Header image: WTRE participants celebrating being together after 2 years of virtual convenings during Covid, on Rumsen Ohlone land. Photo credit: WTRE team

Building Capacity to Institutionalize Equity in Outdoor and Environmental Science Education

We invite you to apply for the newest cohort of Working Towards Racial Equity (WTRE), a three-year workshop series co-designed and co-facilitated by The Lawrence Hall of Science, Justice Outside, and Laura Rodriguez. This workshop series and associated research study support environmental and outdoor science organizations (including those dedicated to outdoor learning, environmental justice, environmental science, environmental literacy, youth development, and community development) to build capacity to foster equitable, inclusive, and culturally relevant work environments and organizations.

One of our key tenets is people-focused systems change. We know that long-term, systems level changes require individuals in the system to commit to authentic self-reflection and learning. Additionally, we center racial equity in our approach because we recognize that racism is at the heart of inequity in the environmental field and in the United States, broadly. Working towards racial equity will ultimately benefit every single person, including those with additional marginalized identities.

We are currently accepting applications for five, mid-sized (20–75ish staff) outdoor science organizations to participate over 3 years. The WTRE process will kick off with an in-person convening in February of 2025 and activities (both in-person and virtual) will continue through early 2028.

Organization applications are due May 1st, 2024 at noon PST.