Arizona's EE Program Forges Ahead by Tracie Beasley, Graduate Assistant, NEEAP  

 The Environmental Education Advocate - Spring 1998

The following information is provided to you as a service of the National Environmental Education Advancement Project (NEEAP). We encourage you to use it and please credit the National Environmental Education
Advancement Project where appropriate.

    Even though the EE Act of 1990 was abolished in 1995, like the myth of the Phoenix, Arizona's EE program is rising again to live for another cycle.  According to EE leaders in this southwest state, the environmental license plate fund is still providing rich resources for EE.  There is also growing support for education about the environment from businesses and the public.  Kerry Baldwin, Director of Education at Arizona's Game and Fish Department, is hopeful for the future of EE in Arizona, stating that "Even with cut-backs in the EE program in Arizona's Department of Education, I do not know of one program that has ceased or a single teacher who has discontinued teaching about the environment."
  Tina Allen, immediate past State Coordinator of EE (Dept. of Education), notes that regional EE group meetings, with up to sixty people in attendance are occurring in Tucson and Phoenix on a regular basis. Questions being addressed at these meetings include: What is happening in the field of EE?  Who is doing what?  How can we make EE stronger in the state and in the classroom?  Environmental educators from all areas of the field are prioritizing networking and collaboration efforts to further the development of Arizona’s comprehensive EE program.
  According to Karen Schedler, AALE President, the Arizona Association for Learning in and about the Environment (AALE), has also undergone significant  changes, resulting in a stronger, more focused association and a three year strategic plan.
  Major goals of strategic plan:

  For the first time, AALE organized the conference as a joint planning effort between it’s members and outside organizations and agencies with similar interests, such as the Arizona Clean and Beautiful Program and Valley Forward, a consortium of businesses local to the Phoenix area with interests about the environment.
  In addition, agencies, schools, youth groups, and businesses within the state are teaming up to develop sustainable nonformal EE programs.  Arizona Clean and Beautiful and several partners are in the process of designing a program that will provide leadership skills to teams of youth and a mentorship program that will result in projects that enhance the environment.  The youth teams that participate in this program will highlight their projects about the environment at a Youth Summit.  Tucson Clean and Beautiful is developing a youth leadership program where drug and smoke free youth are teaming with "at risk" youth to design and complete community action projects, many of which are focused around the environment.
  Programs like those listed above are often self-supported and/or partially funded by private sources.  However, schools, nature centers, and other nonprofit programs related to the environment often receive funding from Heritage dollars (state lottery) or the environmental license plate fund which is currently administered by the Arizona Advisory Council on Environmental Education (AACEE).  The guidelines used in determining who receives funding are based on NAAEE’s grant guidelines.
  Funding opportunities, nonformal educators, schools, teachers, agencies, businesses, grassroots leaders, and regional meetings all focused on EE... What does this mean for AZ?  It means that environmental education’s fire is burning bright in the heart of Arizona, and with the movement by many towards greater collaborative and networking efforts, the best is yet to come.

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