Our 2023 + 2024 Impact Report

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We don’t choose our goals because they are easy to achieve, we choose them because they matter.

We are in an extraordinary moment of political, cultural, and environmental change. In the face of an uncertain future, we are grateful that the impact of our work to scale green schoolyards and schoolyard forests is becoming more and more tangible.

We hope our new Impact Report serves as both an inspiration and a testament to what is possible when we collaborate to enhance the well-being of children, communities, and the environment. It is also a heartfelt expression of gratitude for your partnership in achieving so much together.

Highlights of the last two years:

  • We grew the movement - Our advocacy helped to drive meaningful policy changes and shape new grant programs. We shared our message widely, reaching people in all 50 states and more than 50 countries through our webinar series, as well as through presentations at prestigious institutions and articles in well-known media outlets. 

  • We established the Schoolyard Forest System - In the two years since launching the California Schoolyard Forest System®, we built a strong foundation, refined our strategies, deepened our impact, and expanded to new states!

  • We advanced public policy - Through our active participation and leadership in like-minded coalitions, we advanced numerous policies, advocated for state funding, and passed legislation in support of school ground greening.

We look forward to working with you to achieve even more in the coming years.

Creating Schoolyard Forests: A Look at the SoCal Leadership Institute

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On a crisp November day, six Southern California school districts convened at Cal Poly Pomona’s College of Environmental Design for the second session of Green Schoolyards America’s Southern California Regional Leadership Institute for School Districts. Their mission? To strategize achieving a 30% tree canopy across their campuses.

Participating Districts

Representing a diverse range of district sizes, the group included Los Angeles Unified (530,000 students), El Monte City (7,000), Colton Joint Unified (19,000), Newport Mesa (17,000), Pasadena Unified (15,000), and Rialto Unified (23,000). Districts were chosen based on their interest, readiness, and need - a measurement based on their existing tree canopy and how hot it is projected to be there in the future. Each district faces unique challenges but shares a common goal: transforming their campuses into greener, cooler, and more resilient spaces.

The cohort model fosters a collaborative, supportive environment where districts learn from one another. Participants ask critical questions like, How did you overcome this barrier? Why did you approach the work this way? or Who in your district approved this step? This peer-to-peer exchange has proven invaluable for accelerating progress and breaking down silos.

Focus Areas and Early Insights

The Leadership Institute features four full-day workshops. In the first session, participants explored why schoolyard forests matter and began drafting their vision for achieving 30% tree canopy, with a focus on what benefits they want to achieve. They also started assessing their districts’ needs, challenges, and opportunities, a process they will refine over the coming months.

Recurring themes included the importance of collaboration across departments—curriculum, facilities, sustainability, and maintenance—and the need for dedicated time to focus on greening goals. One participant reflected, “It’s great to work in a supportive environment with inspiring ideas and practical strategies.”

A Tour of Inspiration in Rialto

Between sessions, Rialto Unified hosted a tour showcasing their innovative schoolyard forestry efforts. Despite facing extreme heat—90+ degree days are common—Rialto schools have transformed their grounds with fruit tree groves, carbon sequestration forests, and outdoor classrooms. These initiatives provide critical tree canopy, mitigate pollution, and connect students with the environment.

Participants visited Werner Elementary, Morris Elementary, and Rialto Middle School, witnessing firsthand the benefits of strategic greening. Many were inspired by how district staff—from teachers to facilities teams—collaborate to create sustainable, maintainable schoolyards. “Seeing their carbon sequestration forest and outdoor classrooms sparked so many ‘aha!’ moments,” said one attendee.

Second Session: Deepening the Vision

In the second session, participants reflected on key insights from their first meeting and the inspiring Rialto Unified schoolyard tour. They presented draft versions of their district visions for schoolyard forest and engaged with expert presentations.

Dr. Marci Rainey highlighted the health benefits of tree canopy for young bodies, emphasizing how thoughtful design impacts children’s well-being. A tour of Cal Poly Pomona’s “Project Blue” demonstrated the educational and ecological potential of restored natural spaces.

Participants also explored real-world examples, including a case study from Oakland Unified showcasing strategies for integrating greening goals into district policies and plans, and began working with their teams on district action plans.

Next Steps

In the coming months, districts will develop their action plans, addressing key topics such as stewardship, policy alignment, and funding opportunities, in alignment with their district visions. Several districts with recently passed local ballot measures will also have exciting opportunities to integrate greening into school facility upgrades.

Participants will also dive deeper into design strategies, explore curriculum integration, and attend another peer district tour to gain further inspiration.

Looking Ahead

As this first cohort makes strides, the need for more support in Southern California is clear. Thanks to a new grant from CalFire, we’re thrilled to expand this program and recruit a second cohort of school districts. If your district is interested in joining this transformative effort, fill out our interest form. Together, we can create greener, healthier, and more inspiring schoolyards for all.

