Over the impact period july 1, 2022 - june 30, 2023, outdoor outreach will provide 200+ programs in local refuges and adjacent areas for 1,000 individual youth

Through recreational learning activities like kayaking, mountain biking, surfing, hiking, and stewardship, outdoor outreach will create an environment in which participants feel safe and welcome, both in the outdoors and specifically in wildlife refuges. By forging an authentic connection between urban youth and close-to-home open space areas, outdoor outreach can build stepping stones of engagement that inspire youth participants to respect and protect the places where they play.furthermore, robust recreational learning programs provide an important pipeline of engaged youth to apply to and join outdoor outreach's leadership program, which provides opportunities for young adults to earn a paycheck, build outdoor leadership skills, and explore conservation-based career pathways while staying connected to school. The leadership program provides an innovative and responsive mechanism to further USFWS's mission to urban audiences, while also building outdoor outreach's capacity through a pipeline of skilled instructors who represent the diversity of the youth we serve.finally, outdoor outreach and the USFWS will work together to install the "final pipe" to our workforce diversity pipeline through a collaborative internship program. One SAN diego youth will be hired as an intern to gain 24 weeks of work experience in natural resource management, outdoor interpretation and education, and community engagement over the course of the grant period. This young leader will work with the visitor services staff to support the efforts of the socal urban wildlife refuge program. The intern will focus on developing and delivering education and interpretive programming both on and offsite in SAN diego communities. The intern will attend community meetings and other events as needed, and will help in refuge outreach efforts to support partners.importantly, outdoor outreach will pay this intern $15/hour for up to 960 hours of internship work, helping to alleviate the financial burden that often limits low-income and underrepresented youth from participating professionally in unpaid conservation and outdoor education/recreative internships.