PLI Program Awarded Grant to Link Environmental Education and Cultural Diversity

PLI’s Conservation Education and Interpretation Strategy has received a grant from Clark County to assist in strengthening the relationship between environmental educators and diverse audiences. The $3,500 grant will be used to provide a professional development diversity workshop for environmental educators in Las Vegas in January 2007.

The workshop is sponsored by the Environmental Education and Training Partnership (EETAP), a national leader in the delivery of environmental education training for education professionals. EETAP is funded by the Office of Environmental Education in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Part of the mission of EETAP is to ensure ethnically diverse and low-income communities actively take part in “education that advances student learning and environmental literacy.”

“We are honored to develop and present this workshop in Las Vegas,” said Allison Brody, program manager for the Conservation Education and Interpretation Strategy. “Research and our experiences indicate that environmental education can inject new energy into academics while increasing environmental literacy and stewardship. That is something that needs to be shared with as many audiences as possible.”

The workshop will explore multicultural issues and how they impact environmental education. It also will examine changes that educators should make to work more effectively with diverse audiences. The Las Vegas workshop will be offered to environmental educators involved with Partners for Education About the Environment, a consortium of educators and others working at public lands, nature centers, museums, aquaria, and other nature- and heritage-related places. For more information, contact Brody at 895-5097 or allison.brody@unlv.edu.