I joined Brushwood Center in 2018 as we were beginning to pilot our It’s A W.I.N. program with community partners.  I had just graduated from Loyola University’s Institute of Environmental Sustainability, where I studied environmental science and sociology. I explored both the academic and community facing sides of environmental work during undergrad, and I knew that I wanted to work directly with communities to combat environmental issues. After being frustrated by the frequent separation of “hard sciences” and humanities in academia, I was really drawn to Brushwood Center’s mission, working at the intersection of nature, the arts and public health.  

Over the last four and a half years, I have helped grow long-term partnerships with organizations across Lake County, built out Brushwood Center’s presence in regional networks, and collaborated on programs and events to help increase equitable access to nature and the arts for youth and families.  While the natural resources and beauty of our region is abundant, these resources are not equitably accessed by all people.  Moreover, Lake County contains five out of the state’s eleven Super Fund sites, in addition to coal ash ponds, and other toxic sites affecting the health and wellbeing largely of communities of color. 

One thing I have loved most about working with Brushwood Center is getting to know and learn from the community leaders in our network.  Lake County is home to some of the strongest community organizers, activists and advocates I have ever met, and getting to work collaboratively with these leaders has shaped the way I approach community engagement, youth education, and environmental activism. The beauty of Brushwood Center is that as I have learned and grown from these interactions, our organization has shifted and adapted as well.  As I follow the lead of our partners and rely on their input to determine the shape of our collaborative youth programs, Brushwood Center as a whole also shifts focus and energy to support our partners in every way that we can. 

My absolute favorite part of my job is working with youth.  Any time I have the joy of taking students on a hike and coming across something they have never seen before, or watching them recognize a new talent within themselves as we navigate an art project, I feel incredibly lucky. Young people are facing unprecedented challenges in our world today. Students have been continually asked over the last three years to be “resilient”.  They are supposed to remain resilient in the face of a global pandemic, school shut downs, lost loved ones, economic hardship on their families, global climate change, and international conflict.  This resiliency, while important in maintaining balance in the face of hardship, is also the result of bearing undue burdens and trauma.  Beyond resiliency, we want to create spaces of community healing and wellbeing for our youth.  Nature and activities that allow creative expression can provide crucial healing spaces for young people to process and unpack complex feelings. Through It’s A W.I.N., we have the opportunity to work with youth and provide them space to rest, to heal, to explore, to play, and to build community with our natural world.   

In 2022, this work impacted 1,500 students through a combination of field trips, art classes, concerts, and education programs through our community partnership program serving youth and families from over-burdened communities in Waukegan, Highwood, Round Lake, and North Chicago.  It also included our third year of distributing Nature Explorer Backpacks, school bags with bilingual art and nature activities, supplies, and resources for parents.  This year’s bags also included “Eddie’s Environmental Justice Journey”, an environmental justice coloring book created in collaboration with our partner, Clean Power Lake County.  This book explores the story of Waukegan youth activist Eddie Flores as he learned about the environmental hazards threatening his community and joined together with others to take action.  900 of these backpacks were given out to families at events and outings in collaboration with libraries and family resource organizations across our four focus communities.

The backpack project began as a COVID-19 response, but has continued on due to ever-increasing demand from our partners and consistent positive feedback from families. 

"What we heard was extreme gratitude from the families who received these backpacks. Many of the families we worked with were having to make difficult decisions of either purchasing school supplies or putting food on the table, and this is verbatim. So needless to say, this resource was very critical to the families we serve."

- Carmen Patalan, Executive Director, Highwood Public Library

This project is a big undertaking, and every year partners request more bags to meet the needs of their communities.  In order to continue this project, and continue developing robust, new educational resources and components, we need the support of our community!  Many of the supplies for the bags are available in bulk, and a small donation can go a very long way:

• A donation of $25 could supply art supplies for five backpacks.
• A donation of $60 could create three full backpacks with printed resources for parents and students, art supplies, notebooks, and nature exploration supplies.
• A donation of $100 or more supplies five backpacks for families in need of summer support.

This year, Brushwood Center collaborated with more than 80 partner organizations and 300 artists on programs that improve health equity and access to nature, including the following: 

• Brushwood Center expanded our advocacy for health equity by launching the Health, Equity, and Nature Accelerator. Using research, community organizing, and advocacy, the Accelerator’s goal is to increase investment in health equity solutions that intersect with climate and environmental justice.  
• 1,500 students experienced field trips, art classes, concerts, and education programs through our community partnership program serving youth and families from over-burdened communities in Waukegan, Highwood, Round Lake, and North Chicago. 
• More than 350 military Veterans participated in Brushwood Center’s At Ease program, with over 90% expressing a resulting increased sense of wellbeing in program evaluations.
• Our art and music programs thrived this year! Our exhibitions and music performances reflected diverse voices exploring themes on justice and freedom, identity, and expanding narratives on the natural world and its vital impact on wellbeing.  

Brushwood Center’s programs connected more than 9,000 people to art and nature thanks to our passionate and dedicated volunteers, artists, and donors like you.

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