October 26, 2018
2019 Kids to Parks Day School Contest and Registration- Free Buddy Bisons to first 10 sites that register!
The National Park Trust is offering an incentive this year to USACE sites that plan and register your 2019 Kids to Parks Day events early! https://www.parktrust.org/kids-to-parks-day/
Kids to Parks Day is a national day of play that connects kids and families with their local, state, and federal parks. By discovering our public lands, kids across the country enjoy outdoor recreation, learn STEM and history, and embrace their important role as park stewards. Kids to Parks Day is an opportunity to cultivate future generations of outdoor enthusiasts and conservationists. You do not have to do anything special or different for this day. If you already offer junior ranger programs or outreach to families, you can simply cobrand the event and let the public know by registering your opportunities with the National Park Trust. You can also use this event as a service opportunity similar to National Public Lands Day to involve children and their families in volunteer projects. The 2019 event will be held Saturday, May 18.
Online registration is not available yet, but attached you will find the event spreadsheet to fill out and register now. The first 10 sites that sign up to host a Kids to Parks Day event and send me all of the required information on the spreadsheet will receive a 'stampede' of up to 24 Buddy Bisons to give out to participating families on the day of your event. (see attached Buddy Stampede photo). Under the event categories section you will see that each event can have multiple categories; Just keep selecting categories from the drop down menu to add more than one. NOTE: Kids to Parks Day is open to children of all ages, and is NOT the same thing as the Every Kid in a Park 4th grade pass program (although you can target 4th graders for your event if you want to support both programs!)
In addition to the Buddy Bison incentive, the National Park Trust also offers a Kids to Parks Day School Contest that provides financial assistance to Title I schools across the country up to $1,000 to visit their local parks for Kids to Parks Day. That money can pay for their buses to get to your park or pay for program fees like equipment rentals. These grants must be applied for by the students and the funding is given to the school, so you will need to coordinate with your local schools and inform them of this opportunity. It is a great way to bring local students out to your park!
The National Park Trust has provided the following suggested message about this grant program for you to share with any local Title I schools near your park:
"Dear [school name],
I work for [park name], and wanted to inform you of a grant program that provides Title I schools up to $1,000 to visit local parks and enables them to experience outdoor education, learn how to be a park steward, and give them an opportunity to play and be active outside. As a [your position] at [park name] I wanted to let you know that we have great opportunities for local students such as [list the educational resources, activities, or other opportunities in your park]. I would be happy to talk to you or your teachers if this would be of interest.
The grant application is extremely simple and is intended to be filled out by students. Many teachers use this program as a teachable lesson that can include budgeting and math skills, persuasive writing, and a tangible connection to classroom curriculum. If you are unsure of how your curriculum could tied to our park offerings I would be happy to talk through this with you and offer suggestions.
The deadline for this contest is February 14, 2019. You can find out more about this contest at kidstoparks.org https://www.parktrust.org/kids-to-parks- day/school-contest/. You can reach me at [email] or [phone] if you have questions about the park. If you have any questions about the grant program you can contact Katie Zimmerman from National Park Trust at katie@parktrust.org or 301-279- 7275.
Sincerely,
[your name]
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Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the program. I hope we can make this year's Kids to Parks Day the largest yet for the Corps of Engineers!
Thanks,
Heather Burke
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