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ISG+ Update: Teens at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden get their hands dirty

This guest post, by Director of Education Elizabeth Clemens and Coordinator of ZooTeens and Scout Programs Syndi Castelluccio, from Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, which investigates how engaging with teens and receiving incentives can impact zoo guest behavior. The Adventure Continues As reported in our initial blog post, the Riverbanks Zoo and Garden’s ZooTeen volunteers are on an exciting journey. They’re busy taking direct action and engaging our visitors in efforts to keep trash out of our ocean through an innovative initiative they’re calling Teen S.O.S. (Stewards of our Seas). You may have been wondering how far they have come in their efforts and, if so, here’s your answer! Getting Their Hands Dirty! Before giving them all the facts and figures about marine debris, we decided to have our ZooTeens roll up their sleeves and dig into the issue, litter-ally. They marked local storm drains, picked up trash along our very own river banks, and, after some sorting and scrubbing, even used some of it to create the “trash to treasure” artwork as part of the “inspiration stations” they’ve been developing. This “learning by doing” experience had a real impact on the ZooTeens. For starters, they were struck by the amount of plastic that they found during the waterway cleanups, and that, in turn, increased their interest in promoting reusable shopping bags as a solution step. In addition, several of our teens that have been with the program for 2-4 years commented that the zoo seems so much more productive now. “When I look at what we used to do in our monthly meeting and what we do now, it’s amazing how much we as teenagers can accomplish in our mass numbers” - Alyssa “The time goes so quickly, if we met more often we could get so much more done.” - Dillon This last comment was seconded by our Teen Volunteer of the Year, Samantha, who dedicated more than 300 hours this past year to the teen program and helping to spread our conservation messaging to our guests. We have seen a tremendous difference in the teens attitudes and dedication to the program since we changed our approach to getting them involved. They are more active, more engaged, and more confident – they are making a difference. Experiments in Outreach Staff is now working with the ZooTeens to test how effective they are in their efforts to encourage visitors to take action. To do this we decided to compare and contrast the experience of two groups, rather than three as we had initially proposed in our first blog post. 1. A “Control Group” that received the bag off site with no explanation other than, “please take the bag, use it and complete a follow-up survey” 2. An “Experimental Group” of zoo guests who while on site engaged with the ZooTeens and learned about the problem of marine debris before receiving the bag and agreeing to use it and take the follow up survey We had initially proposed comparing the above with a third group, guests who visited the zoo but did not engage with the ZooTeens, but decided not to include this group because it would have complicated the experiment, and we wanted to focus in on the influence of interactions with the teens at “Inspiration Stations.” With the “Experimental Group,” the ZooTeens also were interested in trying a couple of different ways to connect with our guests. While we wanted to encourage the ZooTeens’ creativity, we also made sure that the defining characteristics of our Experimental Group remained constant - all members of this group visited the zoo, interacted with a ZooTeen, were told about the problem with plastics, and then received a reusable bag. Inspiration Stations – As noted above, the ZooTeens set up an activity station or touch cart with biofacts in our Aquarium Reptile Complex, either by our sea turtle exhibit or at the exit away from any animal exhibit. The activities included: “It’s Not Easy Being a Green” – this activity allows a guest to do an endoscopy on a “stuffed” green sea turtle to determine what had made the turtle sick “Jelly Fishin’”– this fishing activity allowed guest to see how sea turtles could confuse plastic for food “All the Way to the Ocean” – demonstrated how debris from land makes it into our waterway “Washed Away” – shared the problems with microbeads in our common household products that we use daily The teens shared with us that they found it challenging to draw in guests to talk; however, when they had an activity, the guests flocked to the area. As one our teens, Abby, put it, “Having so many guests come to our activity allowed us to share the big issue at hand.” Information Booth – We also tried a stand-alone station near our guest relations center with our eye catching “bag monster ball” made of 500 bags tied together. We did give out a few of our reusable bags at this location, but it without the active engagement on the issues of plastics pollution, it didn’t seem to have the draw of the activities mentioned above. To date we have distributed 1500 reusable bags from a total of 2000, with 600 going to our “Control Group” and 900 going to our “Experimental Group,” and have begun requesting and collecting survey responses. Want our results? Stay tuned! -- Guest post by Elizabeth Clemens and Syndi Castelluccio    

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ISG+ Update: Seattle youth CAN engage their peers on transportation

