partners in change awards
PROGRAMMING, EVENTS, AND RECREATION AWARD
Category Requirements:
The Programming, Events, and Recreation Award will honor a creative, innovative, impactful, or fun program, event, recreational program, nonprofit, business, or individual that has brought life, fun, learning, entertainment, or exposure to our urban waterways. Individuals, organizations, events, programs, classes, nonprofits, businesses, and others involved in the creation, implementation, or funding of these programs and events are all welcome honorees.
2014 Finalists
EARTH FORCE & DENVER PUBLIC WORKS
KIC-NET Education Partnership
Rationale:
Denver Public Works contracts Earth Force to provide education and outreach services, a Clean Water Act requirement of Denver's municipal separate stormwater sewer system permit (MS4). Earth Force is developing a next generation MS4-compliant way to teach. This new approach is called Keep It Clean - Neighborhood Environmental Trios (KIC-NET). A KIC-NET site consists of a school, a park, and a body of water within a 10-minute walk of each other. Another trio is formed by the governmental organizations convened: the school district, public works, and parks & recreation. The Denver pilot has 10 KIC-NET sites and involved 757 students in the 2013-14 school year. KIC-NET schools have an average Free/Reduced Lunch of 91%, aligning goals of water conservation with a priority of reaching underrepresented audiences. Students learn to solve neighborhood issues by applying classroom learning to problems they've discovered right in their neighborhoods.
Photos:
Category Requirements:
The Programming, Events, and Recreation Award will honor a creative, innovative, impactful, or fun program, event, recreational program, nonprofit, business, or individual that has brought life, fun, learning, entertainment, or exposure to our urban waterways. Individuals, organizations, events, programs, classes, nonprofits, businesses, and others involved in the creation, implementation, or funding of these programs and events are all welcome honorees.
2014 Finalists
EARTH FORCE & DENVER PUBLIC WORKS
KIC-NET Education Partnership
Rationale:
Denver Public Works contracts Earth Force to provide education and outreach services, a Clean Water Act requirement of Denver's municipal separate stormwater sewer system permit (MS4). Earth Force is developing a next generation MS4-compliant way to teach. This new approach is called Keep It Clean - Neighborhood Environmental Trios (KIC-NET). A KIC-NET site consists of a school, a park, and a body of water within a 10-minute walk of each other. Another trio is formed by the governmental organizations convened: the school district, public works, and parks & recreation. The Denver pilot has 10 KIC-NET sites and involved 757 students in the 2013-14 school year. KIC-NET schools have an average Free/Reduced Lunch of 91%, aligning goals of water conservation with a priority of reaching underrepresented audiences. Students learn to solve neighborhood issues by applying classroom learning to problems they've discovered right in their neighborhoods.
Photos:
Example of a KIC-NET Site
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Students investigating through KIC-NET program
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LITTLETON/ENGLEWOOD WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
World Water Monitoring Challenge and Water Exposition
Rationale:
The World Water Monitoring Challenge (WWMC) is an international education and outreach program. This program builds public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by engaging citizens to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies. Focused on the southwest Denver-metro area, the Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant (L/E WWTP) became actively involved in this citizen science program to promote watershed protection and water quality awareness to their customers and the general public along the South Platte River.
L/E WWTP invites volunteer water monitoring groups, water quality agencies, school students and the general public to test key indicators of water quality in Segment 14 of the South Platte River. L/E WWTP staff also developed and implemented an annual Clean Water Exposition that is conducted concurrently with structured WWMC water testing. For the 10th year in 2013, over 400 students, teachers, and visitors participated in water sampling/expo activities. Through public education and citizen science, L/E WWTP contributes to a reduction in nonpoint source pollution and an increase in water quality awareness.
Photos:
WWMC Tests
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Students Testing Turbidity in the South Platte River
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ONE WORLD ONE WATER CENTER FOR URBAN WATER EDUCATION & STEWARDSHIP
Rationale:
The One World One Water (OWOW) Center for Urban Water Education and Stewardship was created at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) with three major goals:
1) Offer an interdisciplinary Water Studies minor for any major;
2) Provide experiential off-campus activities; and
3) Enhance water stewardship on and beyond the Auraria Campus
Since its inception, the OWOW Center has:
1) Participated in river cleanup days and adopted a stretch of the Cherry Creek through Denver Parks + Recreation.
2) Worked with the MSU Denver Theater Department, Denver Water, Aurora Water, and the City of Boulder to create an educational water theater troupe to perform at schools near the South Platte River.
3) Hosted author talks, sustainability fairs, water internships, and teacher education opportunities.
4) Conducted a water workshop with Denver Botanic Gardens and Denver Water called "Landscape Denver: 2030."
5) Hosted over 850 Denver area 6th graders for a Water Festival on campus in May 2013.
Photos:
Course sampling
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Students sampling water quality
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SPORTAINABILITY
Rationale:
Sportainability International is a local grassroots nonprofit that focuses on inclusive community programming, helping people to Move:More:Better and enjoy an active, healthy social life.
Sportainability hosts Adventure Summer Camps for youth grades 4-8 in partnership with the YMCA of Boulder Valley. As a part of this camp Sportainability instructors teach a paddling progression at Confluence Park on stand-up paddleboards. The camp culminates in a mile+ South Platte River trip ending at Confluence Park. Curriculum includes whitewater safety, leadership skills, outdoors stewardship, the importance of public lands, Leave No Trace Ethics, and the history, significance, and importance of our urban waterways. Sportainability is a leader in the community, utilizing public lands and urban waterways to inspire individuals to be healthy, active, and engaged in their communities.
Photos:
Sportainability_1.jpg Sportainability_3.jpg
Sportainability camp attendees paddleboarding on the South Platte River at Confluence Park