We are proud to announce that Oxbow was recognized as an awardee in the inaugural Kids Outside Alliance awards for the success and importance of our environmental education programs.

Kids Outside Alliance (KOA) is a volunteer-run organization with the goal of rallying regional community support for the needs of nonprofits connecting Seattle-area K-12 youth with the natural outdoors. Its first awards ceremony was held on Saturday, May 9^th at Georgetown Brewing Co. in Seattle.

Oxbow was recognized as one of three awardees among 15 nominated organizations providing “tremendous value to our community and to the benefit of our natural outdoor places.”

Children’s Program Manager Sarah Cassidy accepted the award on behalf of Oxbow and shared the “magical” experiences from her own childhood that inspire our farm-based educational programming.

Also recognized at the event as awardees were Nature Vision and Seattle Inner City Outings.

As part of the award, KOA is putting a spotlight on the self-identified needs of the three recognized organizations. Our highlighted needs are:

Help get kids to the farm: To make Oxbow’s farm education accessible to ALL children, we want to offer transportation to schools unable provide it for themselves. Donations of at least $50 will help us reach our total goal of $2,500.

Help us form a coalition of environmental educators (50% time): At an exchange visit to IslandWood we realized that outdoor educators could amplify our collective impact by coordinating our offerings and key conservation messages to kids. We seek a 50%-time position to spearhead this collaborative effort.

Find us an education consultant: Oxbow has been collaborating with Riverview School District to develop an outdoor-based education package where teachers can fulfill core curricular requirements. We seek technical assistance from an education consultant.

We are thrilled to have been recognized, thankful for the spotlight, and look forward to continuing our relationship with KOA in the future.

If you think you can help us with any of our three needs, please send an email to education@oxbow.org.

To read about the rest of the awardees and nominees, click here.