WILDERNESS YOUTH PROJECT INCORPORATED

The Problem
A quiet crisis threatens the future of our children. In just two short generations, the entire landscape of childhood in America has changed. In the past, children spent all their free time outside building forts, hunting frogs, and playing hide-and-seek in the tall grass. Many researchers, including Yale Social Ecologist Stephen R. Kellert, conclude that children’s direct and regular experience of the natural world is an essential, irreplaceable dimension of healthy maturation and development. Yet today, American children, regardless of geographic region, spend 90 percent of their time inside. In the last 30 years, children of the digital age have become increasingly alienated from the natural world with disastrous implications, not only for physical fitness, but also for long-term mental, emotional, and spiritual health.

Our Solution
In nature’s classroom, children always pay attention. Wilderness Youth Project’s outdoor programs reconnect children with the natural world. Research has shown that time in nature improves a child's cognitive flexibility, emotional stability, critical thinking, creativity, self-esteem, and self-discipline. It helps them, in short, to become smarter, more cooperative, happier, and healthier. Nature is the ideal learning environment because it is infinitely scalable, offering challenges that are just within reach. Our programs increase opportunities for success, at school and at home, for youth across the demographic spectrum. The improved outcomes we have noted for our participants include individual growth and self-confidence, interpersonal skills, physical competence, and an increased respect for the natural world.