League announces 2025 Redwood Connect grantees

Funded organizations will bring over 3,000 youth to California’s redwood forests

a big group of kids in a redwoods forest
Students spend the day exploring a redwood forest during an overnight trip with Vida Verde, an outdoor education nonprofit that has received a Redwood Connect Grant from Save the Redwoods League for 11 years running. Photo courtesy of Vida Verde.

When someone has a memorable interaction with the natural world, it can shift their perspective, reveal new possibilities, sometimes even shape an entire life. Especially when that someone is a young person.

That’s why the League is thrilled to announce the recipients of this year’s Redwood Connect Grants. These 18 organizations will bring over 3,000 young people to a coast redwood or giant sequoia forest for an inspirational experience. Our recipients span nine California counties, include five different schools, and serve youth from kindergarten to young adult. Looking at our list of grantees below, it’s easy to imagine the impact these experiences could have on young people’s lives and futures.

Kids on bridge
Students try new things and engage their curiosity about the natural world on three-day camping trip with Vida Verde. Photo courtesy of Vida Verde.

For example, students experiencing an overnight camping trip with Vida Verde will come home with memories to last a lifetime. Whether it is their first time milking a goat, touching a banana slug, going on a night walk, or visiting the ocean, students get to spend three days fostering a lifelong love of nature and curiosity about the world. As one visiting schoolteacher explained it:

“Vida Verde is a place where kids have the safety, freedom, and resources to listen to nature and their own hearts. It is a beautiful merging of adventure, trying new things, and purposeful community building. The change from anxiety about leaving phones and family, to true joy in new friends, animals, hiking, and newfound independence is truly outstanding. The worst part of Vida Verde is going home.”

The League has supported Vida Verde for 11 years, helping to bring over 8,000 students into redwood forests to explore, learn, and simply have fun.

kids pointing at swordferns
A San Francisco fourth grader experiences the beauty of a sword fern during a redwoods field trip with the YMCA Point Bonita. Photo courtesy of YMCA Point Bonita.

For Unity Care, receiving the League’s Redwood Connect Grant will mean bringing current and former foster youth from across the Bay Area into the redwoods. Unity Care will use the amazing healing power of redwood forests to enhance well-being, provide outdoor exposure, and encourage connection. Through various day trips in nature, foster youth will participate in guided hikes, mindfulness exercises, and team-building activities. The hope is that these trips to the redwoods will introduce these young people to new environments, creating a sense of adventure and expanding their perspectives. The League is happy to support Unity Care for the first time this year in their redwood programming.

kids on a hillside
Fourth graders learn about fire impacts on redwood forests on a field trip in Sonoma County. Photo courtesy of LandPaths.

Check out our complete list of grantees and learn more about these wonderful organizations that support health and wellness, redwood ecology, stewardship and conservation, team building, and more:

Bell Avenue Elementary School – Redwood Forest Weekend Immersion

Big Sur Land Trust – Youth Day Camps at Mittledoft Preserve

Brothers on the Rise – Trail Brothers – Standing Tall and Proud

Chicano Youth Center – Hood to the Woods

Community Nature Connection – To Be Present with Redwood Trees

Community School for Creative Education – First Forest Program

First Place for Youth – Summer Bridge Program

Girls Inc. – Redwoods and Climate Change

Horizons at SF Friends School – City to Canopy – Horizons Outdoor Education

LandPaths – In Our Own Backyard, Redwood Immersion and Stewardship Program

McDowell Elementary School – 6th grade outdoor education

Nokomis Elementary – Field Trip Through Time: A walk in the woods, I notice, I wonder?

Friends of Huddart and Wunderlich Parks / San Mateo County Parks Foundation – Redwood Outings for youth facing barriers to redwood forests

Santa Lucia Conservancy – Redwood Education in Potrero Canyon

Saved by Nature – Outdoor Access for At-Promise-Youth

Unity Care – Beyond the City: Redwood Adventures

Vida Verde – Redwood Exploration for Bay Area Youth

Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative – WALC in the Redwoods

group of kids standing in redwoods tree
Third grade students from Oakland learn about an old-growth redwood forest as part of a field trip to Muir Woods. Photo courtesy of Save the Redwoods League.

About the author

Deborah joined the League's staff in 2013 as the Education & Interpretation Manager. She brings with her extensive experience teaching science, developing curriculum and connecting kids to the natural world.

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