Creating New Opportunities by Re-Imagining the Possibilities for Resilience Education

Abstract:

Adaptive capacity is a component of the assessment process for building a resilient community. It is also a useful ability to possess when managing a youth resilience education program that is built upon in-person work that is not possible during the time of COVID-19. Recharge the Rain (RtR) is a NOAA Environmental Literacy Program (ELP) project created by Arizona Project WET (APW) and Watershed Management Group (WMG) in 2017. The project empowers K-12 teachers, students and community members through education and opportunities to build community resilience in Tucson. Students lead the design of school rain gardens to mitigate climate change impacts. Community members are recruited to assist in the installation of the rain gardens. Schoolyards become living laboratories with student-led investigations in the rain gardens. Summer heat monitoring, in collaboration with University of Arizona researchers, provides data to help understand the efficacy of this type of green infrastructure in reducing urban heat. All of these physical activities ceased in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adapting to these restrictions and re-imagining what is possible has provided unique opportunities for the RtR project. Online summer teacher professional development offerings ranged from deeper to broader. Teachers had opportunities to engage in a rainwater harvesting course, data workshop or Climate Generation’s Stay-In-Stitute. WMG initiated a campaign for installation of hand washing stations, known as Tippy Taps, free of charge to schools and community centers. This provided an opportunity to engage and build relationships with new schools to steer them towards RtR participation. The 2020 fall semester will continue to provide new opportunities that the RtR project will share as we adapt to the changing conditions and re-imagine the possibilities.