Introducing Communities to Nature, Conservation Activities and
Habitat Protection Programs

One of 41 newly-announced TogetherGreen national innovation grants will enable the Audubon Center at LA’s Debs Park to involve underserved children and their families in meaningful conservation activities that enhance threatened coastal sage scrub and grasslands habitat and benefit wildlife.

A $50,000 one-year grant will help fund the project aimed at recruiting families to participate through partnerships with local schools; introducing them to Audubon through special ‘open house’ programs and culminating in a community-wide habitat restoration event.  All aspects of the program will encourage and celebrate ongoing conservation and stewardship that benefits human and wildlife communities.

With 282-acres of urban wilderness, Debs Park supports one of the last open spaces along the Arroyo Seco, a tributary of the Los Angeles River. The park harbors rare walnut woodlands, coastal sage scrub and grasslands. Debs Park is also home to coyotes, snakes, rabbits and more than 136 species of birds, 40 of which nest within its borders.

Program participants will join in fun-filled, incremental learning activities designed to move them from nature awareness to concern and action. 

Audubon will work with two local elementary schools to receive enhanced environmental enrichment. These schools will serve as central locations from which to conduct outreach to children and their families

Audubon will also conduct its Nature’s Open House program to reach low-income and immigrant families.  The program has been successful in the past introducing people often underserved by outdoor and nature awareness programs to direct experiences in nature, including hikes, learning about native wildlife, and growing native plants for a community-wide restoration event later in the year.

Families from each school will be invited to Debs Park on National Public Lands Day. Plants sown during Open House events earlier will be planted at selected sites in the park. Families will be invited to return every three months to pull weeds, monitor birds and conduct plant transects.

“By interweaving community outreach, environmental education, and habitat restoration the Audubon Center at Debs Park project will engage communities which historically were not involved in traditional conservation,” said Jeff Chapman, Interim Center Director. “Simultaneously, the program will meet critical needs of low-income residents including opportunities for safe and affordable leisure activities in their neighborhood and positive, enriching alternatives for their children. In the course of doing that we will help to encourage the concern and involvement needed to fix environmental problems at home and around the world.” Chapman added.

The Audubon Center at Debs Park grant is part of the first $1.4 million awarded by the TogetherGreen initiative, a national Audubon project with funding from Toyota. Grantees were selected from scores of applicants across America. Funds were awarded to Audubon organizations that demonstrated exceptional innovation in working with other groups on projects that will produce tangible benefits for environmental quality.

“There’s a real opportunity to reach children an early age and help them make sense of the world in which they live in and take an active role in caring for it. We’re happy to be giving these groups the help the need to achieve that,” said TogetherGreen Project Manager Judy Braus.

###

About TogetherGreen
TogetherGreen will invest in both promising environmental projects and outstanding leaders that can shape a brighter tomorrow.  Along with Innovation Grants to be awarded each year, TogetherGreen funds and promotes conservation leadership training and volunteer programs designed to equip and engage diverse groups and individuals to take action today to shape a healthier tomorrow.  Information on other grantees, along with opportunities to get involved in conservation efforts, showcase successful initiatives, and honor those who are making a difference, can be found at www.TogetherGreen.org.

About Audubon
Now in its second century, Audubon connects people with birds, nature and the environment that supports us all. Our national network of community-based nature centers, chapters, scientific, education, and advocacy programs engages millions of people from all walks of life in conservation action to protect and restore the natural world.  

About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE: TM) established operations in the United States in 1957 and currently operates 10 manufacturing plants, with another under construction in Mississippi. Toyota is committed to being a good corporate citizen in the communities where it does business and believes in supporting programs with long-term sustainable results. Through its corporate initiatives, manufacturing operations and philanthropy, Toyota supports numerous organizations across the country, focusing on education, the environment and safety. In 2007, Toyota contributed more than $56 million to philanthropic programs in the U.S. For more information on Toyota's commitment to improving communities nationwide, visit http://www.toyota.com/community.