Oakland Goes Outdoors Offers Accessible Opportunities for OUSD Students
Everyone needs to spend time outdoors—to be active, experience nature, or just relax and breathe.
This is especially critical for children. Research consistently shows that immersive outdoor experiences offer children a range of health, social-emotional, spiritual, and academic benefits, and help develop lifelong environmental stewardship.
But not everyone in the Bay Area can easily access the variety of outdoor spaces and activities available nearby due to common barriers like the cost of transportation, gear, and other expenses, alongside limited or lack of training, skilled guides, or culturally welcoming spaces
Oakland Goes Outdoors (OGO) is working to change that by creating more accessible and equitable opportunities for public school students in Oakland to spend quality time outdoors. OGO is one of the first school district-wide programs in the United States that provides regular outdoor learning experiences, both during and beyond the school day, to Oakland Unified School District students.
“Working both within and alongside OUSD allows us to ensure more of our young people in Oakland have access to transformative outdoor experiences and all the related benefits,” said OGO Executive Director Kaitlin Levenstrong. “We are able to meet them where they already spend a significant amount of time—at school—and incorporate these experiences into existing curriculum, led by trusted adult leaders and in community with their classmates.”
OGO was created in collaboration with OUSD with key implementation support from organizations and philanthropic partners including the San Francisco Foundation, Bay Area Wilderness Training, and the Oakland Public Education Fund, which has fiscally sponsored the program since its inception.
“OGO’s mission aligns perfectly with the Ed Fund’s commitment to educational equity in Oakland public schools. We are incredibly fortunate to live in this beautiful area with so many places to connect with the outdoors,” said Ali Medina, Ed Fund Executive Director. “Our kids—and really, everyone in the community, should be able to enjoy them.”
Jessica Oya was an OUSD science teacher before becoming the OGO program director. As a teacher, she purposefully incorporated outdoor activities into her students’ lessons and, as her school’s cross-country coach, she often held practices at Reinhardt Regional Park where students could run among the redwoods.
“Most of my kids had never been up there and sometimes, they wouldn’t want to run,” she said.
She explained that this wasn’t because the kids weren’t motivated—they simply loved the experience of being in a special place. “They just wanted to sit or walk. They started coming less for the running and more for being in a different space that felt calmer than the city environment they were used to.”
Beginning as a 3-year pilot program, OGO launched in the 2018-2019 school year, first in district-run middle schools (sites serving only 6th-8th grades). The program has since expanded to serve 23 schools this academic year, with almost 6,000 students going on 215 trips across those 23 sites. OGO trips range from 10 to 120 students and include day and overnight options.
OGO provides transportation and other trip expenses, gear and materials, training for teachers and site leads, curriculum and grade-level activities support, stipends for teachers and leads, and centralized coordination between schools, outdoor locations, and other partners.
“We try to support the folks who plan these trips as much as we can,” Oya said.
Outdoor experiences offer positive student health, social and emotional, mental wellness, and academic outcomes that researchers continue to report as the benefits of spending more time learning outdoors.
“It helps teachers and students build positive relationships. The kids who have a hard time focusing in an indoor classroom often act differently outside. Certain student behaviors that are challenging indoors might be managed well when the kids are outside and given space. This makes learning a positive experience and gives kids strong affirmations.”
Levenstrong explained that it’s important to look at the work of OGO within a continuum of experience.
“We’re committed to a holistic experience for our young people so that they’re experiencing this hands-on, experiential learning within and outside their school sites, both during and beyond the school day,” she said.
Levenstrong and Oya would love to see the program grow—but growth will require developing new partnerships and raising additional support. The ultimate goal is to expand the program district-wide to K-12, to provide every one of OUSD’s students with immersive experiences in nature, greater environmental education, and deeper community connection with the outdoors.
For more information about partnering with the program, contact Kaitlin Levenstrong at kaitlin@oaklandgoesoutdoors.org.