Shifting the Landscape: Policy as a Critical Strategy

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If you asked any child what they wanted at school, they would likely say more play and more recess and more time outside. Parents and teachers also want safe and nourishing learning environments for students. Many of us care that our children have connections to their communities and to the natural environment around them and want those communities and the environment to be healthy as well. 

Sadly, most schoolyards today do not reflect these values. Much of the land on our nation’s public school campuses is paved and lacks tree canopy in places children spend their time during the school day, leaving millions of students exposed to unhealthy high temperatures. This is a problem for all schools, but places a significant, disproportionate burden on schools in communities with the lowest income and communities of color, who have historically lacked access to the health benefits that nature provides.  

Problems at the system level

Over the decade, Green Schoolyards America has helped to bring about increased enthusiasm and awareness about the benefits of and critical need for greening school grounds. Unfortunately, in our work with schools, districts, and other partners, we still see that even when individuals are working diligently to support greening efforts, they still often come up against the processes, policies, or structural conditions that make that difficult. This is because the systems that govern education and schoolyards favor (some would even say, “are designed to produce”) the current conditions. 

For example, schoolyards are one of the few spaces that exist primarily for children. However, because children are not often prioritized or represented in our political systems, these spaces are rarely formed and resourced in ways that center and meet their unique needs. Similarly, schools are often the closest piece of public land to many families. But, because they are governed by school boards instead of city councils or county commissions, they are not often considered in city planning or land management and are rarely recognized for the benefits they provide to communities. All of which results in kids being crammed into indoor classrooms for most of the school day and outdoor spaces that are hot and devoid of nature and things that promote wellbeing.

Taking steps towards a new paradigm

If we are going to rectify this mismatch in existing conditions and values, we need to transform our systems so that they support schoolyard greening instead of hinder it. So what does it look like to actually bring about these changes? 

Last year we conducted a comprehensive assessment and identified specific bureaucratic barriers to transitioning schoolyards from unsafe asphalt to green spaces. We are now working with decision makers to remove these barriers and pursue policies to support school districts and community organizations in building and stewarding living schoolyards. We also partner with government agencies to create programs and funding streams that support living schoolyards creation, use, and maintenance. 

For example, the Living Schoolyards Act (S-1538), introduced into the United States Senate by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), would be the first legislation to direct federal resources towards upgrading school grounds into nature-based learning environments. If passed, the legislation will create a grant program and provide funding to schools and districts to transform their schoolyards, including creating outdoor classrooms and learning spaces. Green Schoolyards America worked closely with Senator Heinrich on its creation, and is leading the effort to build support for this bill. 

In California, we worked with coalition partners to get Proposition 2 (school facilities bond) and Proposition 4 (climate bond) on the ballot in November and ensured that those two measures include green schoolyards. Green Schoolyards America has formally endorsed these two propositions and is working with partners to pass them.

Lastly, while California has recognized and invested in school-ground greening as a climate mitigation strategy, certain policy and institutional barriers need to be addressed to ensure that those investments are successful. SB 1091, introduced by Senator Menjivar, will address one such barrier by capping the required improvements to the path of travel, beyond the greening project boundary to 20% of the adjusted construction cost for the project, in line with federal ADA law. This will make it possible for many public schools, especially the ones with less resources, to implement greening projects. Green Schoolyards America is co-sponsoring the bill with Trust for Public Land, and has been working with the Senator and other nonprofit partners to get the bill passed. 

Get involved

We are energized by the conversations we are having with legislators and the partnerships we are building with coalition members. We thank those of you that have responded to our calls to action and look forward to continuing to work with you all to shift the landscape so that policies and practices from the district level up through regional, state and national levels are supportive of schoolyard greening. 

To keep informed on our policy efforts and ways to support, follow us on social media or visit our website https://www.greenschoolyards.org/advocacy

This blog was written in collaboration with Sarah Matsumoto, our Director of Policy and Government Affairs

Schoolyard Forest Pilot Projects

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At Green Schoolyards America, we believe that every student should have easy access to a cool, shaded, tree-filled schoolyard where they can play, learn, and socialize - protected from extreme heat and hot asphalt. Most of the time, we work with school districts and state agencies, rather than individual schools, to achieve this vision. Sometimes, however, it’s necessary to get our hands dirty and put our boots on the ground, so that we can understand the real world challenges that schools experience and be more effective in working to solve them.

That is why, as part of the California Schoolyard Forest System®, our staff has been working with school districts, school communities, and local organizations in Los Angeles and Sacramento, California to design and implement two schoolyard forest pilot projects. The two schools were selected by Green Schoolyards America and the local school districts based on criteria including student demographics, readiness and commitment, and certain site parameters. In addition to supporting the school communities in designing, planting, using, and stewarding their schoolyard forests, these projects will provide invaluable information to our field on how to scale schoolyard forests across the state.

