The Chicago Botanic Garden will launch the Healing Environments Ambassadors Learning Through Horticulture (HEALTH) project to help low-income Latina/o (Latinx) individuals and communities understand and create connections between nature and human health and well-being, as well as foster an interest in STEAM education and career paths. In partnership with Instituto del Progreso Latino, the garden will develop and implement annually a year-round curriculum for 16-20 teens and young adults from two charter schools. Through multi-sensory learning, project-based discovery, and incentives, teens will proactively and creatively begin to address challenges related to plants, nature, and sustainability in their local environments. HEALTH will engage family and community members in environmental education and stewardship activities through a partnership with Forest Preserves of Cook County and visits to the garden. Students will have opportunities to create and present films on community environmental topics and their personal experiences with the project, bringing awareness of the program model and its outcomes to a broad audience.
In early 2004 Explorit Science Center (Explorit) contracted with Visitor Studies Services (VSS) to design and conduct an evaluation of Explorit's Health In Your World Project (HIYW). HIYW is a traveling, science-based health education program for children and adults in low-income communities. HIYW features interactive experiments designed to make learning about the human body, health, and healthy choices fun and accessible. The program serves students in grades K-6, and is designed to engage parents and involve them as an integral part of the learning process. The HIYW Project was developed in