IslandWood expands its reach with new Allen grant

IslandWood has received a $50,000 grant from the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation in support of a 20-month pilot program with Seattle Parks and Recreation that will provide hands-on environmental education programs for Seattle public high school students.

The grant, one of several given to nonprofit organizations in the Northwest region (Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Alaska), will fund a program for a minimum of 40 students through the summer of 2011.

Seattle Parks already has a program that focuses on projects from the participants’ local environment. But IslandWood’s involvement will advance the experience by adding the element of stewardship.

“There are a lot of Seattle Parks programs that work with teenagers in restoration projects and forestry work – like pulling ivy,” said Pat O’Rourke, who is IslandWood’s director of Outreach/Partnership Development.

“The O-2 (Outsdoor Opportunity) has been going for about 15 years but mostly it doesn’t focus on why their work is so important and valuable in their community,” she said.

O’Rourke said they are already doing the work, but not providing the message.

“They will work in teams and will develop the message that stems from their project – what’s important about it, creating the message and then distrbuting it in several different ways, including through the media,” O’Rourke said.

The program, which is ready to start, targets primarily 15-year-olds who come from families that are diverse economically and attend Seattle Public Schools. About 70 percent of those involved with O-2 are kids of color, she said.

“The kids often participate in O-2 for as long as three years and they’re very committed to it,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a major project for us and it’s great that we don’t have to recruit for it because the kids are already involved in it.”

The Allen grant money will be used primarily for IslandWood staff and implementation of the project.

O’Rourke said the program begins with an overnight-stay at IslandWood for the kids.

She said it’s probable that some of the teenagers involved attended IslandWood programs when they were in the fourth or fifth grades. She added that the new outreach program also reflects the fact that IslandWood’s overnight program has nearly reached its capacity.

Anson Fatland, Allen Foundation’s project manager, said each student will receive about 1,600 hours of environmental studies.

This year’s Allen grants total $4.6 million, with about 60 percent of the money going to nonprofits based in Washington.

The Allen Foundation is now in its 20th year of providing grants to nonprofit organizations that focus on arts, education, science and technology, and helping people move out of poverty. IslandWood has received $775,000 from the foundation since 2000.

For more information on this year’s grants, see www.pgafamilyfoundaiton.org/grantlist.

Contact Bainbridge Island Review Editor Dennis Anstine at editor@bainbridgereview.com or (206) 842-6613.

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