Pilot at 122nd Street Elementary School, LAUSD

Design team assessing Current conditions at 122nd Street Elementary school

”I picked writing or reading because if you read in a forest it will be quieter and you will have shade.” - Student, 122nd Street ES

“I liked the forest for gathering because it looks like you could just sit down, relax, spend time with your friend.” - Student, 122nd Street ES

122nd Street Elementary School is located in South Los Angeles. The design for their schoolyard forest has been underway since last fall, with design support from SLA (South Los Angeles), a local landscape design firm and non-profit. Teachers, caregivers, and students participated via surveys, interviews and meetings including a design workshop that explored design ideas through different activities including creating their own forest diorama. Students from several classes also voted on what they want to see in their school’s future forest, as well as had time to imagine what this space might actually look and feel like.

Students are already talking about how relaxed and calm they will be in the forest, and how they plan to read and play under the trees. Teachers are excited about the possibility of more shade and places to teach outside and families expressed their delight that the school would be getting more trees and want to help with planting. 

Pilot at Parkway Elementary School, SCUSD

Site of future forest at Parkway elementary school

“Currently there is not much to offer outside. In the summer there is little shade, and what shade we have is right by the big playground that my students aren't allowed to go on.”
- Teacher, Parkway ES

“I like the play logs because you can jump from each log, whee, whee!” - Student, Parkway ES

At Parkway Elementary, a TK-Grade 6 school in the Sacramento Unified School District, meetings to envision and design a schoolyard forest have been underway with the school community, the district facilities and operation team, the district sustainability manager, and the landscape design firm, Bay Tree Design. In March, Green Schoolyards America hosted both a design open house and a day with classrooms so that teachers, staff, families, and students could give their initial input on elements and activities they would like to see in their future schoolyard forest, giving their opinion on everything from play elements such as logs and boulders to potential activities in the forest such as observing wildlife, creating art from natural materials, and having lessons. 

Adults and children have both been enthused about more access to nature, and teachers and administrators have all commented on the need for more shade for their hot schoolyard days. Teachers are also excited about the opportunities for lessons outside, whether in science, language arts, or music. 

Next Steps

We look forward to sharing finalized designs with both communities soon. Construction work is planned for the summer and planting work days with the school community will be in the fall. Green Schoolyards America will also offer professional development to support teachers in engaging students in planning, stewarding, and learning in their future forest. 

We are thankful for the dedication and enthusiastic participation of both school communities. We look forward to sharing the progress on these projects and all that we learn from them with you!

An End of Year Message from our CEO

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Dear friends,

At Green Schoolyards America, we talk to schools, districts, community members, and state agencies every day who are committed to bringing shade and nature to the spaces children already visit on a daily basis. They are looking for solutions and need assistance bringing green schoolyards and schoolyard forests to their communities in ways that are effective and sustainable — and we are here to help!

In the past year, we have:

  • Identified barriers and opportunities for bringing schoolyard forests to scale in California and beyond

  • Hosted an online Community of Practice attended by over 450 individuals to share best practices and examples of schoolyard forests - and launched a new series focused on design!

  • Created 50+ free online resources to help help school leaders, designers, educators, and partners create, implement, and use schoolyard forests, including a climate-adapted, school-friendly tree list for California

  • Expanded our advocacy work, lending our expertise to numerous pieces of legislation and helping to lead a coalition of over 180 organizations working to pass the federal Living Schoolyards Act

  • Grew our email and social media audiences by nearly 100%, helping us to reach more people and bring them into this important work!

  • Met with countless partners across the country to build demand and support for creating and sustaining living schoolyards and schoolyard forests at scale!

Your support makes a big difference to our ability to do this work! If you can, please consider a tax-deductible donation to Green Schoolyards America this holiday season and help us shift the paradigm for schoolyard design, use, and management so every child has access to nature-filled climate oases at school and its many benefits.

In gratitude,

Sharon Danks
Founder & CEO 
Green Schoolyards America

Living Schoolyards Act Reintroduced in the US Senate

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We have great news to share! The Living Schoolyards Act, originally introduced in fall 2022, has been reintroduced in the United States Senate by Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) as S-1538, the Living Schoolyards Act of 2023.

This new legislation will enable schools to completely re-envision their outdoor spaces on school grounds with the goal of providing more hands-on learning opportunities, strengthening local ecological systems, and giving every child a place where they can learn and play outside.

The Living Schoolyards Act is supported by more than 150 organizations, including Green Schoolyards America, Trust for Public Land, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the National Wildlife Federation. We need your help to grow our coalition of organizations who endorse this groundbreaking, crucial legislation. Click the button below to find out more!

