The friends of the chicago river will design, demonstrate, and disseminate environmental education practices, methods, and techniques, that will serve to increase environmental literacy and…

The Friends of the Chicago River was awarded a $157,442 Project Grant from the Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 under the Environmental Education Grants Program (CFDA 66.951). The grant will support the design and delivery of environmental education practices, methods, and techniques to increase environmental literacy and encourage beneficial environmental behavior in the Chicago-Calumet River watershed. Key deliverables include developing and sharing curriculum, hosting workshops, and conducting field trips to the Chicago River to conduct outreach with school districts and teachers. Subawards will provide stipends to teachers for training, workshops, and curriculum development to support both laboratory and field-based learning about the river. Expected outcomes are a deeper appreciation of the Chicago River, increased interest in STEM fields and environmental stewardship among students, teachers and community members in the watershed area. The grant period is from December 1, 2022 to September 30, 2024.

The friends of the chicago river will design, demonstrate, and disseminate environmental education practices, methods, and techniques, that will serve to increase environmental literacy and encourage behavior that will benefit the environment in the chicago-calumet river watershed. The grantee will build upon previously-funded work by bolstering program outreach in underserved communities, partnering with schools to expand their capacity to engage with the river as a site for stem learning, and empowering diverse communities to engage with environmental concepts.activities:activities to be performed during this project period include developing presentations, sharing curriculum, hosting workshops and conducting fieldtrips to the chicago river.subrecipient:sub awards will support teacher engagement in the network through stipends to support teacher training, workshop attendance, curriculum management, and purchasing learning materials that support both laboratory and field learning.outcomes:deliverables include conducting outreach and programming with school districts, hosting teacher workshops and stewardship field trips. Expected outcomes include a deeper appreciation of the chicago river, increased interest in science, technology, mathematics and engineering fields and interest in becoming a steward of the river. Outcomes will benefit students, teachers and community members in the chicago-calumet river watershed.