This guest post by Eli Weiss of Woodland Park Zoo is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, exploring how teens in the Seattle area can empower each other and their peers for action on climate change. Woodland Park Zoo, along with our partners the Seattle Aquarium and Pacific Science Center are working together to build the Seattle Youth Climate Action Network (CAN). The goal of this Innovative Solutions Grants+ project is to train and support teen leaders, helping them create a campaign that encourages their peers to take measurable action on the issue of climate change. Since our first post, I have been working closely with partner staff from each institution to keep this pilot year on course. In addition, I have continued outreach to local agencies and organizations to build local support and enthusiasm for the project. Seattle Youth CAN is picking up momentum - we have had a handful of successful events and have already learned a lot about starting a local youth network. Our training model for this effort has included engaging teen participants in hands-on action; a full day of instruction on climate science, communication strategies and local examples of climate action; and a campaign design workshop for the leadership group. Training Part 1: Leading with action We began our training with an inspirational day of action. In collaboration with Forterra and Green Seattle Partnership 30+ Seattle area teens planted over 200 trees and native plants along a high traffic bike path in North Seattle. The event was an energetic gathering, and participants enthusiastically planted trees to offset the Woodland Park Zoo’s carbon emissions through the Evergreen Carbon Capture Program. Training Part 2: Climate leadership workshop A month later, we brought 40+ teens from the three institutions to the Zoo for leadership training on climate change science, communication strategies, and action. To spark ideas for their own campaign, teens heard from local organizations and agencies and explored examples of climate action. Among the presenters were staff from Climate Solutions, Seattle City Light-Community Solar Program and Forterra. Each community partner shared their own work and pitched project ideas for how Seattle Youth CAN could partner with them. At the end of a full day of learning, participants shared which action campaign ideas they were interested in through a survey and small group discussions. Teens left the workshop energized and ready to get Seattle Youth CAN off the ground. Training Part 3: Campaign design workshop for youth leaders As the next step, a climate campaign design committee was formed with teen representatives from each institution. This committee met every other week to come up with a focus and plan for a summer action campaign. I facilitated this group process along with support from staff from our partner institutions. Rather than reinventing the wheel we used existing models for campaign design, including “Planning to Win”, and committee members participated in a workshop on ‘behavior change’ from our in-house audience research experts. The committee hosted teens and staff from the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Unplug for an OA campaign, and participated in a King County community forum to gather their input to help inform an updated Climate Action Plan for the County. We received great feedback from teens and staff about starting the training with an action event, as well as the content of the full day training. One thing that we would do differently would be to make the “communicating climate change” piece its own, more in-depth, workshop. During this training we included it with the climate science overview and examples of local community action, so weren’t able to dig in as much as we wanted. Crafting the pilot campaign After several months of research, planning, and meetings, our campaign design committee chose a transportation action campaign to launch later this month. Their research and interaction with city and county experts found that over 45% of Seattle’s CO2 emissions comes from local transportation choices. The group felt that making smarter transportation choices would was something their peers could actually do to measurably reduce their carbon emissions. While they are still working out the details with the message and tactics, we know the teens will be inviting their peers to participate in a challenge to reduce their carbon footprint by increasing their use of public transit, biking, walking and carpooling. With the help of our evaluation staff, the group developed an evaluation plan using an online platform hosted by King County Metro’s Ride Share Online program to track participation in the challenge. At the start of the challenge, participants will complete a baseline survey to help the group to measure behavior change for participating teens over the course of the month. In addition, we will be working with local transportation agencies and organizations to increase teen awareness of how to make smart transportation choice through events and activities. Teen leaders at each institution will promote the challenge with their peers and they hope to engage 100+ participants in action. Expanding interest Since our action event and full day workshop earlier in the year, we have continued to organize monthly Seattle Youth CAN events. These events are designed to enable other teens from the three institutions to get involved and deepen their understanding of Seattle Youth CAN and related climate change issues. Last Thursday, for example, teens organized and hosted an event at Woodland Park Zoo, “The Impacts of Climate Change on Wildlife.” We had over 60 youth attend the full day event which included presentations from local climate scientists from NOAA and The University of Washington, as well as youth led climate focused tours of the zoo and community building activities. More than half of the teens who attended were new to Seattle Youth CAN and we were excited to see the continued enthusiasm for our growing network. Learning as we go We’re feeling good about our progress the identity that we are building through the network, the trainings and events that have been well attended by our teens, and the support we have received from our partner institutions and community supporters. Our teen leaders and other members of the network are eager to finally launch the action campaign and be able to share with their institutions and peers how they plan to take action to reduce CO2 emissions. A big challenge so far has been finding the balance between structured workshops and committee meetings to best provide the room for our cross-institution teen leadership group to innovate and take ownership of the campaign. Creating a structure for truly youth driven action and leadership, while providing participants with enough resources and support is at the core of our program model. Our teens live busy and complex lives and creating a leadership opportunity with the right mix of structure and space is something we continue to work on. After many months of supporting the group in moving their planning forward, we are proud to announce that the challenge officially launched this week! Next moves For teens in Seattle Youth CAN, August will be a month of action and learning as they work to engage their peers in behavior change, focused on making sustainable transportation choices. In September teens and staff will also focus their efforts on planning for the Youth Climate Summit that we will host on October 10th at Woodland Park Zoo. At this event our campaign leadership group will have the opportunity to share the results of their transportation challenge with a large audience of peers. We also see this event as the opportunity to expand our network beyond the current three institutions and invite other Seattle area teens to join Seattle Youth CAN. I believe that with continued support, we can expand this network to be inclusive of all youth in our area who want to get involved in climate action. I am also hopeful that, as we refine our model, it will be something that can be shared and used by groups around the country looking to engage youth in collective action. What gives me hope Skylar Widman, a high school intern at WPZ and active member of the climate campaign design committee, recently shared his experiences in Seattle Youth CAN with educators participating in our Advanced Inquiry Maters Program: “Before CAN I tried to make choices that helped the environment and now I realize that there are many other teens that what to take action and that as a group we can have a greater impact in fighting climate change.” -- Guest post by Eli Weiss of Woodland Park Zoo

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ISG+ Update: A Collaborative Approach to Community Engagement at the Florida Aquarium

