This workshop is a series; please plan to attend all three sessions.

Dates & times: 

Part 1: 4/8/2025  3:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m., PT

Part 2: 4/15/2025 3:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m., PT

Part 3: 4/22/2025 3:45 p.m.-5:45 p.m., PT

Format & Length: online, 3 afternoons, 6 hours total 

Location: Zoom 

Audience: K-12th grade educators, formal and nonformal, including 5th & 6th grade educators working with students that attend outdoor school 

Description: How can educators support Black students' experiences with nature? While we may assume that nature feels safe and enriching to all students this may not always be true. Understanding the contexts surrounding different communities' relationships with nature helps us to create programming that moves from a deficit-based framework towards a joy-based framework. 

Come to this workshop series to learn about the historical context of the Black Oregonian experience in the outdoors - including uncomfortable truths about lived experiences, current realities, and what environmental educators can do to support fostering joy in nature connection. 

This workshop series is broken down into three sessions. Each session builds upon the previous one, please plan on attending all three.  Sessions will not be recorded. 

Part 1 - Historical Context 

Part 2 - Current realities of Black Oregonians engaging in the outdoors 

Part 3 - Application to environmental education

Brought to you by: OUS Extension Outdoor School, Oregon Black Pioneers, and Oregon Natural Resources Education Program (ONREP) 

A $100 stipend is available from OSU Extension Service Outdoor School to support the attendance of eligible outdoor school educators who are not being compensated by their employer for the time they attend the workshop. Educators must attend all three sessions to be eligible for a stipend. Please contact with questions about stipend eligibility.

Registration required. Offered at no cost to Oregon Educators. PDUs available. Substitute reimbursement available on teacher workdays.