Captain Planet Foundation, Inc.

Since 1991, the Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) has provided educators with the resources and training they need to provide students with hands-on, project-driven learning experiences that result in real environmental outcomes. \r\n\r\nUntil 2012, this educational support was only provided through CPF's Small Grants Program [now called “ecoSolutions" and “ecoTech Grants"] which has funded over 2,000 grants [$500 - $2,500 per project] which have involved over 1.2 million children from across all 50 U.S. states and 25 other countries. \r\n\r\nA strategic planning session in 2012 resulted in two new Board-driven directives. Executive Director, Leesa Carter-Jones, was hired that year to begin their implementation. \r\n\r\nThe first directive was for the organization to develop & scale “Best Practice" operating programs based on research and data gleaned from the 2,000+ projects funded through the Small Grants Program. \r\n\r\nAs a result of this research, CPF developed Project Learning Garden and Project Hero – Project-based, Place-based, and Environmentally-focused programs that provide hands-on learning for students in K-12 classrooms and informal educational settings. Both programs are ready for significant scaling.\r\n\r\nThe second directive was to create The Institute @ CPF to develop curriculum and build teacher capacity to deliver science education that encourages students to use place, environment, and applied learning to solve real world problems.

1) Attract a diverse Board of Directors and funding base to establish a sustainable, high-performance organization with a motivated and effective staff.\r\n\r\n2) Assess the market to determine where the investment of programmatic resources, talent, and ideas will most efficiently and effectively produce desired environmental and youth empowerment outcomes. Invest in the incubation of innovative environmental projects, designed by educators and implemented by kids, that result in measurable benefits to natural systems.\r\n\r\n3) Take the best ideas to scale through the development of outdoor living laboratories as instructional spaces and lessons tied to ecoSTEM learning.\r\n\r\n4) Take the best ideas to scale by developing tools and training that provide educators and students with the skills they need to apply scientific knowledge for the betterment of their communities and natural systems.

After 25 years of grant-making, CPF has a robust database of 2,000+ projects funded through the Small Grants Program.\r\n\r\nEducation consultant, Karan Wood, joined CPF as full-time Director of the Institute in 2013. Under her leadership, we began developing the initial concept for a program called Science for All Generations through Environmental Stewardship (SAGES) in response to the publication of the Next Generation Science Standards and a growing emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning. \r\n\r\nCPF entered into an agreement with the Georgia Department of Education to leverage its 20+ years of hands-on, STEM-based stewardship projects in order to impact science education across Georgia and beyond. CPF also made a commitment through the Clinton Global Initiative to share SAGES across the nation. This program has won federal funding from EPA and through Department of Education Teacher Quality Grants in partnership with the University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, and Albany State University.\r\n\r\nIn early 2012, the first of our best practice operating programs, Project Learning Garden (PLG), was launched with nine elementary schools in Cobb County. This comprehensive and integrated education, nature and health program is headed by Kyla Van Deusen who came to CPF with over a decade of experience in the community and school gardens movement. The program now includes over 340 schools across 10+ states, with a deep concentration of schools in metro-Atlanta (200+) and the Los Angeles/Ventura basin (40+).\r\n\r\nIn 2014, CPF began the development of its third major program, Project Hero, in response to the rapid loss of global biodiversity and the 6th great extinction. This program is in development with a wide range of partners who have biodiversity missions: Blue Earth Network, Center for Biological Diversity, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation, National Wildlife Federation, Nature Conservancy of Georgia, NatureServe, One More Generation, Turner Endangered Species Fund, U.S. Forest Service, The Xerces Society, and many other critical partners.

Our ecoSolutions Grant program continues to grow and now has impacted over 1.2 million youth in all 50 U.S. states and 25 other countries. We have launched ecoTech Grants, which invite educators to more deeply explore the integration of technology and environmental stewardship. \r\n\r\nWe have successfully launched a scaling of "Best Practice" grants called ecoSTEM Kits in the focus areas of 1) Renewable Energy; 2) Water Quality and Testing; 3) Healthy Soils & Decomposition; and 4) Pollinators. To date, we have distributed over 500 ecoSTEM Kits to classrooms. We still haven't found funders for these programs, with almost all of the funding for our grant-making being raised at our annual Gala.\r\n\r\nProject Learning Garden now has 340+ schools in over 10 markets around the U.S. The program is now completely scalable with all supplies available in user-friendly kits that are palleted and shipped from our fulfillment partner (Pratt Industries) who donates the warehousing, picking, and distribution costs to CPF. PLG Schools receive a starter garden of five raised beds, lessons and teaching supplies, gardening supplies, a mobile cooking kitchen, and professional development workshop for teachers. Each PLG school costs only $2,500 for all assets and support. We still haven't found large, institutional funders who can really scale this program with significant grants of $250k plus.\r\n\r\nThe Institute has partnered for several years with University of Georgia, Kennesaw State University, and the EPA Region 4 office to provide week-long immersive workshops, ecoSTEM Kits, and ecoSolution grants to teachers around Georgia. Historically, these have been funded by federally-funded Teacher Quality Grants and EPA Environmental Education Grants. \r\n\r\nThe Institute is also partners with the Georgia Department of Education and will be providing one of the approved curricula (K-12) for the new Georgia Performance Standards in Science which go into effect during the 2017-18 school year.\r\n\r\nHowever, to really build capacity in Georgia and around the Southeast for teachers to use the 3-Dimensional science approach in their instruction, much more funding is needed. \r\n\r\nProject Hero has successfully run its Beta program and is now in the Pilot phase in four states (CA, CO, GA, and TX) during the 2017-18 school year. CPF is partnering with the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) who will be assessing the instructional, behavioral, attitudinal and 21st Century Skill gains of using the Project Hero platform to study science standards in 3rd - 5th grades. We are fundraising for scale and new Quests across the U.S.