Our Mission:
BTG's Mission is to assist in developing genuine attitude and value changes in learners, fostering not only increased environmental awareness but also a sense of empowerment and commitment to stewardship principles. This is accomplished by:
- Ensuring all youth have the opportunity to experience, enjoy, and learn about our natural ecosystems and engage in culturally relevant, science-based environmental educational activities.
- Facilitating rekindling of cultural world views for an urban, largely Indigenous population.
- Fostering an awareness and appreciation of the natural environment and an understanding of humanity's place therein; and foster the development of the next generation of environmental stewards.
Our Priorities:
- Providing an opportunity to experience nature first hand by delivering guided hikes and curriculum based educational programs to over 500 low-income neighbourhood students yearly;
- Providing opportunities to participate in stewardship initiatives such as school yard tree plantings and butterfly gardening;
- Offering complete technical and financial support needed for teachers to create classroom and school gardens;
- Inviting elders to share traditional and cultural teachings within the classroom;
- Providing students and teachers with the skills and tools necessary to start seeds in their classrooms;
- Assisting classrooms with garden harvests and providing maintenance support to schools gardens through our programming efforts;
- Providing teachers with curriculum-based, culturally relevant, environmental education resources.
Our History:
Bridging the Gap initially began in 2004, as an innovative, non-formal environmental learning program based in Winnipeg. It was designed to address the lack of opportunities for youth from low-income urban neighbourhoods to explore high quality natural areas.
It was developed with the City of Winnipeg’s Naturalist Services Branch by providing free programs to Grade Four students from Winnipeg’s inner-city.
As part of full-day field trips, children visited high quality, urban natural areas, spending time in guided explorations, facilitated discussions, hands-on activities, and data collection. The original focus of the program was to address specific learning outcomes from the Manitoba Science Curriculum (Cluster 4 - Habitats and Communities) with a focus on discussing and exploring the concept of habitat (food, water, shelter, space.)
The program evolved to place equal emphasis on Manitoba’s Aboriginal Languages and Cultures Curriculum Framework by including traditional Indigenous cultural values and traditional ways of life, as these often appreciate the role and relationship of humans with the animate world.
In 2010, BTG integrated community garden development into its programming. The purpose was to create new opportunities for youth to address community issues of poverty through food sovereignty, while at the same time providing a platform to encourage youth to consider local and historical food sources.
The current program mandate is to provide grade four, low-income neighbourhood youth with free, culturally relevant, science-based EE programming. These students are given opportunities to engage in a variety of stewardship activities such as full-day field trips to local natural areas; in class activities that explore Indigenous knowledge, and naturalization projects which include:
It was developed with the City of Winnipeg’s Naturalist Services Branch by providing free programs to Grade Four students from Winnipeg’s inner-city.
As part of full-day field trips, children visited high quality, urban natural areas, spending time in guided explorations, facilitated discussions, hands-on activities, and data collection. The original focus of the program was to address specific learning outcomes from the Manitoba Science Curriculum (Cluster 4 - Habitats and Communities) with a focus on discussing and exploring the concept of habitat (food, water, shelter, space.)
The program evolved to place equal emphasis on Manitoba’s Aboriginal Languages and Cultures Curriculum Framework by including traditional Indigenous cultural values and traditional ways of life, as these often appreciate the role and relationship of humans with the animate world.
In 2010, BTG integrated community garden development into its programming. The purpose was to create new opportunities for youth to address community issues of poverty through food sovereignty, while at the same time providing a platform to encourage youth to consider local and historical food sources.
The current program mandate is to provide grade four, low-income neighbourhood youth with free, culturally relevant, science-based EE programming. These students are given opportunities to engage in a variety of stewardship activities such as full-day field trips to local natural areas; in class activities that explore Indigenous knowledge, and naturalization projects which include:
- garden design;
- tree, native species and vegetable/fruit planting;
- in-class and schoolyard composting; and
- harvesting activities.
Our Partners:
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Bridging the Gap is a program of Nature Manitoba and governed by their Board of Directors. To learn more, visit the Nature Manitoba website. |
Our Supporters:
Bridging the Gap programs are made possible thanks to the generous support of the following sponsors:
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In-Kind Contributors:
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