Land Ecosystems: SMC & Community Based Partners

Climate Corps Education Outside: Climate Corps Education Outside is a program of SEI that supports schools to place an emerging educator on their campus for one year that will work with students, manage the garden space, and engage a school community while getting their hands in the soil.

Living Classrooms: Living Classrooms mission is "to make education come alive and to empower the next generation by growing environmental champions, inquisitive learners, and healthy eaters who know where their food comes from". Living Classrooms partners with schools to provide on-site science and environmental education lessons to TK- 5th graders. 

Food Corps: Food Corps is a part of the AmeriCorps Service Network which places paid service members in schools for one year to lead hands-on lessons in existing school gardens. Schools apply annually to receive funding for a service member to be dedicated to their school site. 

Canopy: Canopy is an environmental nonprofit that plants and cares for trees where people need them the most. Our mission is to grow urban tree canopy in the Midpeninsula communities for the benefit of all. We offer standards aligned K-12 education programs, that provide hands-on, outdoor activities that spark kids’ curiosity about trees and nature.

Each Green Corner (EGC): EGC’s Living Campus Program collaborates with schools to design garden-centered outdoor educational settings that fit within the school’s educational goals, and then assist with installation, ongoing maintenance, and harvesting of produce grown within the gardens for donation to EGC’s food distribution partners. EGC coordinates volunteers for garden maintenance and provides supplemental curriculum that school educators can implement.

San Mateo County Office of Sustainability Community Garden Program (SMCOOS): SMCOOS's Community Garden Program provides funding for garden installations within SMC and has a history of funding school garden projects. Check out their school garden map with past partner schools! 

Grassroots Ecology: Grassroots Ecology leverages the power of volunteers to create healthy lands across Silicon Valley. We restore native plants to open spaces and neighborhoods, steward creeks and watersheds, and provide hands-on nature education.

San Bruno Mountain Watch: San Bruno Mountain Watch leads educational experiences that connect people to the cultural and natural history of San Bruno Mountain and provides service-learning opportunities through community-based habitat restoration projects.

Flows to Bay: San Mateo’s county wide StormWater Pollution Prevention Program. Founded in 1990 SMCWPPP’s mission is to reduce the pollution carried to local creeks, the San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean. They have key information regarding the local watershed, rainwater collection, rain landscaping, and pollution prevention.

CuriOdyssey: As a non-profit science museum and zoo, CuriOdyssey lets kids loose to observe wild animals, experiment with scientific phenomena and let the natural world answer their questions. We offer NGSS aligned K-12 education programs that provide hands-on activities.

Environmental Volunteers: At Environmental Volunteers, we inspire people of all ages to learn about the wonders of the natural world. Our volunteers bring hands-on learning programs into the classroom, and on follow-up field trips, students discover natural science concepts through guided hikes to local nature preserves.

Filoli: Filoli is dedicated to the preservation, interpretation, and stewardship of the cultural traditions and natural history of this country estate for public education and enjoyment. The school programs offer standards aligned experiences where students learn about the interdependence of plants, animals, and people; their survival adaptations; Bay Area ecosystems; the Native Americans use of plants and animals, along with how Filoli has been and is a working estate used for agriculture, as a historical home and garden, and nature preserve.

Friends of Edgewood Park: Friends of Edgewood's Junior Explorers program offers free, docent-led, experiential nature hikes. On the trail, docents invite student observations, inquiry and discussion about grade-appropriate concepts of structure and function, growth and development of organisms, adaptations, and interdependence in ecosystems. A field trip to Edgewood is an outstanding way to engage your students, explore nature, explain or elaborate on science topics, and reinforce a personal relationship to the local environment.

Friends of Huddart and Wunderlich Park: Huddart Park Nature Hikes provides experiential, science-driven nature education through guided hikes in redwood, oak woodland and riparian habitats. Our guided inquiry approach is student centered and is designed to support academic achievement in science and inspire kids to develop a love of nature and begin a lifetime of stewardship.

Hidden Villa: Hidden Villa's mission is to foster educational experiences that build connections and inspire a deeper appreciation and respect for nature, food, and one another.

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District: Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District works to acquire and preserve a regional greenbelt of open space land in perpetuity, protect and restore the natural environment, and provide opportunities for ecologically sensitive public enjoyment and education.

NatureBridge: NatureBridge connects young people to the wonder and science of the natural world, igniting self-discovery and inspiring stewardship of our planet. Through overnight and hands-on environmental science programs, children and teens go to national parks to explore the outdoors, connect with their peers, discover themselves and develop a lasting relationship with the environment.

San Mateo County Parks: The San Mateo County Parks operates 22 separate parks in a wide variety of natural settings including a coastside marine reserve, a bayside recreational area, coastal mountain woodland areas, and urban sites. The school programs introduce students to the parks and foster a love and passion for the outdoors.

Vida Verde: Vida Verde provides students from low-income, under-served schools with the powerful opportunity to spend immersive time in nature and to improve their academic performance and classroom behavior, to develop the social and emotional skills that will help them be successful, and to establish meaningful connections with nature.

Wildmind: Wildmind educational programs brings science and environmental literacy alive in your classroom. Students learn to think like scientists, and appreciate connectivity with animals, the environment and each other.