Director of the Vassar Environmental Cooperative Jennifer Rubbo pursued and received critical support from New York State and Dutchess County for her youth environmental outreach programs at the Vassar Preserve. Administered by the Dutchess County Government’s Department of Community and Family Services, these resources—from New York State’s Office of Children and Family Services—aim to promote positive youth development, increase youth developmental assets, and decrease delinquency among young people in Dutchess County.

Jen’s new Youth Development grant supports the long-running Exploring Science, an outdoor environmental education program taught by Vassar students and Environmental Cooperative staff. It provides pre-K through high school students with outdoor experiences to help them learn about natural sciences and ecology in their community, exposing young (and often urban) participants to natural environments and inspiring interest and comfort in the outdoors. The Poughkeepsie Outing Club, a new outdoor recreation program for youth from the City and Town of Poughkeepsie, centers around teen hikes organized and led by the Cooperative’s Program Manager, Lindsay Dalton, and is made possible in part by the Youth Sports and Education Opportunity Fund. Both of these programs are at home on the Preserve at Vassar, where some 500 acres of open space and seven miles of trails allow visitors to explore the mixed habitats of streams, wetlands, forests, and meadows.

Both Exploring Science and the Outing Club align with the positive youth development goals of New York State and Dutchess County, engaging and empowering youth and fostering educational connections as well as physical and mental health.