A Natural Connection
Movement Education Outdoors works to narrow the “nature gap” for youth of color
By Hilda Lloréns | Photographs by Cate BrownYOUTH WHO HAVE CONSISTENT ACCESS TO SAFE GREEN SPACES SEE BENEFITS to their well-being and physical and mental health. Not all kids and teens have equal access to these spaces, however. A 2020 Center for American Progress report titled “The Nature Gap: Confronting Racial and Economic Disparities in the Destruction and Protection of Nature in America” found that “communities of color are three times more likely … to live in nature-deprived places [and] that seventy percent of low-income communities across the country live in nature-deprived areas.”
Nature deprivation means people have little to no access to safe green environments such as parks, trails, coastlines, and safe streets for walking and biking. It also means they live in areas with limited clean air and water, minimal neighborhood tree coverage to mitigate urban heat, and little protection of green areas against destruction from development.
In Rhode Island, the report shows, the situation is stark: 93% of people of color and 94% of the low-income population live in nature-deprived communities.
The report’s authors trace these persistent inequities to the racial disparities that people of color in the U.S. historically experience, including spatial segregation, redlining, and resulting settlement patterns, environmental injustice, and experiences of racist threats and violence in the outdoors—to name only a few.
Recognizing these inequities, Jo Ayuso created an organization—Movement Education Outdoors (MEO)—that would offer opportunities for low-income youth of color to safely access the outdoors while also learning about environmental justice, sustainability, stewardship, social and natural history, and enjoyment.
MEO programs include urban farming, aquaculture, and environmental and food justice education, offering youth the opportunity to develop ideas and solutions as part of the learning process.
MEO educators teach youth participants about environmental justice and Black and Indigenous history, along with water safety, swimming, kayaking, boating, and being comfortable in the water.
Located in Providence, MEO has taught more than 1,200 low-income middle school and high school students—primarily from Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls—to find comfort, safety, and health benefits from being in nature.
These connections are exactly what Ayuso envisioned when she was in the U.S. Army. Like many young adults from low-income backgrounds, and following in her older brother’s footsteps, she joined the military with dreams of building a good future for herself and her family. While there, backpacking in nature, learning about trails, swimming, and exercising her mind and body with a community of peers, transformed her understanding of the health and wellness benefits of nature and the outdoors, and inspired her to share this knowledge with urban, low-income youth.
She earned a bachelor’s degree, and later, at 42, a master’s degree, both in exercise science and physiology, and she became a mindfulness practitioner and trainer. In 2018, she founded MEO, realizing her longtime dream of building an organization to connect urban, low-income youth with the outdoors and its natural, Indigenous, and Black histories.
Our goal is to introduce youth to professionals in these fields so that they can see examples of professional careers that they might want to pursue.
– Jo Ayuso
Programs like this have proven results: a report on ethnic studies published by the National Education Association, among other sources, found that teaching all students, and students of color in particular, about Indigenous, Black, and Latinx history bolsters their self-esteem and nurtures appreciation of their own and of others’ histories, cultural identities, and traditions. It also promotes cross-cultural understanding and respect, and has a positive impact on civic and academic engagement, democracy outcomes, and graduation rates.
In the fall of 2021, my 13-year-old son and I attended our first intergenerational hike at the MEO Lodge at the King Benson Preserve in Saunderstown. The lodge, where some of the summer day camp programs take place, is part of a partnership with The Nature Conservancy.
During that hike, MEO youth participants led the hike and encouraged us to pause along the trail to practice mindfulness and presence, and to learn about the Indigenous and Black histories of the land on which the preserve is located, as well as about the adjacent ecological history of the Narrow River and the animals and plants that inhabit it.
During this academic year, my son is participating in MEO’s hands-on Kelp Skills Program, learning about kelp farming from seeding to harvesting, biodegradable materials science (plastic replacement), and kelp in artistry and in the food and farming industries.
“One of the things that makes up the nature gap is a lack of transportation, such as bus lines to green spaces, and working parents lacking time to take their kids places, having money to enter beaches, and also to buy equipment to hike, camp, and kayak for example,” explains Ayuso, adding that funding for the organization comes through donations and state and foundation grants. “For this reason, MEO provides youth with all the equipment, clothing, and transportation for free.”
At the end of each program, families are invited to hear from youth participants about what they have learned and to gather in community to support and celebrate the participants’ journeys and achievements.
“As we were having fun, we were learning many
new things, such as how to set up tents, to stories of the Pokanoket tribe …. I will be taking the lessons I learned on the trip everywhere I go. From how to scare off coyotes, to how I should be proud of my lineage and ethnicity,” writes one former participant.
A day hike participant writes, “I enjoyed being in nature and learning about the Indigenous history of our land. I think it’s important because they don’t teach us this information in schools.”
MEO is now looking to support youth past graduation through programming to expose them to career and job readiness training. In this effort, MEO collaborates with other local environmental organizations and individuals, such as Groundwork Rhode Island, Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation, and The Nature Conservancy, as well as individual fishers, boat captains and sailors, aquaculture experts, and environmental justice activists.
They work together to expose youth to the gamut of environmental career opportunities and teach them about the environmental justice issues facing frontline communities in the Ocean State.
Last summer, MEO provided a pilot program to 10 Providence high school students.
Jo Ayuso works to fill the “nature gap” many young Rhode Islanders of color experience.
“The program was a full-week fellowship that introduced the youth to quahogging, clamming, learning boat safety, driving a boat, fishing, and an introduction to kelp and oyster farming in Portsmouth,” Ayuso says. “Our aim is for the youth to bring these skills with them to college, whether working in a marine lab, or working on a farm, or as a captain of a boat. Our goal is to introduce youth to professionals in these fields so that they can see examples of professional careers that they might want to pursue.”