KAEE Member Feature: Elizabeth Jones

Headwaters is a nonprofit organization working to improve water quality and increase environmental literacy in Letcher County. Our mission is to engage and educate members of our community on local water quality issues and concerns. With local, state, and federal partners, we are introducing best management practices to abate NPS (nonpoint source pollution), such as riparian buffers, rain gardens, and septic workshops. Headwaters, Inc. encourages stewardship of local waterways by helping recruit community scientists for Watershed Watch in Kentucky stream water sampling.

1). What organization are you with and what is your current role there?

My name is Elizabeth Jones and I am the Watershed Coordinator for Headwaters Inc., a local nonprofit organization in (southeastern Appalachian) Letcher County Kentucky that focuses on educating our community on water quality issues and concerns.

2). What projects or programs are you working on that particularly inspire you? Through funding received from the 319 (h) Clean Water Act, Headwaters worked with partners such as Watershed Watch, KDOW, EKU, UK and many others to complete a watershed plan to address nonpoint source pollution in 3 specific tributaries of our North Fork: Kentucky River which flows through Whitesburg Kentucky. Through research, sample collection, community feedback and other resources, an outline was developed to help guide solutions and best management practices for the water quality issues that are identified in that plan.

The written plan was completed earlier this year and we are now working with one of our local elementary schools, West Whitesburg Elementary School, where we are almost ready to start a Riparian Buffer demonstration project that will be directly behind the school on the bank of the North Fork: Kentucky River and a Rain Barrel demonstration project that will apply guttering to an existing outside classroom space to educate on how gutters guide stormwater.

3). What goals do you have for your organization or programs within the EE field?

I am working with EKU and their Natural Areas program directors to include Lilley Cornett Woods into our educational plan this year with WWE. We are also working with our local 4-H chapter and will include our Project Wet and other environmental education training in our activity development. My main goal as Watershed Coordinator for our organization is to focus on increasing environmental literacy in this area.

4). What is an area you feel you could use support in from this network of fellow educators?

I could use support in learning how to introduce environmental education to adults, not just children.

5). What is something you feel could be beneficial to share with this network?

One of my personal observations is that many people appear to be intimidated by the use of language that is not familiar to them and when we lose their interest, we may not get another chance. So, I believe that a compromise is needed. We need to work on increasing basic EE vocabulary and focus on including that terminology in our lesson plans, but also as a professional, I need to also consider my audience and even adults can be overwhelmed with a bunch of language that they do not understand. As an example, most people do not know what a Riparian Buffer is and I have noticed that even when speaking with a state representative, they can be turned off very quickly if I am using words that are not familiar.

6). Share one fun fact or random tidbit about you would you like to share with the group!

​One random tidbit about myself is that I like to sing gospel music. I have belonged to a church and been a part of their Praise Team for 10 years where we sing songs out of the red backed Hymnal and that experience allowed me to develop amazing relationships in my community and in that church. It also gave me the courage and strength to go back to school which led to a great boost in self-confidence and self-worth. I now have a Masters Degree and a job that I love that is greatly rewarding. It all changed my life.

SEEA LAUNCHES COMPREHENSIVE LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS OF EE IN THE SOUTHEAST

KAEE, in partnership with the Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance, is delighted to announce the launch of a dynamic project that has been in the works for many months—a landscape analysis of environmental education efforts in eight southeastern states.

Funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Pisces Foundation, this landscape analysis project will include a comprehensive study of the environmental education already happening on the ground, enabling the states involved to identify gaps and barriers to access that prevent successful implementation in some areas. The final report will also provide recommendations and next steps for increasing environmental literacy efforts in the southeast based on an inventory of model programs and initiatives happening nationwide.

This analysis and tailored state recommendations included in the report will equip organizations conducting environmental and conservation-related work in the southeast with the materials they need to address gaps, allocate resources more effectively, and, ultimately, meet the goal of increasing environmental literacy levels and stewardship behaviors.

