NEWS RELEASE
Green Guardians launches California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI)
Community-based Partner Hub
Oakland, CA — March 31, 2021 — Green Guardians is excited to announce the launch of the CAELI Community-Based Partner Hub (The Hub) in collaboration with CAELI and Ten Strands and with generous initial funding support from The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Morgan Family Foundation.
The Hub promotes environmental literacy by building educator awareness of community-based partners (CBP) and their products and services and fosters educator-CBP relationships for increased student enrichment and engagement. Through The Hub, county offices of education showcase and promote existing environmental education providers to districts and schools as well as discover new partners looking to align their offerings to the needs of the K-12 school system. Currently, four California county offices of education will have a dedicated presence at The Hub — San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, and San Joaquin — with more coming online later in the year. San Francisco USD, a district and a county, will also have a dedicated presence at launch.
The goals of The Hub are to increase the visibility and access to environmental education partners and providers and be a reliable central repository for districts, schools, and educators to identify programs that align with their local needs and meet educational standards.
The Key Themes of The Hub:
- Increase Equitable Access to Environmental Literacy Programs
- Support Capacity Building for Administrators and Educators
- Create Connections Between the Formal and Nonformal Education Sectors
“The Hub will help with equity efforts by making it apparent which districts/schools/grade levels are receiving services from the CBPs within the county and where access needs to be expanded.”
Dean Reese, Science Coordinator, Outdoor Education and Environmental Literacy, San Joaquin County Office of Education
County Offices of Education can enroll in The Hub and get their own county-specific portal through the central CAELI site. Through their portal, they can provide links to their resources, promote their services, and most importantly direct users to vetted environmental education providers.
Community-based partners (CBPs) can sign-up directly through the central CAELI site and promote their organization and programs. CBPs will have the opportunity to highlight how their offerings meet K-12 school system needs by connecting them to environmental topics and identifying key links to California’s standards and Environmental Principles & Concepts (EP&Cs).
Districts, Schools, and Educators can clearly identify providers that offer standards and EP&Cs aligned locally relevant, and culturally responsive programs for their students. Utilizing filters such as grades, subjects, topics, standards, and availability, educators compare and connect with providers and programs that best suit the needs of their stakeholders.
About CAELI, Ten Strands, and Green Guardians:
CAELI, a project of Ten Strands, is a public-private partnership that works statewide, with guidance from a leadership council, to create systems change in support of environmental literacy with a focus on access, equity, and cultural relevance for all students.
Ten Strands is a field catalyst for the K-12 school system in California focused on advancing the environmental literacy of students. It partners with state government, local education agencies, providers of environmental education, community members, and funders to make environmental literacy a reality for all California’s K–12 students.
Green Guardians is a new California-based education technology company dedicated to advancing environmental literacy as an activity-based and standards-linked paradigm in K-12 education across the United States and the world.
Contact Green Guardians today to become part of The Hub: info@greenguardians.com
Visit www.greenguardians.com to learn more!
