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CHAPTER 6
Toward Sustainable Nature Play Partnerships
“I have met with my supervisors to create a plan for my staff and site as
well a larger plan for our department / agency. The plan for my site is
already underway. Some training has already taken place and will continue.
Department plan has target start date that occurs before end of 2016.”
–FPDCC PARTICIPANT
Organizational partnerships can only succeed over • Organizations need to be “all in.” Knowledge must
time—become sustainable programs—when the flow from the bottom up and from the top down.
collaboration is a priority institution wide and is part of
each organization’s mission and life-blood, deeply-rooted • Be creative about space for programming.
to survive staffing changes, unpredictable funding, and • As in every relationship, things change. Stay flexible
licensing and regulation fluctuations. Change over time
is inevitable, and it is a strong partnership that can adapt and know programs will evolve. Change is ok as
and grow as necessity requires. With a steadfast focus on long as you keep children’s interests front of mind.
the young learners they serve and a commitment to an • Work to accommodate families’ time constraints.
enriching purpose, partnerships are far more powerful For instance, if it helps improve attendance, conduct
than the sum of their individual parts. activities in partner site’s neighborhoods.
• Make sure that all collaborative programming is
relevant to children and their lives (e.g. these are
trees in your own neighborhood, this is how the
strawberries you eat grow).
NatureStart Network Case Studies for Establishing Little Red Schoolhouse:
Sustainable Programming and Institutional Buy-In Empowering and Inspiring Staff
Creating new long-lasting programming, forging new Little Red School House Nature Center staff have
partnerships—these are admirable goals that sometimes become strong advocates of nature play. They feel
can be thwarted through an array of institutional inspired to share knowledge and skills with others. This
challenges—budgets, staffing, space, licensing. commitment is possible because the FPDCC (of which
NatureStart Network participants learned that while the Center is a part) has systematically embraced nature-
driving and maintaining these changes can be difficult, based learning. Staff in every department district-wide
the result is tremendously rewarding. will be NatureStart trained so they may engage young
audiences with confidence. Says Julie Vandervort,
director of the Little Red School House Nature Center,
“I’ve had a nature play space for two years, and having
learned from our NatureStart training and collaboration
with Mary Crane and El Valor, I see things through the
lens of our youngest learners and have changed several
of our activities. As a manager, it’s my responsibility to
empower my staff to make decisions geared to our shared
goals and serve as an advocate when they need it.”
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