Living Schoolyard Month: Try these Schoolyard Forest Activities!

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Join us in celebrating Living Schoolyard Month by appreciating the role trees play in providing shade, beauty, and endless opportunities for learning and exploration in schoolyards! 

Below, you will find a list of curated tree-related activities and lesson plans for all ages from our Living Schoolyard Activity Guide and from the educator resources section of our Schoolyard Forest System Resource Library.


From our Living Schoolyard Activity Guide:

© AYESHA ERCELAWN

Painting the Seasons, PDF page 29 — Green Schoolyards America
Bring your art studio outside and create paintings of trees while observing and recording changes through the year. 
Grades pre-K-12

“Sense-Sational” Tree Tour, PDF page 58 — Canopy
Students use their senses to get to know trees in the schoolyard. 
Grades preK, K-2

The Tree is Like Me, PDF page 72 — TreePeople
Students learn about similarities and differences between themselves and their adopted tree through this drawing and observation activity. This can be combined with the classic All About Me activity.
Grades preK, K-2

Adopt-a-Tree, PDF page 113 — Prairie Crossing Charter School
Classes choose a tree that they will visit and observe throughout the year, looking for changes over time. By adding complexity in recording tasks, this activity can be appropriate for a range of ages.
Grades preK-12

Create a Schoolyard Site Survey Map, PDF page 115 — U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
This one-pager helps teachers get started thinking about mapping various schoolyard features.
Grades 3-12

From the Schoolyard Forest System Resource Library:

© AYESHA ERCELAWN

Infographic for a Field Guide — John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren
This activity combines writing, drawing, and data. Students combine observations of a tree with later research to create an infographic—a great way to build science communication skills and the language arts! 
Grades 6-12

Nature Journaling: I Notice, I Wonder, It Reminds Me Of — John Muir Laws and Emilie Lygren
This is an excellent set of practices for developing observation and inquiry skills. This routine can be used as a once-off activity or can be incorporated into a series of nature journal pages. 
Grades K-12

Trees and Climate Change — Canopy
This activity guides students in calculating carbon storage in a tree based on its diameter and height. It also includes basic background information on photosynthesis and greenhouse gasses. Please note that this activity depends on the tree being at least 2 meters/6 feet high and 0.25m/25 cm in diameter. 
Grades 5-12

Who’s Been in the Forest? — Green Schoolyards America
This visual guide supports students in closer observation as they look for signs of bug and animal activity among the trees. 
Grades K-8

Meet a Tree — Sharing Nature Worldwide
In this activity, one student leads a blindfolded partner to “meet” a tree and get to know it through the sense of touch. This trust-building activity can be used to develop relationship skills, social awareness, self-management, and self-awareness skills.
Grades K-12

Plan a Schoolyard Tour During Living Schoolyard Month!

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During International School Grounds Month and Living Schoolyard Month, we are encouraging schools and districts to provide tours of their living schoolyards to raise awareness of and demonstrate the benefits of living schoolyards, and to advocate for the Living Schoolyards Act. We encourage you to plan events on your schoolyards in the month of May and invite elected officials. 

Steps to planning a schoolyard tour:

  • Find a host. Schoolyard tours can be hosted by administrators, teachers, parents, or community groups. Be sure to have permission from decisionmakers!  

  • Choose sites. Decide which schoolyard or schoolyards in your district will host tours; if possible choose both exemplary spaces and high need spaces (unshaded, paved, without infrastructure) to show contrast and inequity. 

  • Invite guests. Decide who to invite: elected officials, the public, families

    • Find your elected officials here. Invite officials you know are supportive AND those who may not yet be on board. This is an opportunity for them to see and learn firsthand and that can be a powerful experience!

    • Reach out by phone and email to invite them. Elected officials may not be able to attend, but staffers will likely be available to represent and report back. Be flexible with time.

  • Set up activities and speakers. There are many things to do on a schoolyard tour if your space can support it:

    • Enlist the principal or teachers to talk about schoolyard benefits and potential. 

    • Engage students in outdoor learning activities; use our schoolyard activity guides for ideas. (Be sure to have photo permission forms signed by parents for all kids participating.)

    • Provide an opportunity for participants to get their hands dirty. 

    • Provide snacks. 

    • Print out a map of your school so attendees can make notes as they tour your school, noting inspiring living schoolyard elements, challenges, and/or opportunities for improvement.

    • Have information on Living Schoolyards Act available

  • Make the case. It is important to make the case for both the value of outdoor learning and living schoolyards and the need. You can take information from this lecture series on the benefits of living schoolyards as talking points. Living schoolyards:

    • improve educational outcomes and student engagement; 

    • improve mental and physical health as well as support healthy child development; 

    • promote environmental and climate resilience; 

    • provide community green space, and opportunities for job training and job creation.

