This blog is part of a series that features our Organizational Members. We appreciate their continued support and look forward to you learning more about each organization.
Jeffers
Foundation purpose and vision is to help foster environmental stewardship among young people and families by encouraging the practice of sound principles of environmental stewardship in schools and elsewhere and encouraging healthful outdoor family activities and outdoor experiential learning.
Jeffers has among other accomplishments:
- Developed the concept of Team Teaching with Mother Nature where we teach teachers how to
take their students to The Outdoor Classroom for experiential learning. - Provides students with a notebook we call a Jeffers Journal in which they can record their observations and analyze what they experience while in the Outdoor Classroom.
- Originated the Junior Naturalist Program for younger school kids to involve them in Service Learning activities.
- Assist teachers in taking their students to outdoor educational locations through our Green Bus transportation subsidy program.
- Partners with the Minnesota Freshwater Society to provide student lessons based on the Minnesota
- Weatherguide™ Environment Calendar (The Calendar in the Classroom ) and provide such a calendar for every participating classroom.
- Developed the very successful ECOTIME environmental activities program cards which have been used successfully at every age level to integrate outdoor/environmental education into the daily school routine.
- Originated and maintains the FamiliesOutdoors.Org website where in two or three clicks one can easily find outdoor activities in any season for the whole family all around the seven county metro area.
- Participates with other organizations around the state in activities that further the basic goals of fostering environmental stewardship such as the River Keepers in the Fargo/Moorhead area and the EPA at the State Fair , many schools and other organizations through participation in School Field Days and outdoor fairs.
- Worked with the Prior Lake Savage Area schools to build a school district which has been recognized nationally by the US Department of Education as a leader in environmental education.
- Contributed in various ways to a host of schools all around the state whose environmental educational activities/achievements have been recognized nationally by the US Department of Education Green Schools Program.
- Developed a program known as WRAP, the Waste Reduction Awareness Program for the reduction of food and other waste in the school lunchroom.
- Has achieved a good working relationship with and made major financial contributions to the city of Savage Minnesota for the purpose of constructing a LEEDS GOLD certified environmental learning Center, McColl Pond ELC.
- Has developed a program called A Garden 4 Every school where modest grants have been awarded to more than 70 schools all around the state to help start school gardens and web resources provided to encourage and support school garden activities.