The National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative was co-founded by Green Schoolyards America; the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley; San Mateo County Office of Education; and Ten Strands. It launched publicly with an initial vision statement and a webinar on June 4, 2020, that proposed that schools and districts across the country could address the pandemic by using school grounds and local parks as strategic, cost-effective tools for improving academic, mental, and physical well-being as they reopen.

Working Groups

The webinar that launched the Initiative was attended by over 1000 people. After the webinar dozens of organizations and hundreds of subject matter experts in education, design, health, planning, and other related fields came together and formed ten working groups. They volunteered thousands of hours to devise ways to support schools and districts across the U.S. in reopening safely and equitably using outdoor spaces. During the last seven months of 2020, the working groups created the National Outdoor Learning Library—a comprehensive, free, online collection of more than 150 practical tools and resources for outdoor learning and play.

Emergency Schoolyard Design Volunteers

The Emergency Schoolyard Design Volunteers program was launched later in the summer of 2020.  Founded by Claire Latané, ASLA, LEED AP, SITES AP, an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture at CalPoly Pomona and a member of Green Schoolyards America’s Collaborating Research Team. The program included hundreds of design professionals: practitioners, professors, and students who volunteered their time to help schools who needed thought partners in planning and visualizing how to move learning outdoors on their campus. Organized in regional teams, the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative provided training and support on how volunteers could best support schools, and then matched volunteers to schools requesting assistance. Low income schools were prioritized with a focus on serving the most vulnerable students first.

Community of Practice

In the summer of 2020 the initiative began hosting Working Group 11 for “early adopter” schools and districts, later named the Community of Practice, a welcoming and open virtual forum where people from across the US (and abroad) could gather, learn, network, share information, and get their questions answered.  Each meeting included presentations by schools and districts that were deep in planning or up and running outdoors; sharing of new resources from the National Outdoor Learning library as they were published; and a chance to network and talk in breakout sessions with others.  Find out more about the Community of Practice here.