NHCC recently received a $30,000 grant from Green Partners Youth Green Jobs
program through Hennepin County.
This is the second year that Hennepin County Green Partners has offered this grant program.
The purpose of the Hennepin County Green Partners Youth Green Jobs grant program is to increase employment access for BIPOC “youth” (in this case, meaning college students up to the age of 24) within the fields of environmental education. This grant perfectly aligns with the work that NHCC faculty member, Ana Munro has been doing in her Global and Cultural Studies Outdoor and Environmental Leadership Program. Ana applied for this grant in March of 2024 and just got word that she received it on July 29th. Teaching environmental leadership courses and updating NHCC’s class offerings has kept Ana very busy these past few years. She also won the 2023 Minnesota Environmental Initiative Innovation Award.
The $30,000 in grant funds that NHCC received will be used to help build capacity for student leadership opportunities. This grant will also include a stipend for students who complete all course related activities and assignments. The Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program offers students a chance to learn and do hands-on work, peer mentoring and would provide opportunities for students to visit high school classes to encourage other students to attend NHCC and enroll in our Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program.
NHCC’s new Environmental Education degree program will be launching in the fall of 2025, which will transfer to Bemidji State University and Mankato. There are also pathway programs established with Hamline University and Augsburg. (This grant opportunity will go from September 2024 to June 30, 2025) just in time for students to connect with our brand-new degree program, launching that fall!
Within the duration of this Green Partners Youth Green Jobs grant timeline, Hennepin County will take an active role, and the Program Director, Patience Caso will be visiting Ana’s class at NHCC to engage students in various topics such as how to lead a zero-waste event and better understand recycling, for example. Outdoor organizations in Minnesota such as: the YMCA of the North, the DNR, Three Rivers Park District, the National Parks Service, the International Wolf Center and Save the Boundary Waters are collaborating partners in this program, with mentors who will share their career pathways, as well as internship and career pathways with participating students.
This grant will also engage NHCC students in networking events on green jobs, outdoor education topics, environmental internships, and more!
NHCC faculty, Ana Munro’s Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program is on year three, cohort three. 25 students are registered for the course, 11 students are returning to the course, and they will be coming back this time in leadership roles. This will add a fresh dynamic to the course! Other new aspects of the course this fall are Ojibway elder, Robert Shimek, the addition of two staff representatives from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who will be visiting to help with the course, and staff from the International Association of Experiential Education (AEE) could possibly make guest appearances in Ana’s class, too!
NHCC’s Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program is special because students have the chance to build community leadership in outdoor spaces and learn from each other and mentors in nature. This is important to Ana, as she believes everyone should have the same access to the outdoors, and the health and wellness benefits that come from it.
Within the state of Minnesota, new jobs in outdoor education have recently been created. An office of outdoor recreation was just opened under Governor Tim Walz and is projected to add many jobs. Ana added, “As a college, if we work on building up this program, we could be uniquely positioned later on to help launch students into green careers, with job opportunities right here, within the state.”
Overall, this $30,000 grant will go towards: funding networking events for NHCC students, event speakers, food, outdoor education gear for students (since outdoor gear is known to be outrageously expensive!) The grant funds will be very helpful in creating opportunities for NHCC’s Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program.
Any student can participate in the GCST Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program at NHCC. Students who have previously taken the GCST 1970 Nature Immersion and Environmental Justice class can come back as peer leaders in the second class, GCST 2970, Outdoor Experiential Program Leadership. There are opportunities for all students, and we’re so excited for our students to benefit from the overflowing advantages that this grant will provide! Major congratulations to Ana Munro, for working tirelessly on her Outdoor and Environmental Leadership program, applying for grants and for making outdoor education and leadership a reality at NHCC!