Ten Strands

California environmental literacy initiative (caeli) program implementation: led and managed caeli, a collective action network, and caeli's leadership council. Worked to implement a system of support in california that enables all students to have local, standards- and environment-based experiences that enhance their learning inside and outside of the classroom, based on recommendations in the state's blueprint for environmental literacy. Partnered with government, non-government, and other stakeholder organizations to move the work forward, sought input from a 110-person membership group in addition to many other educators, scientists, and environmental experts, all focused on advancing environmental literacy through professional learning, instructional materials, and capacity building. Engaged school districts as the unit of change with support from county office of educations as backbones. Managed public relations and communications. Presented at statewide conferences promoting environmental literacy. Forged partnerships with the career technical education sector, and the network of residential outdoor schools in the state. Fundraised for, co-chaired, and served as project director and fiscal sponsor of caeli and its leadership council. The leadership council worked for the ninth year in a row to implement recommendations from the state's blueprint for environmental literacy to support school districts, teachers, and local program providers with the ultimate goal of achieving environmental literacy for all of california's 5.8 million public school k12 students. Caeli's website can be found at www.ca-eli.org.

Environmental and climate change literacy projects (ecclps): partnered with the university of california (uc) and california state university (csu) systems to support ecclps as a member of the executive committee. Ecclps focuses on pre-service and in-service teacher professional learning, research, and building relationships with community-based organizations to support the environmental and climate literacy goals of ecclps. More information can be found at www.ecclps.net. San mateo environmental solutionary teacher fellowship (estf): partnered with san mateo county office of education for the tenth year to support teacher professional learning focused on integrating california's ep&cs into standards-based instruction in science, history-social science, and other subjects, with a focus on solutionary units of study. Campaign for outdoor learning: launched a statewide campaign for outdoor learning. The campaign seeks to build the capacity of the california education system to provide opportunities for children to learn outdoors on school grounds, in local parks, through day trips, and through residential outdoor school to benefit student learning, health, and wellbeing. Climate ready schools coalition: partnered with undauntedk12 to continue to build the climate ready schools coalition focused on school building decarbonization efforts to provide healthy and safe school buildings for california's students. More information can be found at www.climatereadyschoolscoaltion.org. Data initiative for environmental and climate action in california's tk-12 schools: partnered with undauntedk12 to continue to build a data-driven dashboard for county and district leaders to support their commitment/journey to whole school sustainability (curriculum, campus, community, and culture). Technical assistance: provided technical assistance to a number of school districts to support their planning for whole school sustainability, and launched a full technical assistance program.

California youth climate policy (cycp) leadership program: working in partnership with the sierra club california this program is focused on working with high school students to influence school board policies related whole school sustainability. California community outreach: managed marketing and communications for ten strands resulting in the twice-monthly publication of a newsletter and featured articles (www.tenstrands.org/news) and an active presence on social media channels. Developed the organization's annual report, managed the ten strands and caeli websites, and attended several community and partner events virtually and in-person highlighting environmental and climate literacy. Public engagement: built a broad coalition to support senator ben allen's budget request for professional learning funds to support the eventual rollout of the climate change and environmental justice program. We were not successful at securing the funds this year. Also, partnered with undauntedk12 and the climate ready schools coalition to support senator lena gonzales' bill (sb394) to create a statewide master plan for climate ready schools. The bill passed the senate and assembly and was vetoed by the governor. The work on this continues. California schoolyard forest system: this initiative will increase tree canopy on public school grounds across california to shade and protect k-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. Ten strands is the strategic partner to the initiative focused on centering the experience of students.