Richmond was recently awarded a $700,000 state parks grant to fund the Youth Outdoors Richmond Program.
Expected to launch in spring 2023, Youth Outdoors Richmond will provide local youth with acccess to the shoreline, parks, trails and open spaces locally and beyond, according to the city.
Richmond families helped plan the program’s activities and locations through a series of outreach events and surveys during summer 2021. Families expressed interest in fishing, horseback riding, environmental stewardship and overnight camping, “all of which will be included in the program,” the city said.
The program will have youth participate in activities such as creek monitoring, design challenge activities, educational walks, kayaking, and tree and watershed stewardship activities in partnership with Groundwork Richmond and The Watershed Project.
The $700,000 grant was part of $57 million in state funding that helps advance Gov. Gavin Newsom’s “Outdoor for All” initiative and First Partner Jennifer Seibel Newsom and the National Resources Agency’s “Outdoors for All” initiative supporting underserved communities.
The Richmond Community Services Department, Recreation Division will run the Youth Outdoors Richmond program.
“As a department, we take pleasure in creating programming that is designed by the community,” a city representative said. “We are so excited to receive the grant and actually have the Youth Outdoors Richmond program for our community. The community designed it, and now they actually get to see how their hard work pays off.”
Families interested in enrolling their youth in the program can contact the Community Services Department, Recreation Division at (510) 620-6793.
