South Bay
Serving Monterey, San Benito, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties

The California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network is an educational project supported by the California Department of Education, Environmental Education Program,  in collaboration with state, regional and local partners.  The CREEC Network is the best source for Environmental Education resources in California. 

Our online, searchable Resource Directory includes Environmental Education providers and programs/resources available to educators in your area.  Please look at our calendar and find environmental education activities and exhibits, funding opportunities, and teacher professional development opportunities.

FamCamp

FamCamp is a program of the California State Parks.  This program offers families a chance to experience the outdoors by camping overnight at a California State Park.  Camping is available at New Brighton for July and Half Moon Bay for August.  Tents, stoves, lanterns, sleeping bags, pots and pans, silverware and other camping essentials are provided.  All you need to bring is your own food and personal gear.  If you are interested in participating in this great opportunity please contact Jean Bernard (831) 6610588.

No Child Left Inside

The No Child Left Inside Act of 2007 amends the NCLB Law in the following ways:

• Provides federal funding to states to train teachers in environmental education and to operate model environmental education programs, which include outdoor learning.
• Provides funding to states that create environmental literacy plans to ensure that high school graduates are environmentally literate.
• Provides funding through an environmental education grant program to build state and national capacity.
• Re-establishes the Office of Environmental Education within the U.S Department of Education

For more information and to learn how the amendment could affect EE nationwide and in California, go to http://www.naaee.org/ee-advocacy/

Education and Environment Initiative (EEI) Implementation Plan

The Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) was signed into law in 2003.  Assembly Bill 1548 (Pavley, Statutes of 2003) and more recently AB 1721 (Pavley, Statutes 2005).  It mandates a broad-ranging strategy to bring education about the environment into California's schools.  Specifically, this law requires the State to:

• Develop Environmental Principles and Concepts (EP&C) to complement the State's academic content standards;
• Incorporate t he EP&C into the State Board of Education's criteria for adopted instructional materials in science, history/social science, English/language arts and mathematics;
• Design, develop and disseminate a K-12 standards-based curriculum to teach these EP&C to California's K-12 students;
• Align state agency programs with EP&C; and
• Establish an interagency partnership to implement the EEI

If you would like to know more about the EEI you can visit the district website provided by Jerry Lieberman of State Environmental Roundtable (SEER):

http://www.seer.org/EEI/toolkit/EEI_DistrictToolkit.html

You can also visit the Cal EPA website for more information:

http://www.calepa.ca.gov/education/eei

Regional Highlights

Resource Directory

Calendar

Funding Opportunities

Professional Development

Newsletter

Please contact me at creec@santacruz.k12.ca.us if you would like to add something to this website or if you would like to sign up to receive our newsletter.  I will be happy to assist you with your environmental education needs.

Sarah Ferguson