Please let us know if you host an event! Take pictures and send them to info@greenschoolyards.org and tag us on social media. 

Introducing the Schoolyard Forest System℠ Resource Library

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We have exciting news to share! We’ve just launched our Schoolyard Forest System℠ Resource Library, a collection of free resources for school districts and nonprofits seeking to build schoolyard forests.

This growing library of curated resources is focused on helping schools and districts make the case for schoolyard forests; design, implement, and maintain them; and take learning outdoors in these spaces. We encourage school districts and non-profits pursuing CAL FIRE's Green Schoolyards Grant program to use these free resources to plan your greening projects!

Resource Spotlights

Educator Resources

This curated collection of standards-based lessons and activities supports student involvement (PreK-12) in all phases of a schoolyard forest — from the initial planning, design, and planting to long-term stewardship and hands-on learning.

Rationale for Schoolyard Forests

This collection of resources makes the case for equitable, child-accessible tree canopy on school grounds. It includes surface temperature studies, preliminary research on tree canopy equity, and benefits of schoolyard forests. It also includes includes an analysis of public policy and interviews Green Schoolyards America conducted with California school districts, public agencies, and tree planting organizations to better understand what is needed to take schoolyard forests to scale.

CA Schoolyard Tree Palette

This resource is designed for school districts, landscape architects, and school communities looking to select the best trees to plant in schoolyards in California. The palette was developed using numerous sources and has been reviewed by experts at California State Polytechnic University-Pomona and University of California, Berkeley.

Celebrate Living Schoolyard Month in May!

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May is Living Schoolyard Month! This annual celebration of school grounds was first established in 2014, as part of a California state resolution that encourages school districts to design and construct schoolyard green spaces and use them to teach standards-based curriculum. The annual celebration component of California’s Living Schoolyard Month is also intentionally aligned with ISGA’s annual May festival, International School Grounds Month, so students around the world will celebrate their school grounds simultaneously.

Living schoolyards are spaces designed to promote physical activity, connect children with nature, and foster a sense of community. Whether you’re a child, teacher, administrator, or parent, you can celebrate Living Schoolyard Month by getting outside and experiencing all the benefits they bring! 

Every year during Living Schoolyard Month, we share activities and resources that encourage outdoor activity and play in a variety of outdoor spaces. Many of these come from our Schoolyard Activity Guides, a set of free digital resources designed to encourage schools across the United States, and around the world, to take their students outside during the month of May—and throughout the year— to celebrate their grounds and use them to their fullest. Others come from our new Schoolyard Forest System Resource library!

This year we will be putting a special focus on helping students and educators engage with trees, as part of our efforts to bring living schoolyards to more children across the country through the Schoolyard Forest System℠. This initiative aims to increase tree canopy on public school grounds to shade and protect PK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change.

Keep your eyes out for activities and other ways to celebrate later this month. We can’t wait to hear about how you celebrate!

Read our 2020-2022 Impact Report!

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The green schoolyards field has made great strides in the last three years–and we are thrilled that the movement has hit a tipping point into wider public discourse and funding. We are proud to have played a part in this shift and are excited to share some of our key contributions with you! 

From helping to build a national green schoolyards response to the Covid-19 pandemic to launching a new climate-focused schoolyard forests program and growing our internal team - we couldn’t have done it without partners and donors like you.

 

Learn about our key accomplishments: 

  • We launched the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative with Ten Strands, The Lawrence Hall of Science at U.C. Berkeley, and the San Mateo County Office of Education to support schools and districts in their efforts to reopen safely and equitably during the COVID-19 pandemic. This Initiative inspired one of the largest waves of engagement in the green schoolyard movement that we have ever seen.
     

  • We launched the California Schoolyard Forest System℠ in partnership with CAL FIRE, the California Department of Education, and Ten Strands. The initiative will address schoolyard tree canopy equity and bring schoolyard forests to scale by working to align state and local policy, funding, planning, and technical assistance to support and enable broad adoption by school districts.
     

  • We worked closely with the Office of U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico on the Living Schoolyards Act, which he introduced to the U.S. Senate last fall. This is the first time a green schoolyard funding bill has ever been introduced at the federal level.

 

Again, we couldn’t have done any of this without the generous support of our partners and donors. Join us in creating a world where every can experience the natural world every day, right outside their classroom door. Together, we can transform asphalt into child-friendly ecosystems!

CAL FIRE Releases Final Guidelines for Green Schoolyards Grant

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CAL FIRE has just released final guidelines for its new Green Schoolyards Grant program.

Read the full guidelines at the link below. The proposal deadline is April 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM PT.

