Climate Action Kits Delivered to City of Promise Families
This week a cool collaboration came to fruition with C3’s team and the Virginia Discovery Museum team: we delivered climate-action activity kits for City of Promise families with 3-8-year-old kids who need extra support during virtual learning.
How We Came Together
The collaboration came together thanks to a grant from Earth Day Network. The funds were originally earmarked for a Charlottesville City School PTO to make Earth Day zero waste, Since Earth Day events were canceled this year due to COVID, C3 needed to pivot and look for creative at-home ways to use the funding to promote climate action.
That’s when we heard about the uber cool camp kits that the Virginia Discovery Museum deployed this summer for kids across the City. At the same time, we were releasing an in-depth report on energy burdened households in Charlottesville and knew that homes in the 10th and Page neighborhood experienced high energy burdens. Was there a way we could use these funds as a small, but meaningful first step of reaching out to those families? City of Promise came to mind, as their mission is to work with under-resourced families and youth to help them gain tools to successfully plan for college and/or a career. The Virginia Discovery Museum had worked with Ashley Howard, City of Promise’s Early Childhood Coordinator, and a collaboration was born.
And with October being Energy Awareness Month, the theme was perfect.
Our Goal
“My goal as the Early Childhood Coordinator is to help prepare young children both academically and socially for Kindergarten, and to provide resources and enriching opportunities to support learning and growth from pre-k to 4th grade,” said Ashley Howard of City of Promise.
“These kits not only equip parents with fun activities to do at home, they also help our children take ownership of their environment. Learning about climate pollution and actively participating in tasks to do their part is so much more meaningful than reading about it in a book. It will become part of a routine and help families create healthy home energy practices!”
What’s in the Kit?
The kit includes activities to help kids connect everyday actions to climate solutions: a fun scavenger hunt to learn about household energy use at home; a leaf-scratching art project to get outside and learn about the benefits of trees; art materials to decorate a reusable grocery bag; and a recycled egg-carton veggie farmers market for imaginative kids to display and “sell.”
“We were delighted to partner with C3 to create climate action kits for City of Promise families. These kits are part of the museum’s ongoing efforts during the pandemic to support our community’s youngest members in continuing their hands-on learning through play,” said Virginia Discovery Museum Executive Director, Janine Dozier.
Andrea, our Residential Program Manager was there for the delivery of the kits on Monday. “It’s been a joy to partner with VDM and the City of Promise on this. We love sparking conversations and learning around climate action, especially with the youngest, and most inquisitive, members of our community. We hope they’ll have fun with these!”
More about the Virginia Discovery Museum
For 39 years, the Virginia Discovery Museum has provided educational and enrichment opportunities in literacy, science, math, and the arts to the children of the Charlottesville-Albemarle area. It is the mission of the museum to foster intellectual curiosity and development for all children in the community. In 2019, the museum welcomed 72,000 visitors, over 23% of which came to the museum free of charge.
VDM works to prepare local children for elementary school by offering engaging, developmentally appropriate exhibits, programs, and events. Community events include Kid*Vention, an elementary-aged science fair attended by more than 1,100 people, and the Discovery Dash, an annual children’s race focused on health and wellness. The museum partners with over 100 Charlottesville community organizations to offer programs and events and relies on the support of over 300 volunteers who range in age from 14-80. To learn more, visit www.vadm.org.
More about the City of Promise
City of Promise is a non-profit organization in Charlottesville that works with under-resourced families and youth to help them gain tools to successfully plan for college and/or a career. To learn more, visit cityofpromise.org.
Check out the local media coverage we received for this project!