“Although there are numerous organizations providing high-quality EE programs across the southeast, most of these are operating independently of one another, and little is being done to harness the collective impact of these programs to create large-scale change in each state or throughout the region,” Hoffman says. “This initiative will allow us to see the current landscape of environmental education in the southeast and help us to focus on larger-scale, capacity building initiatives that extend our impact beyond the local community.”

The final report will serve as the first step to strengthen and improve the nonformal EE community to be able to deliver high-quality programs to students and teachers. The tool will also provide recommendations to systemically infuse environmental principles and concepts in formal school curricula that will aid in increasing and integrating EE into formal education systems.

“We are excited to embark on this work,” Hoffman says. “To have the capacity and funding to bring together and connect the hundreds of organizations doing environmental literacy work across the southeast is a huge opportunity to grow the environmental education movement."

YOU ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE!

SEEA would like to invite Environmental Education program and service providers to participate in this project by filling out the following survey by Friday, April 2nd.

Organizations that respond will be listed as part of a state and regional landscape of environmental education programs and services. This analysis will take a comprehensive look at the scope of environmental education offerings available, trends in the field, and operational shifts. By better understanding the important work being done in the southeast, we can identify gaps and barriers to access, as well as opportunities for service providers to partner with one another to advance our collective efforts toward environmental literacy.

Questions relate to organizational operations, audiences served, programming themes, and services to better understand environmental education and engagement in the southeast. This survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. This is a two-part survey. After you complete the first part of the survey, you will have the opportunity to complete a survey of each of your individual programs or to group these into one survey.

Support for this project was provided by grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Pisces Foundation.

The Southeastern Environmental Education Alliance is a partnership of the following organizations:

• Environmental Education Association of Alabama (EEAA)
  

• League of Environmental Educators in Florida (LEEF)
  

• Environmental Education Alliance (EEA) of Georgia
  

• Kentucky Association for Environmental Education (KAEE)
  

• Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance (MEEA)
  

• Environmental Educators of North Carolina (EENC)
  

• Environmental Education Association of South Carolina (EEASC)
  

• Tennessee Environmental Education Association (TEEA)

KAEE Member Feature: Alice Hilton

KAEE recently welcomed new member Alice Hilton! Alice is part of Lexington's Public Information and Engagement team housed within the city's Department of Environmental Quality & Public Works. Her team works to preserve, protect, and enhance the city's environment by educating the public about the need and benefits of creating a healthy and sustainable quality of life for our community.

In the far right picture above, Alice is leading a public outreach activity to educate kids about the importance of maintaining healthy sanitary sewers with a fun activity - turning toilet paper into truly flushable wipes!

Learn how to make your own "TP Spray" as a replacement for flushable wipes (Did you know flushable wipes aren't really flushable?!). Scroll down or click to find ALICE'S SUPER TP SPRAY RECIPE and keep reading to learn more about Alice!

1). Where do you work and what is your current role?

I serve as the Community Outreach Liaison for the Public Information and Engagement team in Lexington’s Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works.

2). What projects or programs are you working on that particularly inspire you?

Our team is currently building partnerships with community centers, libraries, and other community-based groups to provide youth programming, with a focus on developing and supporting place-based learning initiatives and environmental career exploration.

3). What goals do you have for your organization or programs within the EE field?

I look forward to continuing to work towards programming that is deeply embedded in and responsive to community needs, as well as striving to be inclusive of and accessible to all the different people and groups in Lexington.

4). What is an area you feel you could use support in from this network of fellow educators?

I always need support in pushing myself in how to think about and engage with active antiracism, equity, and inclusion efforts in the field of environmental education and beyond.

5). What is something you feel could be beneficial to share with this network?

I’m sure many have already seen it, but I found Angela Park’sCentering Equity in EE’s COVID Response webinar to be extremely helpful in asking challenging questions and demanding both self- and organizational-level reflection.

6). Share one fun fact or random tidbit about you would you like to share with the group!

Our household is getting three ducklings in mid-March! If anyone has tips on raising ducks, I’d love to hear them.