Assistance award purpose is for its program PATHWAYS to watershed stewardship careers (PATHWAYS), which helps high-school-age students learn about water systems and natural resource management while…

Assistance award purpose is for its program PATHWAYS to watershed stewardship careers (PATHWAYS), which helps high-school-age students learn about water systems and natural resource management while developing skills and connections that will be crucial for careers in the field. The program focuses on reaching students in underserved communities, thereby addressing the essential challenge of diversifying the pipeline for the near future of the workforce in this field. Activities to be performed include interns spending the summer gaining valuable field experience, honing their leadership and communication skills, and making professional connections within the regional water-management community. Through field research, data collection, and interaction with seasoned professionals, interns learn about urban and natural water systems, including natural ecosystems and human impacts on water quality. Anticipated deliverables/expected outcomes include the following: - 84 interns participating in PATHWAYS internships - 15,660 hours of paid work for interns - $104,220 in earned income by students developing skills and connecting to water resources workforce - measurable improvements to targeted sensitive riparian habitat in parks and open spaces, including reduction in invasive weed cover and increase in native canopy. Quantitative objectives will be determined following the first season of the equitable green opportunities for youth in highline (EGOYH) program. These results will be tracked in real time by the greenway trust and project partners, and reported to funders as requested. There are no subrecipient activities mentioned in the project narrative.activities:provide more than 80 high-school students with immersive work experience and extensive mentoring by professionals in water and natural resource management roles. Student interns will receive more than 15,000 hours of training and career development in preparation for future jobs in the field. The program comprises of two distinct, partnership-based subprograms: - clean water ambassadors - a year-long paid internship between the mountains to sound greenway trust and king county partnership, in which interns spend the summer gaining valuable field experience, honing their leadership and communication skills, and making professional connections within the regional water-management community. Through field research, data collection, and interaction with seasoned professionals, interns learn about urban and natural water systems, including natural ecosystems and human impacts on water quality. After a summer of work, each intern designs their own water-quality project, which they then lead to completion during the following school year. - equitable green opportunities for youth in highline (EGOYH) - designed in partnership between the mountains to sound greenway trust, pacific education institute, and highline school district. Students will participate in a six-week summer CTE (career and technical education) course while earning both school credit and a stipend. Students will work with greenway trust staff to learn about local ecosystems and perform hands-on ecological restoration to put their new knowledge and skills to work. Subrecipient:no subawards are included in this assistance agreement.outcomes:the greenway trust expects the following beneficial outcomes from the PATHWAYS program: - improved ecosystem health and habitat quality due to ecological restoration that benefits threatened native fish population, other wildlife, and people, as measured by feet/acres of restoration, native vegetation planted, invasives removed, salmon reproduction. - cleaner water in puget sound and tributary streams, as measured in water-quality monitoring assessments - increased student awareness about career opportunities in water/natural resource sectors, as documented by program assessments on knowledge acquisition. B