Resources

Equity serves as a central goal of the Cities Connecting Children to Nature initiative (CCCN). In this new equity resource, CCCN provides a snapshot into the current consensus within CCCN on definitions and principles for advancing equity, as well as a few illustrative examples of city progress and additional ideas.

This report makes the case for including schools in federal infrastructure funding to close the education equity gap in the U.S.

Austin’s Nature Equity Score is a data-based decision-making tool that helps city and community leaders determine where to pilot green schoolyard projects.

Roanoke school district’s innovative equity rating system to improve achievement for all students, including measures for consideration in selecting schools for green schoolyard programs.

A look at how health equity can a local lever for green schoolyard program development.

This fact sheet introduces shared use as a strategy for reducing health disparities by creating equitable opportunities for recreation in parks and schoolyards.

The Children & Nature Network's Inside-Out International Conference brings practitioners together to advance strategies for turning the trend of an indoor childhood back out to the benefits of nature. Keynotes, breakout sessions, and hands-on workshops will explore current best practices within six tracks: family engagement, youth development, green schoolyards, policy and public sector leadership, equity and inclusion, and cross-cutting themes. To showcase our conference and promote an evidence-based look at these topics, our January and February Research Digests will introduce research aligned with these areas.

This Digest explores the community and environmental benefits of green schoolyards.

Three of the 2022 C&NN conference track themes are highlighted in this Digest, each one focusing on increasing equitable access to nature. These themes are policy and public sector leadership, equity and inclusion, and cross-cutting topics.

Chilean nonprofit organization Fundación Patio Vivo supports greening school grounds that support different types of play and prioritizes equity and diversity by focusing their work where children are in most need of playing and learning opportunities in contact with nature. This case study is part of the Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning project, a joint initiative.

Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board uses equity-driven metrics for selecting projects in neighborhood parks.

The following article was published in the September 2020 issue of Green Schoolyards Catalyst Quarterly, a publication of the...

This Digest includes studies that examine participatory design approaches. These approaches provide children and youth with opportunities to influence the development of programs and initiatives. The common themes throughout these approaches are centered on empowering children and communities by balancing distributions of power, and lifting children’s voices.

Minneapolis Parks & Recreation Board uses equity-driven metrics to evaluate regional parks and trails, and ensure that investments are equitably targeted and support the MPRB’s Comprehensive Plan.

Promising practices for water management that promotes equity for communities most impacted by economic stress caused by climate change.

This brief document shares strategies and critical considerations for authentically engaging community in planning a green schoolyard.

The studies in this Research Digest will get you thinking about how greening school grounds contributes to climate and community resilience — while supporting children’s learning, health and well-being. The Digest covers the idea of using a nature-based solutions approach to greening schoolyards, and offers some recommendations for doing so.

Nature-filled schoolyards – or green schoolyards – provide a wealth of well-documented benefits for children’s health, well-being and learning. A growing number of communities are also considering...

Anthill Creations is a not-for-profit based in Bangalore, India, committed to making play accessible to all children by using industrial waste to build safe, sustainable playscapes. This case study from India is part of the Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning project, a joint initiative.

The Institute for Nature Education and Sustainability (IVN) is an organization in the Netherlands that supports greening school grounds that are community-centered, multifunctional and government-led. This case study is part of the Global Lessons on Greening School Grounds and Outdoor Learning project, a joint initiative.

Three themes are addressed in this digest, which features 2020 studies not appearing in another Digest: Connectedness to nature, Implications for design, and Social-emotional and play considerations.