Teravana Trust

Forestry has an important vocational training aspect of our work for youth ages 16-18. In partnership with the County Office of Education's School to Career Partnership, our team provides high school students with valuable academic and vocational training in cutting-edge science, forestry policy, biodiversity, and methods. The specific benefits of our program include: College-Level Academics: The academic strength of our program allows us to give interns high school and college credit for completing their work. Over two months and between 80-120 hours, our interns dive deep into learning about issues that are directly on point to address present-day issues like climate change, such as: how to assess and improve the health of trees, the scientific consensus around climate change, the importance of healthy soil, how to keep ecosystems in balance, and more. To deliver our curriculum, we combine presentations by experts like James Powell, who served on the country's National Science Advisory Board under two U.S. Presidents, with field trips to local ecological sites, as well as hands-on restoration activities. The interns also learn how to use tools like Google Scholar to find and analyze peer-reviewed scientific studies, getting a crucial head start in research before they head off to college. Hands-On Restoration Experience: We make weekend trips to local restoration sites so the interns can gain hands-on experience in water testing, soil analysis, and other important skills needed to further pursue environmental science. These experiences offer a valuable supplement to high school science classes, which typically do not offer opportunities to work on habitat restoration projects. As one intern wrote, "Although I've taken an environmental course already in school, there weren't any real-world experiences to learn from. This program showed us what real people do to manage habitats." Outreach: To this end, we are delivering on a public education and marketing strategy. Since the start of this campaign, we have reached over 70,000 people: 64,000 post viewers on Facebook, 4,800 on Instagram, 300 on Youtube, 1,700 on our website, and 100 viewers of live webinars and their recordings. Three of our top-performing posts reached over 13,000 people. Overall, as a new organization, we have significantly expanded our outreach over the past year: Website & Statistics January - December - Page Visits: 207% /yr increase Facebook; January - December 2021 - 211% increase' Instagram May - December 2021 - 63% increase. Webinars: We offer webinar panels that help inform the larger public about successful environmental programs and help our interns broaden their reach and connection to leaders in their field of interest. Our press release titled "New Careers For a Rapidly Changing World" was picked up by 219 outlets and was clicked 1,262 times. In February, I was invited by Merit Motion Pictures to serve as an expert panelist at a screening of their film, Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees. Additional panelists included: Merit Jensen Carr, Producer, and Chad Hanson, Director and Principal Ecologist of the John Muir Project. Over 135 people attended live and people are continuing to watch the online webinar.

Guatemala Program Reforestation of locally indigenuous trees in rural Guatemala. Providing work to local artisans that are otherwise without any economic support. Working in 8 towns along the northern shore of Lake Atitlan, we empower Kaqchikel Maya locals to enhance the region's economy, ecology, and community. One of the key initiatives is helping local families plant organic family gardens and sustainable food forests. These projects diversify crops, boost families' diets, and provide environmental benefits like erosion control and carbon sequestration. We also employ 140 women in an artisan crafts co-operative, paying them fair-trade wages to produce woven and beaded products. These women come from 6 different communities and are mostly single mothers that use the money they earn to feed their families and put their kids in school. Our Ecology Programs advance reforestation, water conservation, and organic food production, all of which protect the natural resources of Lake Atitlan while enhancing food security.

Mindful MD: With lives on the line, the stakes for physician wellness could not be higher. The business of Healthcare hasn't been built with a culture of wellness at its center, pushing physicians to the point of fatigue and dangerous burnout. We can and must do better for our doctors. In the battle against physician burnout, there is power in coming together to heal. In 2019, a group of over 20 influential physicians came together from across the Bay Area for the first-ever Mindful MD: A Physician Wellness and Influence Day. Started as a way to address the physician burnout epidemic through healing and human connection, our goal was for guests to leave feeling rejuvenated and ready to advocate for change. The program includes powerful keynote sessions from local physicians, meditation, yoga, delicious meals, art therapy, massages, and acupuncture. With added time for conversation, physicians are able to make meaningful connections, both with each other and their own purpose in medicine.