The Paseo program provides field trips to the Santa Monica Mountains for families served by the partner agencies of the Magnolia Community Initiative, a collective impact project that serves a 500-block catchment area south of downtown Los Angeles.
Wildwoods provides cameras to the families so that they can document their day in nature. Then, we curate the photos and quotes from each trip to create a slideshow video.
This Paseo was with the families served by multiple programs at All for Kids (formerly the Children's Bureau). All For Kids delivers hundreds of direct services annually to vulnerable children and families. They are our neighbors and our landlord at Magnolia Place Family Center and they serve as the backbone agency for the Magnolia Community Initiative, a collective impact project serving the families of the Pico-Union community. The words and photos presented here are from those families.
Our intentions here are two-fold. One is to introduce families to parks and greenspaces close to home for the purpose of tapping into what John Muir called "the healing forces of nature." This time together allows families to de-stress and form deeper bonds that contribute to family resiliency.
Our other intention (following the sentiment of the proverb "Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime") is to help partner agencies acquire the skill sets and confidence to conduct park and nature field trips on their own.
Wildwoods curates a collection of photos and quotes from each trip to create a slideshow video to serve as a collective photo narrative of these families' experiences and their thoughts about what nature means to them.
The Paseo program is made possible through the generous support of the Adams Legacy Foundation.