This first-of-its-kind grant program provides funding to public PK-12 school districts and childcare facilities for the planning or implementation phases of schoolyard greening projects, including for schoolyard forests.

Please note: this grant is awarded and administered solely by CAL FIRE.

GRANT OVERVIEW

Eligibility

Local government or education agencies, special districts (including school and park districts), and nonprofit organizations in urban districts (by census data - >2,500 people)

Grant Amounts

  • Implementation Grant: $500,000 – $30,000,000 available per applicant, with a maximum of $2,500,000 per school campus.

  • Planning Grant: $75,000 – $3,000,000 per applicant, with a maximum of $200,000 per school campus.

Match Requirement

All grant types require a cost share (matching) rate of 75/25.

Upcoming Events:

February 13, 2023; 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: CAL FIRE Webinar

April 28, 2023 at 3:00 PM PT: Grant Application Deadline

Living Schoolyards Act Lecture Series

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Exploring the Benefits to Education,
Climate, Health, and Community

Green Schoolyards America will host a free five-part webinar series on the wide-ranging benefits of the Living Schoolyards Act. In each session, experts from a variety of disciplines will highlight a group of benefits that living schoolyards—and this legislation when enacted—bring to children and communities across the nation. The sessions will provide information, resources, and ideas, and will help build a movement to pass this crucial legislation. We hope you will join us and invite your colleagues!

The Living Schoolyards Act (S-4993) is groundbreaking legislation that was introduced in the United States Senate in Fall 2022 by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM). When enacted, the bill will direct important federal resources toward transforming school grounds into living schoolyards—richly layered outdoor environments that strengthen local ecological systems while providing place-based, hands-on learning resources for students of all ages. The Living Schoolyards Act is slated to be reintroduced into the U.S. House and Senate in the first quarter of 2023.

 
 

Office of Senator Heinrich

 

Lecture Series Information

Webinar Format

Each webinar in this lecture series will feature engaging presentations from guest speakers and technical experts who will focus on the day’s theme (noted below) and discuss how the Living Schoolyards Act will allow children across the country to access the transformative benefits of living schoolyards. The lectures will be recorded and published below.

Dates and Topics 

The webinars will be held from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM PT / 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM ET on each of the dates below:

  • Wednesday, March 8 — Equity, Educational, and Academic Benefits

  • Tuesday, March 28 — Mental and Physical Health Benefits

  • Thursday, April 20 — Climate and Extreme Heat, Habitat and Ecological Systems, Stormwater Management

  • Wednesday, May 10 — Community Benefits, Green Jobs, Living Schoolyards Month

  • Thursday, May 25 — Schoolyard Design, Green Infrastructure, Green Building Standards

Accessibility

All meetings will occur online via Zoom. Attendees will have access to live captioning and a live transcript. All webinars will be recorded and available to the public on our website. 

Registration

We hope you’ll join us for this exciting online series! Participation is free. Click here to register.

 

CAL FIRE Releases Draft Guidelines for Green Schoolyard Grant

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Attention school districts, nonprofits, teachers, parents, administrators, and facilities staff! CAL FIRE has just released preliminary guidelines for its new Green Schoolyards Grant program.

The public comment period ends January 13th, 2023.

This first-of-its-kind grant program provides funding to public PK-12 school districts and childcare facilities for the planning or implementation phases of schoolyard greening projects, including for schoolyard forests.

Please note: this grant is awarded and administered solely by CAL FIRE.

Grant Overview

Eligibility

Local government or education agencies, special districts (including school and park districts), and nonprofit organizations in urban districts (by census data - >2,500 people)

Individual Grant Availability

  • OPTION 1 (IMPLEMENTATION GRANT): Between $1,000,000 and $30,000,000 per applicant including $2,000,000 max per school campus included in the project

  • OPTION 2 (PLANNING GRANT): Between $75,000 and $1,500,000 per application including $100,000 max per school campus included in the project

Match Requirement

All grant types require a cost share (matching) rate of 75/25.

Upcoming Events:

January 13, 2023: Public Comment Deadline

February 9, 2023; 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM: CAL FIRE Webinar

February 13, 2023; 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: CAL FIRE Webinar

April 28, 2023; 3:00 PM PT; Grant Application Deadline

Notes from the Field - Linden Waldorf School in Tennessee

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Green Schoolyards America’s Education Specialist, Ayesha Ercelawn, visited the campus of Linden Waldorf School in Nashville, Tennessee, on a beautiful October day. Tricia Drake, Head of School, warmly welcomed her to this independent K8 school. The grounds are scattered with majestic deciduous trees and incorporate beautiful outdoor classrooms constructed in 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

As part of Green Schoolyards America’s work on the California Schoolyard Forest System℠ initiative, this visit was an opportunity to see and learn more about the trees at Linden Waldorf School. The school grounds, comprising more than 12 acres, feel like an open forest, with tall trees, including maples, oaks, and hackberries, scattered amongst the outdoor classrooms and play areas. Recess areas and classrooms are all well shaded by these large trees with spreading canopies - keeping students cool in a city that has a long, hot season.