This guest post, by VP of Education Debbi Stone at Florida Aquarium, is the second in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project. The Aquarium’s project asks “Can we gain valuable insights about how to engage an underrepresented audience by working together to design the approach?” Click here to read the previous post in this series. What We Set Out to Accomplish The key components of the project so far have included: Work with DeSoto Elementary School’s teachers to plan the best way to design, schedule, and complete the project over the school year Provide the necessary materials and resources to complete projects Engage approximately 200 students in grades K-5 to identify ocean issues and actions that are relevant and meaningful to THEM Help students and teachers create an idea for a conservation ask Share these ideas back with the community and Aquarium visitors Choose one or more of the student-designed asks for staff to refine test over the summer with Aquarium visitors   Working with the students was rewarding, and has included visits to the school as well as field trips to the Aquarium. To begin, we reviewed the age-level requirements from the school district and structured our content and activities to align with what the students were already scheduled to learn at key points in the year. This allowed teachers to include this project seamlessly into their classrooms, which was essential, as we had heard from them that it is often challenging to “add something new” or otherwise modify their plans for the year. What Are the Outcomes…So Far? The benefits of the partnership to date have been numerous. The teachers were excited to receive science and environmental education support from Florida Aquarium staff, and the project brought resources to the school that would not otherwise have been possible. From science supplies to consumables, books to posters, the students and teachers were delighted to have access to science materials in both English and Spanish. From the Aquarium’s perspective, it was rewarding to experience the enthusiasm of the school community as they utilized the materials throughout the year while completing their projects. It was also fascinating to hear about topics of interest to the students, as those they selected were diverse and included focus areas such as watersheds, sustainable seafood, “keeping wild areas wild” (responsible wildlife viewing and interaction), pollution, and opting for reusable bags over paper or plastic. An initial challenge was the way in which the concept of advancing conservation through an “ask” or call to action was new to all grade levels. Students were already comfortable with learning the science content and environmental information, yet the next level of how they might use that knowledge to help inspire others was a new venture. Aquarium staff worked diligently with the teachers and students to help them move from “building knowledge of a watershed,” for example, to what a call to action for “helping to conserve a watershed” might be. A great deal more time than expected was spent on this, yet we knew from The Ocean Project’s research that it was needed. From our perspective, we now recognize that “diving into a discussion of a call to action” is likely a greater leap for most than we had realized. This helps us to rethink our strategies in working with our partners, as many of them may be unfamiliar with the application of knowledge as a means of moving an audience to the next level of engagement. An a-ha moment came with the recognition that the students and families involved had similar interests to what we tend to discover with other audiences. Notably, we found that the connection to wildlife and the animals was as important to the Hispanic families from DeSoto as it is for other audiences with whom we work. So a key learning point from this project is that the key to our success may be less about changing or translating our message and more about rethinking our methods. Traditional marketing approaches may fall short, yet working with specific schools can be a successful model. And through this project, we connected with a representative from the Mayor of Tampa’s Hispanic Heritage Council, and she has eagerly agreed to work with us on those methods for better engaging the Hispanic community. The initial phase of our project culminated in a win-win for all involved - Family Day at the Aquarium on May 9th, 2015. The students and their families were proud to act as experts, sharing what they had learned with our diverse visitors, while also encouraging them to consider the calls to action, the ways visitors could help with some simple behavior changes in their own lives. The content was enjoyable to our visitors, who clearly enjoyed engaging with the students, and both the students and our visitors likely learned a great deal in the process. The “asks” they presented included choices around the issues of paper/plastic/reusable bags, organic versus non-organic food, pets/exotics, litter and debris, ocean-friendly seafood, and more. And the approaches to these asks were creative and fun, from making art with “trash” rather than adding it to landfills, keeping a personally-decorated bag in one’s car to collect roadside litter, to becoming a better wildlife photographer rather than striving to “touch” or interact with wildlife. While the asks were not specifically targeted to Hispanic audiences (Family Day was held on a Saturday that reflected our typical diversity of audiences), the recognition previously cited that the student’s interests and enthusiasm mirrored other audiences likely contributed to their asks resonating well with our daily visitors. How Are We Moving Forward? At this stage of the project, we are working on adding some “professional polish” to one of the student-designed calls to action so that we can continue to use it on a regular basis with Aquarium visitors. While we had anticipated going with a unique or otherwise unexpected “ask,” the one that seemed to resonate most with our visitors was the reusable bag call to action as a way to help the animals and address the problem of marine debris. The information presented by the students on this topic seemed to generate the most conversations, the highest number of “surprised” responses (“I never knew that…”), and also the one that visitors felt could be easily accomplished by all ages and backgrounds, yet also make a huge impact. We are now working on strategies to help illuminate the impact of choosing of a reusable bag over a disposable one, including more animal “stories” beyond the problem of accidental ingestion. We also need to develop an evaluation plan, as the students were not able to include that in their ideas. We had already incorporated a reusable bag message into our pathway, doing so even before this project to a sporadic degree, so our work now includes a more formal and organized approach that also includes visitor follow-up. The follow-up component challenges us in this project, as it has with others, as we’ve found that our visitors can be hesitant to provide contact information, but we will look to the successes and lessons learned from the recent “Better Bag Challenge,” and continue to make headway on strategies that incentivize follow-up with our audiences, including our Hispanic audiences. We also plan to gather with the teachers again this fall, as almost all of them are returning to the same school, to discuss the elements of the project that are likely to have the most long-term impact on the school and its students. We will also share with the entire school how their work with us this past year will have long-term impact! Furthermore, we intend to expand our efforts to better reach the Hispanic community by identifying key engagement contacts and organizations, such as the aforementioned Mayor’s Hispanic Heritage Council. In our next blog, we will share information about our continued efforts to motivate our visitors to opt for reusable bags over disposable paper or plastic bags. We will also address our successes and challenges in following up with our visitors after we engage them with this call to action. Are they doing it? And how do we know? About the Author Debbi is VP of Education at the Florida Aquarium and has been challenging herself and others to move beyond information… and onto action! She enjoys living in harmony with all things furry, scaly, feathery, and slimy, whether on land or under the water. She is always eager to work with The Ocean Project and its partners and considerations collaborations key to making a positive difference in the world.

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ISG+ Final Report: What we learned at the Oregon Coast Aquarium

