Oakland Goes Outdoors

Research has shown that outdoor environmental experiences offer children a range of social-emotional, spiritual, and academic benefits. Children who spend time outdoors exhibit improved attentiveness, reduced school absenteeism, and better academic performance. Outdoor experiences at an early age also help develop lifelong environmental stewardship. The pre-teen years, when many kids start spending less time outdoors and more time on screens, provide a pivotal time to kindle this sense of responsibility. Unfortunately, not all children have equal access to these opportunities due to factors like accessibility and affordability. Oakland Goes Outdoors was created to systemically address this inequity, and ensure all Oakland students have access to the benefits of nature.With the goal of providing Oakland youth greater access to nature and substantive skills-building experiences in the outdoors, Oakland Goes Outdoors launched its pilot program in 2019. The program initially set out to provide all Oakland public middle school students with direct experiences in nature, but with additional donor support, we hope to expand the program and serve all 34,000 students in the district, and to create a toolkit for other districts to create similar programs. With its district-wide focus, Oakland Goes Outdoors is one of the first of its kind in the nation.Oakland Goes Outdoors (OGO) is a collaboration between the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) Middle School Network, OUSD Expanded Learning After-School Programs, Bay Area Wilderness Training (BAWT), and the Oakland Public Education Fund. Primary funding currently comes from the Riddell Family Fund at the East Bay Community Foundation, with a growing set of new funders & donors.