Academic units, particularly a 5th grade botany unit, include the trees in their lessons. The abundance of greenery on campus gives students easy access to natural play materials, and there was at least one intricately designed fairy garden/art piece with acorn cap dishes. The campus felt lush, relaxed, and welcoming to students and the adults who work there - a change from the energy felt on many blacktop campuses.

The tour of Linden Waldorf School was also a chance to observe some details of what this community did to make its outdoor classrooms work. For example, Ayesha noticed split tennis balls on chair feet to keep them from sinking into the wood chip floor, sturdy hooks for backpacks and other materials, well-secured chalkboards, and fabric drop-downs on the sides for rain or wind. These outdoor teaching areas were also clearly designed with aesthetics in mind - beautiful wood paneling integrates them into a woodsy campus. Ms. Drake shared that enrollment had actually increased during the peak of the pandemic because of the school’s ability to get students fully outside and learning in person. 

Ayesha was curious to find out what was happening with the beautiful outdoor classrooms now, as the urgency of the pandemic recedes. She noticed scattered backpacks and lunchboxes on desks, and Ms. Drake shared that many teachers were still using the classrooms for a large part of the day. Other outdoor classrooms have been successfully re-purposed, such as the one that is now used for a woodworking class. 

Green Schoolyard America’s Education Specialist Ayesha Ercelawn with Tricia Drake, Head of School at Linden Waldorf

The middle school’s newly constructed buildings were also part of the tour. Taking new realities into account, these classrooms cleverly incorporate large garage doors that open to the outside and keep air easily circulating. These large doors and a large outdoor porch with seating also allow students and teachers to move smoothly between the indoors and outdoors.

This statement on Linden Waldorf’s home page applies beautifully to our larger community exploring bringing nature successfully into our schools: “…we believe imagination—the ability to see what’s possible—is the defining skill exhibited by the most pivotal minds throughout history.”

 

Image Gallery

Join the Community of Practice for Schoolyard Forests

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Across the country, children of all ages attend school on grounds with acres of asphalt and grass, and very few trees to provide shade or protection from increasing heat and a shifting climate. It’s time to change that! 

We are embarking on a decades-long initiative to address this problem. In 2022, as a first piece of this bold vision, Green Schoolyards America, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the California Department of Education, and Ten Strands launched the California Schoolyard Forest System℠, a statewide initiative that seeks to create schoolyard forests across PK-12 public school grounds statewide to directly shade and protect students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. In the future, we envision Schoolyard Forest Systems in every state, collaboratively established with local partner organizations and state agencies.

As part of this work, we are convening an open and welcoming monthly discussion forum for school districts, county offices of education, and public agencies in California and around the country to share information as they move forward with establishing schoolyard forests at scale. Our goal is to provide support and to build a collegial “community of practice” and national network to strengthen these efforts. We also welcome tree planting organizations, landscape architects, and others from anywhere in the world who support school districts in this work.

For more detailed meeting information, including schedule, format, and link to register, click the button below!

Launch Webinar for the California Schoolyard Forest System

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On October 4, 2022, Green Schoolyards America, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the California Department of Education (CDE), and Ten Strands hosted an hour-long webinar to launch the California Schoolyard Forest System℠.

This new statewide initiative seeks to increase tree canopy on public school grounds across California to directly shade and protect PreK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change.

The webinar was hosted by speakers Sharon Danks and Alejandra Chiesa of Green Schoolyards America. Speakers from our founding partner organizations included Juan Mireles, Director of School Facilities and Transportation Services Division at the California Department of Education; Lesley Taylor, Education Administrator for the Facilities Planning Policy Standards at the California Department of Education; Andra Yeghoian, Chief Innovation Officer from Ten Strands; Walter Passmore, State Urban Forester for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE); and Julia Gowin Urban Forestry Supervisor, Northern Region for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

In addition to introducing the California Schoolyard Forest System℠, panelists from CAL FIRE discussed the agency’s Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program which includes a new grant program designed to help schools across California green their school grounds. Draft grant guidelines will be published soon and will be open to public comment. To receive updates about CAL FIRE’s Urban and Community Forestry Grant Program, sign up here.

Green Schoolyards America is currently developing online resource toolkits designed to help schools and districts plan, implement, use, and maintain schoolyard forests. These materials will be posted on our website under the “Forests” tab later this fall. In November, we will also be starting an online Schoolyard Forest Community of Practice to support schools and districts interested in increasing tree canopy on their school grounds.

