigate through a shallow marsh. Brown wetland plants border the marsh; in the distance are tall mountains illuminated by a faraway sun. Surrounding the two participants is a lake, with its surface reflecting this quaint scenery.

Two youths hold hands as they stand in a shallow lake. One of them holds a hiking stick while glancing back at their friend in reassurance. The lake itself has rocks of various sizes scattered throughout, and the lakeshore is composed of even more rocks.

Four kids wade through a lake, which glimmers orange from the sunset reflecting across the surface. The sun, hidden behind a kid’s silhouette, sinks below a line of trees that border the lake, thus casting the entire landscape in shadows.

A group of youths take a break in a shady enclave formed by towering rocks. Three of them are standing up and leaning against the rocks while the fourth chooses to sit on a boulder and rest her legs. Grass peeks out from between the boulders that surround the group, and the ground is covered with water.

A group of kids crouch by the edge of a shaded bank, which is full of rocks and boulders. They seem to be looking for something between the many rocks that surround them; behind them are fallen branches. A program staff member kneels at the edge of the group, guiding them on where to look.

Recent Case Studies

A group of youth play with a football while other children sit on the berm. Behind them, kids play on the climber dome. The school building in the background is painted with bright colors and artwork.

Place

Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy (formerly Chester Arthur Schoolyard)

Formerly an asphalt-covered space that offered little to engage youth, the renovated schoolyard at the Marian Anderson Neighborhood Academy is now an inviting green space for students and community members that elevates hands-on learning, physical activity, and connection to the natural world.

Surrounded by an abundance of green, a participant reaches up to carefully inspect a particular branch of leaves during one of Tremont’s herpetology SANCP classes.

Program

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont

Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont is a nonprofit field school situated within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It offers immersive, nature-based programs that enhance health and spark curiosity across all ages through profound engagement with the natural world.

Two participants in climbing gear sit on top of stacks of large rocks to celebrate a successful climb in Grand Teton, Wyoming.

Program

City Kids Wilderness Project

City Kids Wilderness Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the development of youth from under-resourced communities in Washington, DC through innovative outdoor experiential education and career readiness programs