The Mill City Times Interview: Ashley O’Neill Prado, Youth Coordinator, Friends of the Mississippi River
Monday, March 22, 2021 at 5:53PMArticle by Becky Fillinger
Ashley O’Neill PradoDo you have young people in your life who are interested in the great outdoors? How about children who may need a nudge to find some fun in nature? Friends of the Mississippi River (FMR) recently hired a new Youth Coordinator. We talked to Ashley O'Neill Prado about plans for the new role. There’s something for everyone here – from stenciling urban storm drains to sustainable agriculture.
Q: Congratulations on your new position as Youth Coordinator. How will you align the organization’s strategic initiatives with youth programming?
A: Thank you! I’m excited to be stepping into this role. Friends of the Mississippi River’s mission is to protect, restore and enhance the Mississippi River. Building avenues for youth of all backgrounds to be leaders in the environmental field is a vital part of ensuring our great Mississippi River will have stewards for generations to come.
Our stewardship and education team has been working to eliminate barriers to youth leadership and participation in the environmental field through providing paid opportunities for youth to explore environmental careers and receive professional development training, creating avenues for youth decision making at an organizational level and building a system of evaluation for our youth programs that will allow us to better meet the needs of the youth we are serving.
2019 Environmental Stewardship Institute participants
Q: Are there new programs you’re eager to launch?
A: After two foundational years of FMR’s Environmental Stewardship Institute (ESI) summer intensive program for high school youth, the ESI planning team is looking to grow the program in 2021 with an inaugural ESI Advisory Council. The first session of the ESI Advisory Council will engage a small cohort of high school youth over the course of the 2021-2022 school year to gain environmental leadership experience and advise FMR on our youth programming. Having more young voices contributing to our youth program planning and decision making is a critical next step for growing the high level of programming we seek to achieve.
I’m also excited about our new partnership with FORSE (Fostering Opportunities and Relationships in STEM Education) mentoring program. In the first two years of our summer youth programs, our fellows have created thoughtful projects over a broad range of subjects within the environmental field. This is beyond what we were hoping for, and our team wants to see what fellows create with more resources at hand. Having environmental professionals from a variety of disciplines as mentors will not only strengthen the professional networks of our fellows, but provide more support and opportunities for their independent projects.
Q: How many young people does Friends of the Mississippi River serve in a year?
A: In a normal year, we reach nearly 2500 youth. Despite the pandemic, in 2020 we engaged 838 youth in the greater Twin Cities metro area. It was a challenging year with classroom visits and field trips canceled, but we were able to take time to adapt all of our programming to a virtual setting. We now have a robust menu of COVID-safe youth education opportunities for 2021.
Q: Do you have specific personal interests - like bicycle riding or foraging - that you’ll design programming around?
A: My programming interests stem from my experiences in community education in the sustainable urban agriculture and food justice fields. I enjoy facilitating spaces for learning where everyone feels empowered to be both students and teachers, and I especially love finding ways to incorporate the arts and creativity into educational activities. Over the next year, FMR will be working to deepen our science-based lessons by continuing to build relationships between schools, community groups and FMR restoration sites. We are also incorporating more cultural context about FMR sites and a number of beloved places along the Mississippi River into our classroom lessons and general programming. Place-based learning, cultural competency and personal reflection are creative and hands-on practices that encourage environmental stewardship.
Storm drain stenciling
Q: Are youth involved in the storm drain stenciling program?
A: Our Saint Paul storm drain stenciling program is a great activity for all ages, especially youth groups and classrooms located in Saint Paul. We are lucky that storm drain stenciling is a great COVID-safe activity! In-person stenciling outings are outdoors and socially distanced, and we also offer no-contact stenciling kits that groups, families and individuals can rent at no cost for up to one week.
Q: How may we stay up to date with your programs?
A: You can learn more about our youth program offerings on our website (https://www.fmr.org/youth-education-opportunities).
You can also sign up to receive an email notification when our storm drain stenciling program opens in the spring (https://fmr.org/spring-stenciling-email). We post ESI fellow spotlights on our website.
