Department or Program

Environmental Studies

Abstract

This community-engaged research project, conducted in collaboration with Presente! Maine, explored how outdoor-based educational materials can support displaced youth in Southern Maine. Presente! Maine is a grassroots mutual aid organization serving Afro/Indigenous Latine communities, with a focus on food and land access. Responding to community-identified needs, the project sought to design culturally relevant, accessible, and place-based educational resources that nurture a sense of place, foster engagement with local food systems, and introduce empowering nutritional concepts. To gather knowledge for the project, a literature review, interviews with environmental and food educators, and volunteering were all incorporated. Through centering the land and the community as the primary sources for learning, we developed education material that highlighted cultural food values, subjective sensory experiences, and discovery-based learning. The result of this community engaged research project was a deliverable that aimed to assist Presente! in their grant writing, shared our frameworks for creating educational material, and provided an extensive portfolio of lesson plans and activity ideas they can implement for their programming.

Level of Access

Restricted: Archival Copy [No Access]

First Advisor

Holly Ewing

Second Advisor

Christine Martinez

Date of Graduation

5-2025

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Number of Pages

136

Components of Thesis

1 pdf file

Community Engagement

1

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