Saanvi has worked on many environmental projects. However, her leadership with Project Nature Worthy's comprehensive initiative aims to bridge the gap between environmentally disadvantaged children and nature, fostering environmental stewardship and community resilience. The impact of Project Nature Worthy's efforts on future generations is profound. By empowering children to build a meaningful connection with nature and promoting environmental stewardship, they're shaping a generation that values and protects the environment. Through targeted initiatives and advocacy efforts, they're creating a lasting impact on the community's environment, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient future for future generations. Drawn from her love for hiking and embracing the outdoors, she became acutely aware of the myriad benefits it offers. Driven by a fervent desire to ensure every child in America could share in these experiences, she embarked on this endeavor.

This past year Saanvi has been working to expand the outdoor experiences Project Nature Worthy is providing. Putting a high value on all of the activities being something fun the participants want to do. Simultaneously, she’s spearheading the development of an adaptable international outdoor curriculum currently undergoing testing in multiple schools. Through this curriculum work, she is also adding a program called Total Recall where she is working with Indigenous leaders to include their knowledge and stories into the curriculum.

Mary Jo is the leader of Made Greene Gardens in Fort Worth. Her motto is School Gardens Matter. She lives this ideal in all her work with educators, children, district personnel, and the corporate world. She is a passionate champion of outdoor learning. Mary Jo’s superpower is her ability to forge lasting authentic relationships with educators and children and encourage them to learn outdoors.

She has worked over the past years to engage schools, educators, and students with school gardens through the network. One of the things she is most proud of in her work is the connection she has fostered with the educators working in the schools she is working in. While numbers never tell the whole story, Mary Jo Greene’s achievements in the past year reflect her exceptional dedication and impact on the community. During 2023-2024, she: Worked directly with 30 campuses across three school districts, and led classes for over 4,000 students Collaborated with over 150 teachers and Provided professional development for 60 school garden supporters. In addition, Mary Jo facilitated over 12 corporate organization volunteer workdays, engaging 240 volunteers, and actively supported numerous funding opportunities. Her relentless commitment and energy are truly inspiring. Mary Jo never stops! She is a highly skilled collaborator, and her work with Kaboom!, a national organization committed to ending playground inequity, showcases her talents perfectly. When Kaboom! approached Fort Worth ISD about installing environmental resiliency enhancements to playgrounds, but they were uncertain how to proceed. District leaders recommended Mary Jo, and she quickly became a driving force behind the project. Understanding the importance of building relationships, Mary Jo connected with key stakeholders, including Kaboom! staff, administrators, teachers, funders, district maintenance members, children, and volunteers. Throughout 12 playground projects, Mary Jo was at the center of the activity, seamlessly connecting people with needs, managing details, staying late to ensure project completion, and forging strong personal connections with everyone involved. Even after her official responsibilities ended, Mary Jo continued to support the schools by offering additional classes and organizing corporate volunteer events to maintain the gardens.

A hometown organization GTG Outdoors has a mission to help fund and provide outdoor adventure experiences to support the well-being of those who are underrepresented in Central Texas. The effort that GTG Outdoors has put into taking young people to parks and fun nature areas of their own city is very apparent. One of their newest programs is Family Around the Fire which aims to get families of color outdoors and teach camping skills, they recently had their first camping trip at Inks Lake State Park and are continuing the program with support from the National Recreation Foundation. GTG also hosted the first Keep Waco Outdoors Expo this fall and plans to continue to bring this great resource to help families in the area find their way of connecting with nature. A major aspect of their work is that all of their programs are open to anyone in the community, no matter their economic status.

Since 2021 GTG has been a passion for its founders and they are always looking for innovative ways to fund the work, through grant funding and cost-sharing of programs. One of their biggest successes has been engaging youth beyond elementary school in their middle and high school programs. Gabe, their founder, feels that the trust GTG has been able to build over the years with families is key to their work because they are asking a lot of families to go remote camping, sometimes for the first time. He also feels that a key component of this is the amazing community support the organization has received from the Waco area.

The Visitor Experience is a mission-driven business launched to connect children to nature. Following the 2023 TCINN Summit, Ky Harkey was inspired to help improve the Park Prescription process. He tested concepts and physical prescription pads with local physicians. Through all of their work, they share best practices for improving visitor experiences in nature centers and park settings and collaborating with partners to develop environmental education products that connect communities to nature. The Visitor Experience website is a valuable resource for TCINN partners looking to better serve their communities. Their collection of 30+ visitor services best practices includes guidance on starting a park prescription program, delivering culturally inclusive programming, incorporating nature-play areas, and more. They also offer park professionals a free self-assessment tool to help identify visitor service gaps and take specific steps to better serve their community and connect children to nature. Their innovative environmental education products are on-the-ground projects that connect children and families to nature. These products leverage engaging nature activities and are customized for different communities across Texas. The result is a strategy that is both scalable and adaptable to other regions. Products they have collaborated on are currently connecting Texas children to nature in eight out of nine TCINN chapters. Ky works closely with many TCiNN partners and credits them in so much of his career.

Hayden Brooks has made a tremendous positive impact on Austin’s natural and recreational spaces. Serving on nearly a dozen advisory boards with a shared goal of expanding access to public greenspaces, his leadership, and volunteerism have been an inspiration to many in the Austin community. He is passionate about finding common ground across sectors that support sustainable development, and equitable access to nature and fosters a love of the environment for the next generation of leaders. He also knows this is work that is hard and will take a long time, but if we do it every day it will make a big impact.

With an academic background in urban planning and architecture, Hayden is a firm believer in the transformative power of design to unite communities and unlock new opportunities for young people. Over the years, Hayden has been an integral part of some of Austin’s most impactful environmental boards, including Austin Parks & Recreation, Austin Parks Foundation, Westcave Outdoor Discovery Center, the Texas Children in Nature Network, and Waterloo Greenway Conservancy. Hayden was also instrumental in the creation and adoption of the Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights (COBOR). Unanimously passed by the Austin City Council in 2017, COBOR garnered the support of more than 1,000 community members and key partners such as the Austin Independent School District. The Bill of Rights illustrates what equitable access to nature should look like in Austin and establishes high aspirations for connecting children to nature. When asked what he is most proud of in regards to all his work he talks about the work he and Margaret Russel did to bring the Cities Connecting Children to Nature Network initiative to Austin - an effort that is still bearing amazing fruit to this day through the work of Melody Alcazar, Yasmine Anderson, and their team. This work continues through this work now on the Children & Nature Network board and their efforts to bring Nature Everywhere to 100 communities by the end of 2025.