ABSTRACT
This chapter explores cases with the Latinx community in California that engage underserved urban audiences in environmental conservation. The cases presented were compiled from organizations that committed to reach traditionally underserved audiences through new and existing programs and include lessons learned from local and statewide perspectives. Although we recognize that “one size does not fit all,” the guiding principles that authors showcase in this chapter helped organizations engage underserved urban audiences in outdoor education programs, naturalist training, and other environmental education initiatives targeting youth, families, and communities in California such as English Language Acquisition programs, 4-H Youth Day Camps, and the University of California Naturalist Program and the Urban Conservation Corps “Los Naturalistas” program.
We interpret the cases using a theoretical framework by Nancy Erbstein and James Fabionar. Their framework has four pillars: program elements, organizational infrastructure, conceptual framework, and organizational/program community relationships. Out of these four pillars emerge five overarching strategies to engage underserved audiences: (1) integrate extended understanding of youth and community development, (2) contend with physiological and social effects of discrimination, (3) support positive ethnic identity development, (4) respond to economic poverty, and (5) act upon the diversity of local and regional Latinx youth experiences.