This guest post by Teresa Mealy of Oregon Coast Aquarium is the final update on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, which put teens in the driver's seat of a peer-targeted conservation campaign! Thank you and congrats to Teresa, Kerry Carlin-Morgan, and everyone at the Aquarium for your great work. Letting youth lead the way  The Oregon Coast Aquarium, with generous support from The Ocean Project, endeavored to understand how to connect teens to ocean issues and then propel them to action. The Aquarium selected four highly motivated Youth Volunteers to spearhead the project and, ultimately, devise a social marketing campaign that would connect local teens with community action. Throughout 2014 and into 2015, these youth, who called themselves the MOANA Group (Making Ocean Acidification Nationally Aware), researched, studied and shared the science of ocean acidification. They examined ocean acidification through the lens of community based social marketing, identified specific actions that local teens could do on their own to positively impact the marine ecosystem, and then looked to the opportunities available in classroom visits and social media. Taking the lead, they created #Unplug4OA to see if the could engage and inspire their peers. Over 750 students have heard their call, and the movement is just getting started! Advice for similar projects Here are a few key takeaways for other aquariums and zoos that might be considering something similar: Focus on action: A direct call to action proved very impactful when engaging a teen audience, especially when tied to a moderate introduction to the science. Too much science and issue information tended to be overwhelming, bogging down the presentation and taking the focus away from action. Youth are awesome: Youth volunteers who were already invested in the Aquarium’s mission provided a great resource, as that allows you to jump ahead and focus on empowering them to create a campaign that will engage their peers. Moreover, their peers were impressed to find out that high school students who volunteer at the Aquarium are confident in leadership roles and empowered to teach about ocean issues. Give youth a chance: Giving teens control of the design and implementation of a project can be risky (and intimidating) but is well worth it. Teens feel not only empowered, but take ownership of the project and are highly invested in its success. Read on for more details on this innovative project: Dreaming Big Here at the Aquarium, we wanted our youth volunteers to feel empowered to communicate to their peers about ocean acidification. We wanted these teens to be agents of change, and teach local youth about ocean acidification (OA), their connection to OA and its impact on their communities. Most importantly with this project, we wanted to ensure that every teenager the campaign reached recognized in turn that their actions can make a difference to help address OA. To empower these teens to act as confident advocates, we challenged them to spearhead the campaign’s research, creation and implementation. We gave them the freedom to direct the entire creative and design process of this social marketing project. Typically, a campaign like this - from the approach to the ask to the evaluation - would have been carefully crafted by staff for the teens just to implement, so turning control over to the teens from the start was exciting and innovative, yet also risky and somewhat daunting. Turning It Over to the Teens The MOANA Group already had the facts about OA, but we knew that it would take more than that for them to create a campaign, so we contracted with a social marketing consultant to teach them how to design a compelling, action-motivating campaign. Action Research’s President, Jennifer Tabinico, developed a course for the youth volunteers to learn about this specialized marketing process and coached the teens through the extensive process of developing their campaign. The teens polled their peers to understand what actions are feasible for the typical teenager to take to minimize their impact on OA, and what are the barriers and benefits to implementation of each action. The training this grant funded taught the MOANA Group that a key to the community based social marketing framework is that the "asks" must be as directly related to the audience as possible. Their research led the teens to conclude that asking their peers to unplug cell phone chargers, game consuls and other electronics would be the most relatable solution with the greatest potential impact. With a call to action identified, the MOANA Group started working through the creative process to identify engagement opportunities, and develop memorable slogans and reminder devices. They decided the best place to reach their target audience would be through outreach programs that would take them into middle and high school classrooms. The youth volunteers designed a flexible program that could adapt to discussion or presentation style formats, depending on each class’s needs. The teens again took the lead when it came time to implement their ideas. They arranged presentation times and presented portions of, or the entire program, to their peers. To assess their audiences’ prior understanding, they asked them to jot down what they knew about ocean acidification, and what they could do about it. At the end of each program, MOANA Group introduced their "ask" - asking their peers to unplug cell phone chargers, game consuls and other electronics as a step that helps address the issue - and shared their experience developing the campaign. They also called on the audience to spread the campaign’s influence by posting on social media, using #Unplug4OA. Following the program, the student audience was surveyed about what they could recall from the presentation and if they took action. Surveys were collected from the school either two weeks or two months after the presentation. Armed with these results, the MOANA Group was able to assess the impact their campaign made. Changes, challenges and connections The campaign’s target audience was high school students, but an early opportunity arose when a few teachers encouraged the group also to present to their middle school students. This provided an opportunity to broaden the audience, but it did require some changes to the dynamics of the presentation. Middle school students were more interested in participating in the presentation, and more inclined to ask questions than high school students. However when presenting to middle schools, we had to adapt our program to include some basic science concepts which high school students usually understand (E.g. what is pH, production of CO2, etc.). And when surveying students afterward, we found that the high school students were more likely to remember the targeted call to action, whereas the middle school students were more likely to remember general concepts from the presentation, but not the ask. After the first classroom presentations, the MOANA Group also began to see some small changes they would need to make to their campaign's approach. One immediately apparent concern was accessibility to social media. Some schools had firewall systems that blocked students from accessing social media on their phones while on school grounds. They had also assumed most students were using social media, but when the opportunity arose to speak to middle school students, they found a measurable distinction between middle and high school students, with a higher proportion of the latter promoting #Unplug4OA. These challenges proved to be some of the more difficult to overcome in the campaign; but these efforts were worthwhile incorporating social media into the program helped the campaign reach teens who did not see the MOANA Group’s presentation. When youth volunteers were not available to lead presentations, myself and other Aquarium staff filled their role. This provided us another variable to consider while assessing the impact of the campaign. We were a bit surprised that the adult led programs did seem to achieve the same response to calls to action and social media sharing. But we also couldn't help but notice that the youth volunteers engaged their peers in discussions about ocean acidification, their classmates appeared to connect more passionately with the issue. Both the adult and teen presenters proved impactful, but the messages and the ask seemed to resonate more strongly with middle and high school students when their peers presented the issue and campaign. For Aquarium staff, we were very comfortable with the idea of a campaign that would involve our teen volunteers asking others to join in taking action on an issue like OA, as that we'd done before. But it was quite new to hand the reins to the youth volunteers, giving them the leadership over the campaign and have staff play the support role. It also was a switch for the youth volunteers to go from an adult led programs to one they would lead, but with the right tools and time to communicate, they took to the challenge and made us all proud. They exuded enthusiasm and motivation, passion and drive while working on the campaign, but, that said, we learned that we needed to allocate more time for the development and implementation process, which took longer than originally estimated, largely due to conflicting schedules with the youth volunteers’ school and extracurricular activities. Yet even with the constantly changing timeline, the youth volunteers remained positive and committed to the campaign, which was encouraging to all the adults working to support them. These challenges provided lessons for the MOANA Group, and that, coupled with what they created, prepares them for the future. The campaign’s impact: youth are awesome! Despite the challenges and changes, the results gathered showed the campaign made an impact. While we are still sifting though all of the data we collected, our preliminary results shows that the students in the audience have been able to recall many aspects of the presentation. Even weeks later, the majority recalled the topic or theme, citing the impact of ocean acidification on sea life or repeating one of the campaign catch phrases. More impressively: Approximately 50% of the students recalled unplugging electronics as an action they can take to reduce CO2 absorbed by the ocean (and about 35% say that it is an action they now do!). Even more impactful, approximately 40% of students also reported that they shared information they learned from the MOANA Group with their friends or family. And the students’ anecdotes supported their survey responses.   In keeping with the findings and recommendations from the public opinion research by The Ocean Project and others, the focus of the presentation was on the call to action, with just brief background on the science of OA, and this helped shape the results. Most of the survey responses included specific examples of behavior changes, like one student who said her mom unplugged her hair straightener after hearing about the MOANA Group presentation at dinner. The youth volunteers also demonstrated a measurable increase in confidence when talking about ocean acidification with their peers, as well as when asking their peers to change their behavior. One MOANA Group member said, “I've seen the OA swag all over my school and many of my peers have been very willing to learn. Many have told me they have begun unplugging their appliances and chargers.” Another said he felt, “Empower(ed). I also feel special that I can confidently talk about the topic and I have the tools to show others how they can help as well.” Empowerment seemed to echo through their final evaluations, another youth volunteer said, “I feel empowered. I love educating my peers and if I can alter their habits I will do my best to do so. This program has helped me get out of my comfort zone, and I'm very thankful for that.” So Bright, We Need to Wear Shades The Oregon Coast Aquarium is thankful for the opportunity this grant gave the youth volunteers. Thanks to their new found empowerment we already are planning for more projects just around the bend. In addition to continuing the outreach program in the schools, we plan to share our community based social marketing and ocean acidification experiences with other local and regional teen groups, and also are sharing more of our experience with the team from the Woodland Park Zoo as they embark on their own Innovative Solutions+ Grant. We also hope to continue to expand our program to the Hispanic community, another key audience identified in the public opinion research and a demographic which makes up 30% of students in our local high school. With so many future goals, the close of this project feels like we are just wrapping up stage one, and launching into for a bright future.   Photo of Oregon Coast Aquarium

