What Comes Next for Emeryville Children & Nature?

Projects for the Near Future

Our next endeavors hope to include:

1) supply ECCL with nature exploration materials that are available for checkout by students and other local families, such as binoculars, field guides, nature literature, and exploration backpacks

2) conducting community outreach to mobilize residents to fill out the upcoming Emeryville Parks survey and/or sign petitions, either of which will show the city whether nature in our parks is a priority for our community

3) hosting Nature Pop-ups at local preschools

4) working with the city to draft and adopt an Emeryville Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights similar to San Francisco Chldren's Outdoor Bill of Rights, and California Children's Outdoor Bill of Rights

5) continue discussions with Emery Unified School District regarding plans for greening their schoolyard and the facilities that they share with Emeryville Center for Community Life

6) continue discussions with Emeryville Childhood Development Center and our local Head Start regarding plans to green their schoolyards.

7) begin discussions with other early childhood centers in Emeryville regarding plants to green their schoolyards

Longterm Vision for Emeryville Children & Nature

Our longterm vision includes:

1) implementing all Emeryville CIP urban greening park projects

2) developing additional urban greening projects for the remaining parks not currently in the 2023 CIP, inluding but not limited to:

- Christie Park: adding native plants and natural materials to the lawn adjacent to the playground, and install fencing to enclose both this new natural area, the lawn, and the playground

- Temescal Creek Park: daylighting Temescal Creek and restore its riparian zone in a way that restores habitats and allows children and other residents to explore it safely 

- Huchiun Park: add native plants to areas of the abundant lawn space

4) building a Nature Center at Marina Park

5) adding interpretive signage to Marina Park regarding wildlife and other natural features, as well as educational "mini-lab" stations for citizen science

6) continuing the quest for grant funding from the billions of federal dollars available for nature and green infrastructure

7) developing an Emeryville "Green Bus" program that provides transportation to local nature filled city parks and regional parks

8) encouraging residents to plant natives in their yards or on their patios to create native habitat corridors and polinator pathways throughout the city for restoring rich biodiversity to our lands

9) developing robust children and nature programming through Emeryville Center for Community Life, Emery Unified School District, local preschools including ECDC, and other community organizatons

10) greening the campus shared by Emeryville Center for Community Life and Emery Unified School District

11) greening all early childhood centers in Emeryville