This project, “Global, Local, Coastal: Preparing the Next Generation for A Changing Planet," was led by Groundwork Hudson Valley in partnership with Sarah Lawrence College's Center for the Urban River, to integrate and expand the work of three award-winning environmental education centers in Yonkers, NY – The Science Barge, Ecohouse and the Center for the Urban River (CURB). Its primary objective was to prepare low-income students for the impact of a changing climate so that they can participate both personally and professionally in a world in which these issues are increasingly prevalent. It reached an audience that is not well served by traditional programs and is most vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. Over the course of two years, the project served 544 high school youth from the Yonkers public school system through a new, integrated curriculum that presented these issues from multiple perspectives in an experiential learning format. Beyond its impact on students, the project has had a broader impact on people in our region who have visited the Science Barge, Ecohouse and CURB, which together receive close to 10,000 people each year. The new exhibits have reinforced key themes related to resiliency and adaptation and staff have integrated these concepts into their public tours. Beyond our region, the project has further impacted STEM educators across the country with access to the newly created "Global, Local, Coastal" curriculum and web application which is posted on Groundwork's website and accessible without charge. Other partners included NOAA’s Hudson River National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and Center for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN), and Yonkers Public Schools. The project has been carried out in a community that has been severely affected by extreme weather in the last decade, including three hurricanes. Outcomes have helped to create “an informed society to anticipate and respond to climate and its impacts” and served to support NOAA’s goal of a developing a “Weather-Ready Nation” and “Resilient Coastal Communities and Economies.”

Brooklyn College, working with NWF Eco-Schools USA, will create The Resilient Schools Consortium (RiSC) Program that increases environmental literacy while engaging high school and middle school students in climate resilience planning and practice in New York City (NYC). The City's long-term planning document, OneNYC, sets forth a vision for a resilient city without specifying a role for students or including specific plans for their schools. This project addresses this gap by developing resilience plans for NYC schools and including student voices in the process. Student RiSC teams at NYC public schools in Brooklyn impacted by Hurricane Sandy will utilize a new Climate RiSC Curriculum based on science from the National Climate Assessment and other NOAA resources to explore the vulnerability of their schools and neighborhoods to climate change, variability and extreme weather. The RiSC teams will follow a resilience assessment process modeled after the NOAA Community Resilience Index to develop resilience projects for their schools and neighborhoods. These Students will then present their resilience plans to NYC Department of Education officials and representatives from the NYC's Office of Resilience and Recovery at RiSC Summits coordinated with the Science and Resilience Institute at Jamaica Bay. The RiSC Program and Climate RiSC Curriculum will be integrated into National Wildlife Federation's Eco-Schools USA program and disseminated nationally through the networks of the project partners.

The Wild Center’s Convening Young Leaders for Climate Resilience in New York State project will increase climate literacy among high school students and teachers in New York City, the Catskills and the Adirondacks and give students the leadership skills to help their communities respond to the impacts of climate change. Working with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County, the Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning School in Brooklyn, and the Alliance for Climate Education, along with NOAA, the New York State Office of Climate Change and NYSERDA, the project comes at a time when the impacts of climate change loom larger than ever. But today’s youth – the generation most likely to mitigate its impacts – have had little exposure to the issue: Just 25 percent of American teens demonstrate a basic understanding of it. Project partners will incorporate state, regional and local planning in their efforts, which will establish Youth Climate Summits and Youth Climate Leadership Practicums in the three project regions; build on educators’ interests through a Teacher Climate Institute; and communicate climate change science and resilience through community outreach activities. By the conclusion of the project, we expect to work directly with more than 600 students and 200 teachers, each of whom will gain a better understanding of the impacts of climate change in New York State, a greater capacity to make informed decisions about the threats to their own regions, and a stronger connection with other community members and ongoing resiliency work. In addition, the project will also create replicable tools, video documentation for local outreach, and training approaches for youth leadership and teachers regardless of their location.