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ISG+ New Project: Florida Aquarium investigates a co-designed ‘ask’ for engagement

This guest post, by VP of Education Debbi Stone at Florida Aquarium is the first in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project. The Aquarium's project asks "Can we gain valuable insights about how to engage an underrepresented audience by working together to design the approach?" The Ask As a mission-based institution committed to learning as much as we can about “The Ask,” our shorthand phrase for promoting conservation action to our visitors, we have spent the last several years focusing on questions such as: What individual behaviors actually make a positive difference in ocean conservation? What actually motivates visitors to join us in taking these actions? How do we track the success of our efforts? How do we engage previously underrepresented audiences?   Using resources and insights from The Ocean Project, Frameworks Institute, the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI), Climate Interpreter, and more, we have made strides on the above, yet we also recognize that we still have a lot to learn. Through our recently awarded Innovative Solutions Grant, we especially want to learn more about how to answer that last question about engaging underrepresented audiences.   An Underserved/Untargeted Audience The fastest growing population segment in our region is Hispanic. Between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the Hispanic population in our home county of Hillsborough grew by over 70%. Even with that knowledge, we had not been strategically focusing on how to align our goal of increasing visitor actions via The Ask with engaging the largest growing population with which to work. We hypothesize that if this population continues to grow with such robustness, it represents an audience with which we have a tremendous opportunity to collaborate and affect positive change on a large scale. We were therefore excited to receive awarded the Innovative Solutions Grant to explore deepening our connection with this important audience by working with a prominently Hispanic Title 1 elementary school to create a platform, and answer questions about how best to increase visitor actions.   Why Youth as a Launch Point? As data summarized in The Ocean Project’s Special Youth Report in America, the Ocean, and Climate Change: New Research Insights for Conservation, Awareness, and Action, suggest that youth have a strong influence on household conservation behaviors, our project strives to equip students to be catalysts in their households. As the data further suggest that aquariums are trusted sources of information about ocean issues, we believe that we are in a powerful position to effect positive change. Furthermore, additional research by The Ocean Project and others underscores the way in which those in households where English is the second language also tend to have a strong, but often unmet, interest in conservation issues.   Project Summary Through our Innovative Solutions project, we plan to work with approximately 200 elementary students at a predominantly Hispanic school to help us develop engagement ideas that include family involvement and participation. We are also, thanks to the grant, able to provide materials in Spanish, something that has been a challenge for us in the past. Throughout this school year, we will work with teachers and students to develop projects that directly connect the community to action…or again, what we call The Ask. We will work with grade level teachers to help students at various grade levels create action-based projects that they find meaningful to them and that we think are appropriate for the Aquarium. And the students will be encouraged involve their families along the way. In May, the students and their families will be invited to attend a Family Science Day at The Florida Aquarium, where they will share their ideas with our visitors, and we can all gauge the response.   Reality Check? Are we trying to accomplish too much with this one school? We all - aquarium staff, teachers and students alike - are excited about the idea of working together but are already learning that it can be a challenge to fit a project like this into an increasingly busy school schedule. In our next blog, we’ll share more about barriers we're encountering (and working through) as well as where we are in our efforts and how we are proceeding. We will keep you posted as our work progresses!

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ISG+ New Project: Teens at Riverbanks Zoo and Garden take action “all the way to the ocean”

This guest post, by Director of Education Elizabeth Clemens and Coordinator of ZooTeens and Scout Programs Syndi Castelluccio, from Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is the first in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, which investigates how engaging with teens and receiving incentives can impact zoo guest behavior. Teen S.O.S. The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden began connecting area teenagers to nature and building successful, caring members of the community more than a decade ago. Now with the support from The Ocean Project’s Innovative Solutions Grant+ we have tasked our current teens to take their love of nature one step further, to reach out and take action “all the way to the ocean.” Although not on the coast, Riverbanks Zoo and Garden has a unique setting nestled along the banks of the Saluda River, and a direct connection to the ocean. Over the years Riverbanks teens have felt strongly about the unsightly and potentially dangerous debris left on our very own riverbanks. Regardless of the source it is an ugly problem - in more ways than one! So this year, the teens will attempt to answer the distress call of our oceans through the Teen S.O.S (Stewards of Our Seas) initiative by tackling one of the biggest issues facing our oceans today – marine debris. As part of a yearlong immersive effort, Teen S.O.S will look to enlighten and inspire the teens to not only take action individually, but to become a true motivational force by inspiring the community to take action that will make an impact both locally and globally. Building on their past community actions, the teens will set up “Inspiration Stations” where they can connect with Zoo guests, and engage with them in a behavior change experiment. Setting Sail We began by educating our teens on the issue of Marine debris and provided them opportunities to be actively engaged in reaching a solution. The teens teamed up with the City of Columbia this past fall to mark all the storm drains in the Zoo that lead to local waterways with colorful medallions to educate the public about storm drains and watersheds. Partnering with Keep the Midlands Beautiful, ZooTeens have scheduled a number of local waterway clean ups through the Adopt-A-Waterway program. Joining forces with the Riverbanks Zoo Green Team, teens have been tasked to evaluate and identify at least one action item that would help to reduce our plastic footprint by making a permanent change in the Zoo’s daily operations.   All Aboard Knowing that Columbia takes pride in its state, its parks, rivers, beaches and yes its Zoo, we felt the need inspire everyone to find these treasures beneath all of the trash! The teens are taking an innovative approach to reach the zoo’s one million guests. The group will be crafting “Trash to Treasure” artwork from the items collected during the waterway clean-ups. This art will be displayed in the Zoo as a way to attract the attention of our guests, introduce them to the issue of marine debris and, we hope, remind South Carolinians of their Palmetto pride.   The teens will also create “Inspiration Stations," which will emphasize ways that zoo guests can be part of the solution, and inspire them to make changes in their daily lives to help address the problem of marine debris. Inspiration Stations will be showcased at the community-wide events - Go Green Day, Party for the Planet and World Oceans Day.   Is Knowledge Power? Let the experiment begin! As part of inspiring change and community action, the teens will next test the theory, “Is an individual more likely to use a reusable shopping bag if they are engaged by teen leaders on the problem of marine debris?” This question will be tested using random samples of three test groups: Guests simply visiting the Zoo Guests engaged at an “Inspiration Station” Control group of the general public   As part of this effort, we’ll be giving away reusable bags to guests. Each guest will be asked to sign a pledge that they will take the bag, use it, and complete a survey 1-2 months after receiving the bag. We’ll be looking at whether or not guests that visited the Inspiration Station are more likely than the others to report taking action to reduce their plastic footprint. Stay tuned!

