River Source, fiscal sponsor Partners in Education Foundation
Grants Awarded
The Water Job Pathways project aims to empower 1,224 youth and 75 adults through transformative outdoor experiences in watershed science and stewardship, fostering the next generation of natural resource leaders. By engaging 6th to 12th graders in hands-on activities like water quality monitoring and river restoration, and providing paid work-learn opportunities to 30 young adults in related fields, the program enhances participants' skills while promoting community health and environmental sustainability.
Watershed Job Pathways fosters future water and land protectors by integrating ecological science with traditional knowledge, targeting youth in economically distressed communities. The program will engage 750 students in watershed science experiences and provide 28 paid internships, equipping participants with multidisciplinary STEM skills and promoting their role as positive agents of change in the face of climate challenges. By building collaborations among educators, students, and local organizations, it aims to enhance community capacity and connection to watershed stewardship.
River Source's Getting Hands Engaged in Outdoor Pathways Project aims to engage students and teachers from local schools experiencing 25-40% poverty rates, enhancing their environmental awareness and proficiency through hands-on activities. By involving community elders to share their experiences and insights about water conservation, the program promotes intergenerational learning, instilling hope and essential skills for both participants and the broader community.
River Source supports people living as good stewards of their watersheds by creating educational opportunities, job pathways, and by providing planning, monitoring, and ecological restoration services throughout New Mexico since 1997. Our work focuses in three areas: school-based science and stewardship, watershed job pathways, and technical assistance for communities in watershed resilience practices. River Source programs aim to create transformative outdoor experiences that foster watershed stewardship: Watershed Watch: Introduces students and teachers to science techniques and project-based learning by creating outdoor classrooms at local rivers and at on-campus open spaces. The program engages youth from schools across New Mexico in watershed stewardship with 80% of students coming from rural and underserved BIPOC communities. The collected science data directly benefits efforts to track watershed health and is used for student-driven research. Watershed Academy: Provides both summer field intensive and school-year experiences for young adults in watershed science and restoration that create water job pathways. We introduce students to their local rivers, watersheds, and land through water quality monitoring, data collection, habitat and river restoration work, engagement with community leaders, and presentations to stakeholders. Youth Civics Education: Provides policy education and civic engagement for middle and high school students in New Mexico to amplify youth voices who engage state representatives. Direct support in Watershed Resilience: Providing consulting to tribes, cities, NGOs, and state agencies on ecological restoration. River Source coordinates experiential youth education programs that has provided over 4,000 experiences for approximately 2,000 people, primarily youth in middle and high school. In just the first five months of 2023, we have led outdoor watershed experiences for 977 youth and 64 adults with schools across New Mexico including tribal communities of San Ildefonso Pueblo, Santo Domingo Pueblo, Walatowa Pueblo, and the Santa Fe Indian School. Our reach has extended to rural and urban schools including Mesa Vista High School, Peñasco High, Valencia High, Robertson High (Las Vegas), Rio Rancho High, Aldo Leopold School, and Mora High School. We have gotten New Mexico’s youth out to dozens of rivers including the Rio Grande, Rio Santa Barbara, Rio Gallinas, Rio Mora, the Gila River and the Santa Fe River. Our 2023 summer intensive Watershed Academy has crews in 5 communities (El Rito, Pecos, Peñasco, Las Vegas/Mora, and Santa Fe). We expanded the program from 3 communities served in 2022 by adding Las Vegas/Mora and the Pecos to include areas affected by the Calf Canyon/Hermit’s Peak Fire.