Community service groups from Encinitas, Oceanside and Escondido are among 20 local nonprofits that received grants promoting equitable access outdoors from the San Diego Foundation, the organization recently announced.
Encinitas-based Un Mar De Colores and Coastal Roots Farm, Oceanside-based Botanical Community Development Initiatives and Escondido-based BIPOC Support Foundation received funds from an Opening the Outdoors Program pool of $629,000 that went to nonprofits from throughout San Diego County.
“Access to the outdoors is critical for personal well-being,” Pamela Gray Payton, San Diego Foundation vice president and chief impact and partnerships officer, said in a May 23 news release. “But not everyone has easy access to safe outdoor spaces. SDF and its partners enable more people to enjoy the health benefits of the outdoors and become environmental stewards in our region.”
Un Mar De Colores, which focuses on diversity, inclusivity, ocean protection, environmental education and programs for underserved children, received $15,000 for its Surf Therapy Program. Coastal Roots Farm received $23,000 for its Equitable Outdoor Environmental Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Program for the Escondido Union School District.
Botanical Community Development Initiatives, founded by Bianca Bonilla, received $32,000 for its Community Access to Safe, Green Space in Eastern Oceanside Program. The organization aims to foster inclusiveness and support diversity through humans’ interactions with plantlife.
“By knowing deeply the plants around us, the land, the other organisms we co-habitate with, we know deeply ourselves and each other,” Bonilla stated on the organization’s website. “And through this understanding will come love and care and healing — for one’s self, our community, and every living and non-living entity with which we are a part of the whole with.”
BIPOC Support Foundation received $45,000 for its Explore Next Door Program. The organization aims to empower underrepresented communities through education, mentorship, economic support and other resources.
“Nature is not an amenity but a necessity for the well-being of all San Diegans. However, many local communities lack critical access to parks and green space, as demonstrated in the SDF Parks for Everyone 2020 report,” the San Diego Foundation stated in its news release. “Equitable access to parks and green space is more important than ever before to ensure every San Diegan has a strong quality of life.”
More information about the foundation’s Opening the Outdoors program is available at sdfoundation.org/outdoors.
