Passport to Texas

AmeriCorps VISTA, Carli Herz

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This is Passport to Texas

Carli Herz received her Masters’ degree from the School for International Training based in Brattleboro Vermont while working as a Texas Parks and Wildlife Americorps VISTA Volunteer.

I’m in the second year of my program, and I was looking for a hands on practical experience to fulfill the field work portion of my grad program. I was focusing on sustainable development and training. When I was looking for jobs, the Texas Children in Nature position came up, and it fit really well with my long-term career goals and then my short-term goal of finishing grad school. And it [dovetailed] with my personal and philosophical goals of connecting kids to nature; so I ended up down here in Texas.

She’s working with the Texas Children in Nature program to create equitable access to nature for everyone—no matter their socioeconomic status or where they live.

Because we’re finding families that are in the urban core don’t have [easy] access to green spaces like some people might who live in the country, or Hill Country. And it’s not just the access to nature, either. It’s access to the knowledge of nature; being comfortable and confident in going out into nature. So, it’s creating that access not only to being able to get out to these green spaces, but it’s also getting equitable access to the knowledge and the resources so parents and teachers also feel comfortable leading their kinds in these nature experiences.

Find information about the Texas Children in Nature program on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.