To sign up for Green Schoolyards America’s newsletter and to receive updates about the California Schoolyard Forest System℠, click here.

 
This image is titled "Launch Webinar Speakers" for the California Schoolyard Forest System. It includes photographs of the seven speakers at the webinar, along with their names, titles, and organizations. The image also includes a logo for the Cali
 

Webinar Content

 

Webinar Transcript

Click on the button below to read the full transcript of the webinar, including the question and discussion portion beginning on page 12.

Resources

This section includes links and resources shared during the webinar.

 

Senator Heinrich introduces the Living Schoolyards Act!

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“One of the most important lessons that we learned from the pandemic is just how critical the outdoors can be to our mental and physical well-being. For many kids, the closest outdoor space is not a national or urban park, but the spaces right outside their classroom doors. ”
— U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)

Last Thursday, October 6, 2022, U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) held a press conference at Enos Garcia Elementary School in Taos, New Mexico to announce the Living Schoolyards Act of 2022, recently introduced in the U.S. Senate. Green Schoolyards America’s staff was honored to take part in the event.

After touring the schoolyard Senator Heinrich praised the outdoor learning program at Enos Garcia and said, “this is something that we can learn from and that should be done on a much broader scale around the country.”

This new legislation will enable schools to completely re-envision their outdoor spaces on school grounds with the goal of providing more hands-on learning opportunities, strengthening local ecological systems, and giving every child a place where they can learn and play outside.

“America’s public school grounds cover an estimated 2 million acres and play a central role in children’s daily lives. Greening school grounds by removing asphalt and adding trees is a cost effective way to directly protect students from the effects of extreme heat due to climate change,” said Sharon Danks, CEO and founder of Green Schoolyards America. “We applaud Senator Heinrich’s leadership on this groundbreaking legislation.”

“The Living Schoolyards Act will help schools develop outdoor learning environments that introduce more kids to new experiences on their journey to academic success.”
— U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.)
 

Photos from Senator Heinrich’s Press Conference

Held at Enos Garcia Elementary School in Taos, New Mexico on October 6, 2022

The Living Schoolyards Act of 2022 grants a greener future for our nation’s children

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We are thrilled to announce the introduction of legislation in the United States Senate to provide grants to schools and districts to transform their schoolyards into dynamic outdoor learning environments. The Living Schoolyards Act of 2022, introduced and sponsored by Senator Martin Heinrich (NM), calls for $700 million dollars to be invested in American schoolyards over the next four years. 

This pioneering bill will, for the first time in history, introduce the concept of living schoolyards into the federal record and when passed will direct important federal resources and funding towards transforming school grounds into living schoolyards—richly layered outdoor environments that strengthen local ecological systems while providing place-based, hands-on learning resources for youth of all ages. 

Outdoor Learning Spaces Grants will allow schools or districts to create outdoor classrooms and learning spaces. School districts will develop a master plan to turn all or some of their school yards into Living Schoolyard Projects. This process will involve community input and factor in ecological goals, educational and health outcomes for students, and relevant community partners. In the implementation phase, school districts will build the Living Schoolyards and offer professional development to educators to help them incorporate the outdoor spaces into their teaching.

Green Schoolyards America wholeheartedly endorses the Living Schoolyards Act of 2022 and applauds and supports Senator Heinrich’s leadership in working to create a greener, healthier future for children, their communities, and the planet by authoring this legislation.  The legislation’s positive impact on children, families, communities, and the planet will be far reaching and we look forward to supporting the bill’s passage in the U.S. Congress.  

 

Join us October 4th for the California Schoolyard Forest System’s kickoff webinar

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Green Schoolyards America, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), the California Department of Education (CDE), and Ten Strands invite you to join free webinar to learn about the California Schoolyard Forest System℠. This new statewide initiative seeks to increase tree canopy on public school grounds across California to directly shade and protect PreK-12 students from extreme heat and rising temperatures due to climate change. More specifically this webinar will:

  • Discuss schoolyard forests as critical infrastructure that make schools more resilient to climate change 

  • Outline how this initiative will center equity and advance California’s climate and education goals

  • Present initial research findings and long term strategies to scale up the impact

  • Announce new public funding opportunities that will be available through CAL FIRE to create schoolyard forests

Speakers

  • Alejandra Chiesa, California State Director, Green Schoolyards America

  • Sharon Danks, Founder and CEO, Green Schoolyards America

  • Juan Mireles, Director, School Facilities and Transportation Services Division, CDE

  • Walter Passmore, State Urban Forester, CAL FIRE

  • Lesley Taylor, Education Administrator, Facilities Planning Policy and Standards, CDE

  • Andra Yeghoian, Chief Innovation Officer, Ten Strands

When

October 4th, 3:30 to 4:30pm PST