Minnesota Master Naturalist: Nature For New Minnesotans
Vision
Nature for New Minnesotans envisions a world where all individuals, regardless of race, class, gender, religion, orientation, or citizen status, have equitable access to the outdoors.
Mission
In partnership with English language learning community organizations, environmental educators, and Minnesota Master Naturalist volunteers, Nature for New Minnesotans develops place-based, experiential natural history curriculum for adult English language learners in the Twin Cities. Ultimately, Nature for New Minnesotans hopes to increase the environmental literacy of immigrant communities in the Twin Cities in a way that empowers their use of outdoor spaces and encourages conversations about increasing equity in the outdoors for all Minnesotans.
What we do
To accomplish our mission, Nature for New Minnesotans works with English language community organizations to offer three main program components: place-based natural history curriculum, experiential fieldtrips, and trainings for EL instructors.
Natural History Curriculum
Nature for New Minnesotans collaborates directly with English language instructors to develop natural history curricula that is not only engaging for learners but also addresses important English literacy standards. Curriculum is broken down into subject modules that each contain extensive readings, vocabulary, and other activities that focus on the reading, writing, and speaking development of adult English language learners.
Experiential Fieldtrips
Recognizing the constraints of access to the outdoors, each curriculum module includes experiential, culminating field trips that bring adult English language learners into local museums and parks. Field trips are free of charge to students, and families are welcomed. Nature for New Minnesotans works closely with environmental educators to develop these experiences in the hope of increasing access to the outdoors for English language learning communities.
Trainings
Many English language instructors do not have a background in natural history. To address this, Nature for New Minnesotans offers trainings for instructors who are interested in utilizing Natural history curriculum in their classroom. The first training will take place on Friday, October 6th 2023. Additional trainings are also being developed for environmental educators and volunteers to prepare them to work with adult English language students in outdoor settings.
Why it matters
Access to greenspace is a mental, physical, and spiritual benefit and a human right
'Green' spaces, be they urban parks or wilderness, provide significant mental, physical, and social health benefits. Individuals with more access to the outdoors report increases in physical activity, relief from stress, and connection to natural communities.
In immigrant communities, individuals who have access to natural spaces not only receive the mental and physical benefits of the outdoors, but also report developing a more positive 'sense of place' in their new home.
Positive outdoor experiences have been shown to correlate with increased awareness and use of sustainable environmental practices at the individual and community level.
Access to greenspace is inequitable in Minnesota
Despite the benefits of access to the outdoors being clearly documented, immigrants and ethnic minority groups participate in outdoor recreation at lower rates than other members of the US population.
Constraints to outdoor spaces range from transportation; perceptions of safety in public parks; language and cultural differences; and time. Each one of these constraints leads to less time spent outdoors, less enjoyment of natural areas, and underappreciation of Minnesota’s natural resources, which in turn leads to less support for conservation, and a diminished sense of place for new immigrant communities.
Few programs exist that educate immigrants about the natural world of their newly adopted home
Despite a growing population of immigrants, refugees, and asylees, there are few natural history programs that exist in Minnesota who work directly with immigrant communities. Adult education classrooms rarely cover natural history concepts, and even fewer discuss the customs and rules for engaging with the states natural resources. This is in spite of the fact that many new Minnesotans have rich environmental experiences from other countries and are eager to learn more about the states natural history. The resultant gap in services exacerbates inequalities of access to the outdoors for immigrants.
Acknowledging these constraints, Nature for New Minnesotans (NFNM) works directly with immigrant communities attending English language classes at community organizations across the Twin Cities Metro area.
In partnership with these organizations, NFNM adapts existing Master Naturalist curriculum developed by University of Minnesota Extension to develop interactive lessons about urban ecosystems for English language classrooms.
Ultimately, NFNM hopes to increase the environmental literacy of immigrant communities in the Twin Cities in a way that empowers their use of outdoor spaces and encourages conversations about increasing equity in the outdoors for all Minnesotans.