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ISG+ Final Report: What we learned at the New England Aquarium

This guest post by Heather Deschenes of New England Aquarium, the final in a 3-part series on the aquarium's Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, is a look at what the aquarium learned from their efforts. Thank you to Heather and everyone who helped at the aquarium for your hard work! The Ocean Project’s Innovative Solutions grant enabled us to try a different approach to training our teen volunteers to engage various audiences about the steps those audiences might take reduce their fossil fuel use. Our hypothesis was that if the teens were able to convey their knowledge about climate change, then audiences would be more willing to act.  Here's a summary of what we did, including the successes we had, as well as the lessons we learned. Beginning the project Our original vision for the ClimaTeens program was to develop an educational program that aimed to empower teens to stimulate an increase in community dialogue, planning, and action to address the issues of climate change. We aimed to develop the youth participants’ understanding of the science behind and impacts associated with global climate change, and a stronger sense of confidence in sharing this knowledge with peers, adults, and community leaders. Our goal was to create two academic year cohorts of students who would take part in monthly meetings where they would develop their content knowledge on the subject area, have opportunities to practice developing presentations and making connections with other youth audiences in the in the City of Boston and Aquarium visitors. To form the first cohort of ClimaTeens, we recruited those who were already participating in other NEAq youth programs. We assembled a group of 12 who had varying levels of knowledge of climate change science and impacts. We experimented with the idea that, once all were up to speed, the teens could and would engage deeply with a topic as large and potentially scary as climate change. We found that the answer, overwhelmingly, was that they could and they would, even going so far as to talk with EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, as well as Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, and Boston Mayor Marty Walsh! We set a goal of having the teens develop additional presentations, blog posts and videos that would all encourage a wide audience to join a citywide effort to reduce carbon emissions called Greenovate Boston. We anticipated being able to measure impacts of ClimaTEENS efforts because the Greenovate website was to be enabled with a number of built in evaluative properties. We were really excited about the opportunities presented by the partnership with Greenovate, and the web tools in particular, but as the project progressed, it became apparent that our timelines were not aligned. While Greenovate was making significant progress in developing the City’s Climate Action Plan (CAP), their website plans were much slower to take off. A change of plans By the fall of 2014, we knew we needed to change course, and we decided to put greater emphasis on having the teens presenting directly to aquarium visitors rather than the broader community. We also launched the second academic year cohort of ClimaTeens (retaining five alumni from the first cohort). So in addition to starting the process of training the new cohort, which had grown from 12 – 20 youth, we also started gathering data to support our evaluation strategy through a monthly program called Blue Discovery Family Days (BDFD.)  Each BDFD has a theme (such as Lobsters, Octopus, or Sustainable Seafood) and an array of hands-on activities are set up either inside or outside the aquarium, depending on weather. Teens run most of the stations, with support from adult educators. For a series of fall and winter BDFD events this academic year, the ClimaTeens had a table in the same area as the other activities, but with a climate change-specific activity. The teens used interactives NEAq developed as part of a NOAA-funded climate education grant a few years ago. These activities feature either basic climate science, such as carbon sinks and sources, or human impacts, such as an ‘eco-footprint’ quiz. The teens were encouraged to convey the science and also engage visitors in solutions-oriented conversations, touching on three specific actions the visitors might take (wash laundry in cold water, request a home energy audit, and/or connect with a community-based effort such as Greenovate). After visitors had the opportunity to interact with the teens, an adult educator would ask a random sample of visitors leaving that area if they were willing to complete a short survey on an iPad. The surveys asked some attitudinal questions and also asked visitors to indicate their willingness to take the three possible actions the teens were mentioning. Since NEAq surveys visitors on many subjects, we were already aware that our visitorship is generally interested in and concerned about climate change, but we didn't know if the interactions with the teens would increase a visitor's willingness to take action. Looking at the data While the data we gathered was not statistically significant, it did suggest that interacting with the teens could indeed help expand our visitor's willingness to act. When we compared the responses of those who did interact with the teens ("yes group") and those who did not ("no group"), we couldn't help but notice that those in the "yes group" seemed to be coming into the conversations with a higher level of interest in the issue. A strikingly high 26% of those in the "yes group" reported that they already were involved with a community-based effort such as Greenovate, whereas that number dropped to 8% for those in the "no group." At the same time, we still saw some evidence that interacting with the teens was having an impact. When we compared yes and no group responses on the other two actions - washing clothes in cold water and requesting a home energy audit - approximately equal percentages from each group reported that they were already taking those actions prior to their visit. However, among those who were not already taking those steps prior to their visit, those who interacted with one of the teens did report a notably higher willingness to take these actions in the future. What we still do not know, however, is the extent to which that difference in response was due to the provision of new information about the solution steps, new information about the underlying problem, and/or the personal nature of the interactions. Our "gut sense" would be that the impact we saw was largely attributable to an already interested audience being provided with new information about solution steps they could take by a group of enthusiastic interpreters. But as they say in academia, "more study is needed!" Over the course of our ClimaTeens adventure, we have learned that our teens are capable of understanding large and complex topics with a mixture of wisdom, enthusiasm, and energy that inspires the adults around them.  We also have learned that getting a group of young people around a table to share pizza and ideas can be silly, deep, chaotic, and ultimately incredibly rewarding.  One note of caution for our colleagues in the Aquarium and Zoo community looking into this kind of program, however - the same teens that are deeply engaged leaders in your institution are most likely deeply engaged students, athletes, performers, and leaders in their school and home communities, and they may become overcommitted.  Other lessons learned Coordinating with a community wide effort on a scale like Greenovate can be, despite the best of intentions on both sides, really tough, especially with the limited availability of the teens themselves and just the basic operational differences between organizations We learned the teens didn’t need in-depth training on climate science but rather needed the time to build their confidence in speaking about climate basics. The teens often expressed that building their own social identity was more important that learning the scientific information. Having the teens already invested in our organizational mission was really helpful. For example, our second cohort of teens (formed in fall 2014) has had considerable attrition because many of participants were new to the Aquarium and the expectations on behalf of the program and the teens themselves, were very different.   When asked what lies ahead for ClimaTeens, there are some unknowns (program funding) but there are also some certainties. The youth who continue to participate in the program are really emerging as model ocean stewards, something that is core to our institutional mission and goals. These youth all have some very positive traits in common; they see involvement with ocean-helping activities as crucial part of life, many are actively pursuing schooling that will help them to work in an ocean/environment related career, they are well educated on ocean issues and can speak articulately about the issues, frequently talking with others and sharing their passion to help raise awareness. We are very excited to see what these teens will do next and really appreciate that this grant helped us to empower a group of young people who understand their connections to the ocean and participate as a community of informed citizens who are inspired to change the world.

