Parks and People


	Students at school garden

	View the fall KidsGrow after school program schedules for William Paca Elementary and Franklin Square Elementary-Middle schools!

	Read about how KidsGrow participants are Hooked on Nature with Governor Martin O'Malley.

	KidsGrow goes shopping!

	Read the NRPA featured article entitled KidsGrow: Growing Tomorrow's Natural Resource Leaders.

	Discover how KidsGrow has made a difference!

	Find out how to volunteer in support of KidsGrow and other Parks & People programs!


	Students perform community outreach

	Evaluation findings from Baltimore City’s Safe & Sound Campaign last year showed that as a consequence of being in the program that: 49% of participants developed in the area of science 73% of participants felt safe in the program compared to other places where they spend their time 79% of participants felt they were doing better in school 79% of participants felt that they mattered at the program

	*Environmental Protection Agency Site Visit*: “This highly successful project was accomplished by a coordinated effort by staff to include numerous field trips and guest speakers….there was a strong sense of enthusiasm about the environmental activities that were accomplished during the year.”

	The After-School Institute: "The......curricula developed by Parks & People Foundation was engaging, developmentally appropriate, and provided opportunities for skill building and mastery. Youth were highly engaged, and had many opportunities to respond to and ask questions that often involved complex answers, and engage in problem-solving activities."

KidsGrow has been featured in the Stroud Water Research Center's Spring 2005 newsletter for its involvement in a Leaf Pack Investigation.

KidsGrow Environmental Education Program

Since 1994, the KidsGrow environmental education program has touched the lives of hundreds of Baltimore City school children through summer camps and after school programs. The program’s successes can be seen through the multitude of experiences and projects our participants engage in that connect them to their community. The fundamental mission of KidsGrow is to create future natural resource leaders through numerous community and stream clean-ups, vacant lot restorations, tree plantings, community gardening projects and community art projects.

KidsGrow teaches urban elementary and middle school youth in Baltimore City to appreciate their natural environment and to become stewards of their community. The goal for each student is to discover that his or her neighborhood is interesting and important – worth studying, protecting, improving and sharing with others. We aspire to generate resiliency in students by helping them discover and develop skills and allowing them to bring their energy and voice to service projects they identify and plan.

Participants are educated through a curriculum developed by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study. They learn by exploring our extensive local parks and watersheds, tree nurseries, gardens and cultural assets, and through hands-on projects such as tree plantings, greening projects, stream monitoring and neighborhood clean-ups.

KidsGrow is a dynamic, multi-faceted program that seeks to develop the whole child. We are able to achieve this goal through partnerships including the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Boys Scouts of America, Port Discovery, the Frederick Douglass - Isaac Myers Maritime Park, the Department of Natural Resources, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and Safe & Sound Campaign.

Currently, the KidsGrow Environmental Education Program is being implemented at the Franklin Square Elementary/Middle and William Paca Elementary schools with plans for expansion to several new schools. Parks & People Foundation’s long-term goal is to expand the number of inner city youth exposed to environmental education. We welcome the opportunity to collaborate with other community, school and civic organizations to establish a KidsGrow site.

The KidsGrow Environmental Education Program is sponsored in partnership with The Family League of Baltimore City, the Baltimore City Public School System, the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and private donors.

For more information, contact Pearline Tyson at 410-448-5663, ext. 116.