The Watershed Project

THE WATERSHED PROJECT EDUCATES AND INSPIRES COMMUNITIES TO PROTECT THEIR LOCAL WATERSHEDS.

We all are connected through the San Francisco Bay Area watershed, where water connects us from neig

Goal One: Boost equity in SF Bay Area schools by engaging 1,500 K-12 students in science-based, hands-on environmental education programs while addressing systemic barriers in low-income communities of color.

Goal Two: The goal of Climate Adaptation & Urban Greening is to restore healthy ecosystem function, and the community benefits provided to heavily developed urban watersheds, like bioswales to clean stormwater.

Goal Three: Healthy Watersheds & Community Science unleashes people’s own power to improve community & watershed health through environmental justice education, watershed councils, & community science events.

The Watershed Project is currently engaged in the Working Towards Racial Equity workshop process with the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC-Berkeley, which provides an opportunity for reflection and analysis of our organizational processes and procedures, dynamics, and organizational documents. The workshops also focus on building leadership skills. Over the last 2-3 years, we have been expanding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training & communication efforts. We have invested time and financial resources to send staff to trainings on topics such as unconscious bias, asset and deficit language, restorative justice, and social-emotional learning. These staff then organized all-staff trainings on the same topics, including opportunities to identify goals and next steps for organizational change. Our Executive Director facilitates discussion and reflection around our DEI journey as part of staff meetings, and staff regularly identify and share DEI resources with each other.

As the COVID-19 pandemic became a reality in March 2020, The Watershed Project staff was ready and willing to pull together, get creative, and do what we could do to help. We had to adapt to the virtual space to find connections and meaning in our work. We saw that neighbors and community members were looking for small moments of calm in local parks and outdoor spaces where they could find safety and connection. And we saw that finding agency in small actions near home could help improve health and stress relief outcomes. Our biggest change was moving to virtual environmental education classrooms, which served over 1,600 total students and got kids out of their houses to reflect on nearby nature. As schools closed, our staff quickly adapted, finding new ways to support students’ academic learning, mental health, & time outdoors. In spring 2020, we launched 3 online programs for K-12 students with the theme "Community Resilience from Home," available at no cost to SF Bay Area students, families, and teachers. The courses included video demonstrations from TWP educators, interactive online activities, & outdoor observation & journaling activities. These programs engaged 500+ students in spring 2020 and were well-received by students, teachers, and families. We continued distance learning as schools remained closed into the 2020-2021 school year, reaching 1,112 students. TWP remains flexible in the face of COVID-19. We have resumed in-person programming with K-12 students and are providing field trips and outdoor activities. We have also successfully hosted in-person community volunteer events, and lowered the risk of exposure by following strict protocols for our staff, students, and volunteers to be able to interact in-person again. We are closely following county public health guidelines and taking measures such as meeting outdoors, wearing masks, limiting the size of gatherings, maintaining social distance, sanitizing materials, & providing hand sanitizer.