This week, we learn about and celebrate environmental justice and Black experience in nature

In Portland, The Blueprint Foundation “… aims to eliminate the opportunity gap for Black youth within the Portland Metropolitan Area.  This is accomplished by engaging youth in culturally specific experiences that introduce them to, and prepare them for, family sustaining careers in disciplines where black-identified individuals are currently underrepresented.” In their Grounding Waters program, students learn about careers in environmental science while taking an active role in environmental stewardship.

Blueprint Foundation students, brother and sister, check out a crawdad

Where Black People
& Nature Meet

“It was a really tense time in Oakland, as it was in many cities around the country. The city was bracing for violence . . .  Personally, I felt that I didn’t want to go out and be in the streets and be a part of that kind of response. But I knew that my work had to do something. I was walking to my car, feeling like I needed to get away from downtown. And then the answer came. And the answer was nature.”

-Rue Mapp, Founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro

Please check out her article “Doubling Down on Black Joy in Nature” in Bay Nature Magazine.