Subaru Scholarship Fund Provides Access to Environmental Education and Nature Play for Underserved Youth
March 24, 2014
Playing outside, walking in nature, and exploring the woods give children time to relax and have fun outdoors, as well as a host of health benefits from better immune system health to improved attention and focus. Yet these opportunities are often unavailable to underserved, urban children. The Schuylkill Center is thrilled to announce, in partnership with the Subaru of America Foundation, that these children will now have access to nature-based environmental education opportunities. Thanks to the generosity of the Subaru of America Foundation, SCEE has established the Subaru Scholarship Fund for children from families that are currently homeless or transitioning from homelessness in Northwest Philadelphia. These children will now have access to the Schuylkill Center's day-off camps, summer camps, and after-school program.
Children are referred through a partnership arrangement with the Northwest Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (NPIHN) to make our environmental education programs available to the children they serve. "The children who have participated from NPIHN have loved the time they spent with us, you can see it on their faces and in their enthusiasm," says Gail Farmer, Director of Education. "Support through the Subaru Scholarship Fund is greatly appreciated and allows us to continue to provide children of all economic backgrounds with the opportunity to experience the thrill of adventure, the joy of discovery and the peace of being in nature."
Day-off camps, summer camps, and the after-school program provide full days of nature-based programming that immerse children in nature where they play together and learn about the natural environment. Participation in these programs provides numerous benefits to underserved children: contact with nature can increase readiness for learning, improve physical health through outdoor exercise, and boost mental health. Furthermore, time in nature reduces stress and improves mood, particularly in city kids. The Subaru Scholarship Fund will help make these benefits available to more children. "It makes our program for families experiencing homelessness so much stronger when we can extend the types of programs that are run by the Schuylkill Center to the people we serve," says Rachel Falcove, NPIHN Executive Director "These opportunities truly widen each participant's world of possibilities."
"We're truly pleased to establish the Subaru Scholarship Fund allowing Philadelphia's at-risk youth to participate in the Center's nature play and education program," says Sandra Capell, Subaru's Community Services Manager. "Support from the Subaru of America Foundation seeks to ensure that all children, including those who are at-risk from families in need, have access to these vitally important, worthwhile programs that are life-changing for inner-city youth."
