Hands-on internship program that serves Latino and minority communities in Northeast and Southeast Los Angeles with the goal of bringing together high school students to learn about LA River revitalization, water and park policy, leadership development, college and professional mentorship and public health education. The program will also include an Earth Day Urban Campout event and World Environment Day events at LA State Historic Park which will bring together Eco-Interns, their families, and community members for a weekend filed with outdoor activities, information, and a connection between east and southeast LA communities and the Los Angeles River.
State Park: Los Angeles State Historic Park

Four multi-day camping and wilderness trips with underserved youth ages 14 - 24 from the East Bay. For most youth participants, this will be their first time camping. 
State Parks: China Camp State Park, Angel Island State Park, Samuel P. Taylor State Park, Salt Point State Park

Series of outdoor experiences to expose university students and local youth to outdoor spaces near them and to foster a sense of responsibility for these spaces. They will engage several cohorts of students in a series of 8 service projects, recreation experiences, and retreats in various state parks. The project will also include a capstone project of the course of the academic year that engages a group of local youth in environmental education at a local state park. Participants impacted by these programs will represent the diversity of the central valley and the greater California population. The participants will also be selected from a wide array of academic disciplines found at the University of California, Merced.
State Parks: Parks will vary but will include Wassama Round House State Historic Park, McConnel State Park, San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area, Great Valley Grassland State Park

Series of field trips and two Big Day bird counts for 6th and 7th grade afterschool attendees, celebrating the birds and building youth leadership toward stewardship of local state parks. 
State Parks: Natural Bridges State Park, Palm Beach State Park

Senderos Naturales serves Spanish-speaking families from Sonoma Valley with opportunities to explore local parks and conservation land with hikes, outings, and camping trips guided by bilingual leaders and designed with their needs in mind. 
State Park: Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

50 programs providing opportunities for 475 individual youth to explore state parks, challenge themselves, and discover their strengths. The grant will benefit middle- and high school-aged youth from underserved, "park-poor" communities in San Diego. With every opportunity to hike, bike, surf, camp and kayak, Outdoor Outreach helps youth build resilience and confidence in their power to make a difference. The grant will also allow Outdoor Outreach to work with San Diego Unified School District on recreational learning programs focused on the Tijuana River Valley and backed by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). 
State Parks: Torrey Pines State Beach & State Natural Reserve, Border Field State Park, Silver Strand State Beach, Seaside State Beach, Mount San Jacinto State Park, Matlahuayl State Marine Reserve, Cuyamaca State Park

Crystal Cove Conservancy Project CRYSTAL is an ecological restoration program for elementary and middle school students in Orange County. The program is a partnership between Crystal Cove Conservancy, UC Irvine’s Center for Environmental Biology, elementary and middle school teachers in Orange County, and resource managers from Crystal Cove State Park. Participating students not only have the opportunity to do ecological research but are also encouraged to be lifelong environmental stewards. The majority of these students come from Title 1, low-income schools. 
State Park: Crystal Cove State Park

Keeping Parks Whole Grant Project

The iconic wooden boardwalk on the Cache Creek Nature Trail and Anderson Marsh State Historic Park allow passage into and over the riparian Cache Creek habitat at the Park, home to unique flora and wildlife. It is heavily used by both the public and in connection with public guided nature walks and public school field trips to the Park that are hosted by volunteers. Due to lack of funding, the boardwalk is suffering from serious deferred maintenance and in the past has had to be closed as unsafe.

Although it is now open, many boards over about 900 linear feet of the Boardwalk are cracked and loose and the guardrails present a splinter hazard. The wood has not had a protective finish applied recently and is deteriorating. The last repair to the boardwalk was performed in 2011. Repairs need to be made now before the boardwalk further deteriorates, but no state funding is presently available to do this. Unless repairs are made soon, the boardwalk could become unsafe to use and public nature walks and interpretive school field trips using the Cache Creek Nature Trail would have to be canceled until repairs are made. Unless significant repairs are completed over the summer, it is doubtful that AMIA will be able to offer guided nature walks and school field trips through this important habitat when the park fully re-opens. The grant will allow AMIA to donate the needed lumber, materials and supplies, and State Parks personnel will be assigned to complete the repairs over the summer using the donated materials so that the boardwalk is ready to be used when the park fully re-opens.

Community Leaders Program for high school youth from the Tahoe/Truckee community and Central Valley (Merced and Fresno Counties). Majority come from families that live below the poverty line and speak no English at home. Students participate in a year-long, intensive, academic and leadership progression, including multiple weekend visits to California state parks. This program aims to build cohorts of youth to become vocal and active leaders in their communities, and to become ambassadors in their schools, families, and communities for the outdoors and, by extension, California’s state parks. 
State Parks: Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, San Luis Reservoir, Castle Rock State Park and others