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ISG+ New Project: Philadelphia Zoo asks, “Can an exhibit change visitor behavior at home?”

This guest post by Wei Ying Wong of

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ISG+ Final Report: What we learned at the NC Aquariums

This guest post by Windy Arey-Kent of NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is the final in a 3-part series on NC Aquariums’ Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, aimed at testing different approaches to engaging guests for conservation action at aquariums. This blog post is a look at what NC Aquariums learned as a result of this project. Thank you to Windy and everyone who helped at NC Aquariums for your hard work! The North Carolina Aquariums were awarded a $16,000 Innovative Solutions Grant to see if our visitors would be interested in joining us in the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificate’s (REC’s) to help address the problems of climate change and ocean acidification. We were awarded the grant in December, 2013 and the project was funded through December, 2014. With this support, we were able to implement programs at each of our four sites and take four very different approaches to engaging visitors in this conservation ask during our high visitation months of May-September. My experience working with The Ocean Project was extremely positive from the beginning. Working with the staff, in advance, to research and identify the best ways to approach a project of this scope, with 4 facilities, was extremely useful. I even had issues submitting the grant online, due to my inexperience with some technology formats, and staff at The Ocean Project worked with me directly to answer my questions so that I could successfully complete the application. This process was so beneficial, not only for me, but for my staff and our facility. The lessons learned through this project were significant and pertinent to our departmental goals, plus we had a lot of fun! Why we tried What we learned Our advice to others Why we tried For our aquariums, our interest in doing this stemmed from our mission, which is to inspire appreciation and conservation of NC’s aquatic ecosystems, and also because it fit very nicely with a new strategic initiative at the NC Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, where our education department was focusing very intently on visitor’s conservation actions. And on the specific issue of climate change, we were really interested in an opportunity to move our visitors beyond “changing a light bulb" to a more meaningful action around energy choice, and this led us to RECs. According to the EPA, “One of the simplest and most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint is to purchase REC’s, (which) are critical, effective and valuable instruments for expanding renewable energy in the U.S.” For our visitors, our working assumption, based on research by The Ocean Project and others, was that they'd welcome information about how to be part of the solution, and "go green." So with this effort, here was an opportunity for us to do just that by supporting green power by buying a REC for the amount of energy typically used by a home in one month, while also helping our Aquariums achieve our own green energy goals though a "watt-for-watt" match from our partner, Greenlight Energy. (A secondary goal of the project was for each site to acquire enough REC’s to allow us to each become EPA Green Power Partners by obtaining at least 25% of our energy from renewables.) We wanted to see what would work best, not only in terms of inspiring our visitors to take action, but also in terms of ensuring a positive staff and visitor experience. To do this, we tried different approaches at each site, yet kept a lot of the variables the same, most notably the ‘ask’ of purchasing a REC. What we learned The lessons learned were meaningful and pertinent: we were able to ascertain that our visitors expect and appreciate it when we suggest ways for them to help, and seem most inspired to act on behalf of conservation when we model those behaviors as a staff and facility, and relate the importance of those behaviors back to our animals and our mission. The most straightforward measure was the amount of RECs purchased, and the table below shows our total kWh of green energy purchased, therefore avoiding the equivalent of that energy from traditional sources. While we did not reach our goal of becoming a Green Power Partner with the EPA, we learned a lot about how to go about obtaining that goal for our facilities in the future. NC Aquarium facilities kWh Purchased kWh Matched by Greenlight Energy Total kWh Fort Fisher 76,798 76,798 153,596 Pine Knoll Shores 21,870 21,870 43,740 Roanoke Island 14,731 14,731 29,461 Jennette's Pier 80,601 80,601 161,202 194,000 194,000 387,999* But the more interesting insights came to us when looking at the above together with the results of the visitor surveys we conducted during the three-month trial period. We found that at all sites, visitors were indeed welcoming of suggestions of how to help solve ocean problems, and very interested in the topic of energy choice. The sites surveyed more than 1,100 visitors, with three key findings: 92% agreed (slightly agree to strongly agree) that “learning ways people like me can help conserve the ocean and its animals makes this aquarium a better place to visit” 92% agreed (slightly agree to strongly agree) that “this aquarium is a good source of information for people like me to learn ways to help conserve the ocean and its animals” 83% were interested (somewhat to very interested) in learning about "options for conserving energy or energy choices available to me at my home”   As for the staff’s response to the project, feedback from staff suggested that visitors were unfamiliar and easily confused by the REC concept, leading the Aquariums to conclude that alternate clean energy /energy saving asks should be explored. By comparing and contrasting their experiences, the Aquariums also learned some valuable lessons: When making an active appeal – staff or volunteers asking visitors to consider action through the purchase of RECs – the efforts were much more effective when interpreters used auditorium programs and dive shows to connect the ask with the animals and appeal to widely shared values, such as a belief in American ingenuity and a concern for the future. In contrast, interpreters were far less effective when they tried to intercept visitors outside of these programs and provide more detailed information about clean energy and RECs. "Our visitors expect and appreciate it when we suggest ways for them to help, and seem most inspired to act when we model those behaviors as a staff and facility, and relate the importance of those behaviors back to our animals and our mission." When making a passive appeal – relying on exhibits or displays that did not include staff interpretation – the key appeared to be demonstrating the Aquarium's own commitment to taking action on the issue, as the presence of working wind turbines was cited as the reason why support was so strong at Jennette's Pier. In comparison, similar messaging about the aquarium's interest in the issue had much less impact when combined with a nonfunctioning windmill display. This finding was more of a surprise, as although visitors spent very little time at the exhibits and did not have the benefit of an interpreter's explanation, those who saw the actual wind turbines at Jennette's Pier seemed to know immediately and support the Aquarium's commitment to clean energy. Visitors were inclined to take action then and there, with little evidence that they would follow up and take action later via, for example, a web link. Notably, visitors wanted the action to be simple, with a strong inclination to donate, and a resistance to completing a sign-up form, though the latter may reflect in part some public concern about privacy as well as some visitor confusion around RECs. The project, unfortunately, came to a premature end due to circumstances well beyond our team's control. Even though the overwhelming majority of visitors and staff were strongly supportive, as exemplified in the aforementioned survey data, one influential person from within the small minority of objectors was able to shut the project down. This individual, a writer affiliated with a private foundation that is vocal in its opposition to the scientific consensus on climate change--complained about the project in a blog post that was circulated within conservative circles, and reached state officials who, in turn, asked that the Aquariums end the project after Labor Day. Our advice to others For facilities that are interested in engaging your visitors in conservation “asks” related to energy and energy choice, I have several recommendations for you. Be sure that you have an overall organizational commitment to this objective. While we feel that energy choice is something that everyone should be interested in and knowledgeable about, the conversations around energy choice, like those around climate change, can become politicized. So having organizational ‘buy-in’ to your project is key. Fully investigate and be prepared to showcase your facilities sustainability efforts. Visitors really committed to participating when they saw that the facility was also committed to the cause. Relating your conservation messages and actions back to your facility and your collections is an important and effective method to use to engage visitors in your efforts. Don’t be afraid to take on seemingly “impossible” tasks, jump in and engage your visitors in conversations around ‘difficult’ topics. It is important for us all to gauge our comfort levels and push our staff to figure out the best time and place to have these important and meaningful conversations.

