PHILOSOPHY AND CORE VALUES
Growing Up Wild is an outdoor environmental education program that has been providing programs for youth in Santa Cruz County since 2008. Fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit organization, The Children Are Our Future, Growing Up Wild is a part of a bigger network of experiential education programs that share a vision to give youth transformational learning experiences directly in nature. Growing Up Wild also partners with local schools, agencies, and community-based organizations to complement their services and increase the overall impact on participants. We foster transformative learning by providing participants with hands-on outdoor experiences directly in wild spaces. We seek to deliver programs that honor and reflect the lived experiences and cultural ways of our participants. As part of our commitment to cultural relevancy, we hire staff who are bilingual in Spanish and English. With the help of donations and grants, we provide scholarships to youth from low-income family backgrounds who otherwise would not get opportunities in outdoor education.
read the interview of our director by the California Environmental literacy intiative
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"My interest to study environmental science in college began when I was a camper at Growing Up Wild."
-Federico, Alumni camper and counselor |