Jennifer Rubbo, Director of the Environmental Cooperative, received OCFS Youth Development Program grant funding from Dutchess County for her new outdoor recreation club for local youth, the Poughkeepsie Outing Club. Outdoor educators from the Environmental Coop and staff from Community Matters 2, Inc.–a Poughkeepsie-based organization that facilitates community engagement with a focus on youth programming–will bring participants on guided hikes at the Preserve, where approximately 500 acres of open space and seven miles of trails allow visitors to explore streams, wetlands, forests, and meadows.

They will engage youth in various outdoor trainings, including First Aid/CPR certification and Leave No Trace workshops, and teach new skills about planning an outdoor excursion, plant and wildlife identification, and the natural history and ecology of the Hudson Valley.

The club’s primary goals are to provide physical activity through structured outdoor programming away from technology, reduce barriers to outdoor recreation by providing transportation and equipment to youth, increase self-confidence, and learn about nature in Poughkeepsie. The youth’s successes will be documented through the production of a short film by Community Matters 2. This will help to celebrate accomplishments, identify positive outcomes, and promote the program in the future.