Evergreen and Friends of Cheasty: Working to Connect Kids to Nature
Last week, Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance partnered with Friends of Cheasty Greenspace to take part in an exciting project through the City of Seattle Parks and Recreation Department.
The project aimed to connect diverse, underserved youth to nature by engaging them in a six-week summer employment program. Focused on urban forest restoration and community leadership development, the project selected 10 teenage applicants from the area to take part through the Rainier Vista Environmental Leadership Institute.
For part of the 6 weeks participants worked in the Cheasty Greenspace, removing invasive plants and helping build trail. To provide participants with a better understanding of the future opportunities that Cheasty Greenspace could potentially provide, Evergreen MTB took the young leaders out to Saint Edward State Park for some mountain bike skills instruction and riding.
Some loved cruising through the trails on mountain bikes while others were understandably more apprehensive, but everyone enjoyed the experience. One participant (who immediately took to mountain biking) asked, “If I can buy a mountain bike, where can I do this near South Seattle?” We had to let him know that while there are no opportunities in South Seattle yet, their work in Cheasty Greenspace was helping to create a place where kids and local mountain bikers could potentially come to ride in the future.
Evergreen led a trail design session the next day and asked the youth participants what the impact of recreational opportunities like those at Saint Ed’s would be if they became available in their own neighborhoods. They explained that the chance for more outdoor activities and time spent in nature would certainly improve their lives. One (new) rider responded that it would have “great impact on me emotionally and mentally.”