City Kids reap lessons about lands and life in America’s wildest places
City Kids participant enjoying Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming.
City KIds
by Xana Pena
Why should urban youth immerse themselves in the wildest parts in our national parks and other public lands?
“These lands belong to ALL of us,” is the way one City Kids participant summed up his view. Which is a perfect answer.
One of the core values of The Wilderness Society is inspiring all Americans to connect and access our shared public lands, which are owned by the American people. By partnering with youth organizations including a Washington-DC based organization called City Kids Wilderness Project, The Wilderness Society is expanding efforts to inspire youth to appreciate and enjoy the outdoors while understanding the challenges facing the natural world and working to protect a healthy environment.
This partnership serves a broader purpose – exposing youth to the great outdoors while the students develop professional skills for success in their personal lives.
City Kids Wilderness Project is based around three principles: long-term youth engagement, outdoor adventure and experiential education and goal-setting with a focus on their futures. Youth develop a positive self-identity by overcoming challenges, building strong relationships with peers and adult mentors, and exploring personal possibilities.
City Kids targets middle and high school youth who live in DC communities where, historically, access to resources has been limited, but where the potential to succeed and excel is unlimited. 94% of City Kids youth self-identify as African American, and 6% self-identify as Latino or Hispanic.
Of the 26 youth who completed the expanded high school program in the last three years, 100 percent graduated from high school, and 85 percent enrolled in college or other formal programs such as vocational training or the military directly after high school.
City Kids works with students from sixth grade to adulthood, with each age group having stage-appropriate support and activities. Each year brings new challenges and opportunities as the youth gain new skills and wild places near – such as Rock Creek National Park and Prince William Forest Park – and far.
Part of the summer program is the chance to stay at Broken Arrow Ranch in Jackson, Wyoming, which gives participants a deeper understanding of public lands.
Those participating in the Wyoming trip got to also visit Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, the Gros Ventre Wilderness and the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
A new Public Lands Curriculum developed by The Wilderness Society helps the students understand why these shared public lands are so important. The curriculum covers the history of America’s public lands, ranging from the injustices suffered by native Americans and people of color to current-day management issues that affect these lands.
This curriculum also helps youth appreciate the importance of these lands for everyone. These lands provide clean drinking water, clean air, wildlife habitat and outdoor activities that should be available to everyone. Through our public lands, both our people and the lands thrive.
This past summer, City Kids’ Job Experience Trainees (JET) participated in the Summer Youth Employment Program by spending a week with The Wilderness Society, learning about the importance of public lands and engaging in preprofessional work, including career exploration interviews with the Wilderness Society staff.
After his experience in DC with The Wilderness Society, three JETs then joined City Kids in Wyoming and helped implement the public lands curriculum with younger campers.
City Kids’ Program Director Monique Dailey said, the Job Experience Trainees described Broken Arrow Ranch in Wyoming as “a second home that has influenced their personal growth, how they see their place in the world and their relationship with the wilderness.”
In June of 2019, City Kids Wilderness Project received the Outdoor Retailer Inspiration Award, a national award recognizing those that inspire and encourage others to enjoy, participate in, and support outdoor recreation. City Kids received this award as a part of the Summer Outdoor Retailer Show in Denver, Colorado.
Through this program and others, The Wilderness Society hopes to inspire the next generation and future generations to care about and become stewards of the nation’s remaining wild public lands.