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ISG+ New Project: Climate change action? Seattle youth CAN!

This guest post by Eli Weiss of Woodland Park Zoo is the first in a 3-part series on their Innovative Solutions Grants+ project, exploring how teens in the Seattle area can empower each other and their peers for action on climate change. The Path Forward At the Woodland Park Zoo, we have been working for the past several years to engage our teen volunteers and interns on the issue of climate change. These efforts have ranged from trainings on climate science and interpretation to involvement in our pilot of a variety of on-grounds climate focused activities and games, and have resulted in a group of teens that share a common interest in climate change. What we are still working on is getting our youth to the next stage of engagement, inspiring others to follow their example in taking action. This challenge is at the core of our current project, the Seattle Youth Climate Action Network (Seattle Youth CAN!), a project that we will be undertaking in partnership with the Seattle Aquarium and the Pacific Science Center thanks to support from The Ocean Project's Innovative Solutions Grants+ Program . Over the past couple months I have been meeting with climate leaders in Seattle and have been received with resounding enthusiasm for both supporting Seattle Youth CAN and for exploring new opportunities for our teen participants to engage other youth in community climate action efforts which may align with the city's recently adopted Climate Action Plan. This feedback on the model we have set in motion is encouraging and I am optimistic that when our teens feel connected to local climate efforts and leaders that they will be more engaged in the issues and feel more compelled to want to do something about it.  Seattle Youth CAN! ACTION is the key to change, and through forming Seattle Youth CAN we will train and support youth leaders to deepen their understanding of climate science, feel confident in engaging others in dialogue about climate change, and develop and launch successful climate action campaigns. Over the past year with the latest IPCC report, UN Climate Summits, and the Peoples Climate March, the story has become even clearer. We need to take collective action and the change needs to be BIG and BOLD. Global and local leaders seem to agree that the days of just focusing on personal actions are behind us and this is why we believe our teens need to be engaged in supporting broader efforts and innovative solutions for change. We have designed Seattle Youth CAN with this in mind. Our aim is to train and support teen leaders to develop local campaigns which will engage their peers in measurable climate action. We believe that through creating dialogue and connection to existing community scale efforts and leaders we will help our teens to find their role in the growing movement to take clear action to reduce carbon emissions.  What makes our model unique? A local network. We are bring together teens who have already expressed an interest in climate change and conservation through their involvement in teen programs at three leading informal science institutions in Seattle; Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium and Pacific Science Center. Teens will have many touch points throughout the year including collective training, events, opportunities to take action, and a culminating summit at the end of year one. A focus on youth action. Our initial audience for this project are the teen leaders in our existing programs, and then, in turn, their peers in the community. Teens supported by community. Throughout the year teens will be working with local climate action leaders to learn, develop and launch campaigns and connect to city wide efforts. Ultimately our campaign will be designed and carried out by youth leaders in our network, but they will be supported by staff at each institution and our climate action partners in the community.   With this project we are looking to explore if and how connecting youth to existing local climate action efforts enables them to create their own successful campaign and increases their ability to successfully engage their peers in action. In launching Seattle Youth CAN, we are hopeful that we will identify key elements needed to support a youth action network that brings teens and community stake holders together. We believe that if we are successful, this model will become a valuable example for other communities that are looking to engage youth in climate action. Recently, I was asked to lead a workshop on climate action at the Seattle Aquarium for their Youth Ocean Conservation Summit. I asked Xander Barber, of my teen climate leaders, to co-present with me. For us this was a great chance for us to share our Seattle Youth CAN model with a group of youth from around the Puget Sound. Based on the number for attendees that approached Xander and I after our session with interest in the network, I am hopeful that there will be broad support for the network. 2015 will be an exciting year as Seattle Youth CAN develops. We are encouraged by the enthusiasm of our teens that have helped us to build the vision for this project as well as our community partners and look forward to sharing our success with you in the months ahead! -- Eli Weiss, Youth Programs Supervisor at Woodland Park Zoo

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