Updated: October 28, 2008
Through Amgen Foundation grants to community programs and the many volunteer efforts of Amgen staff, the Company supports environmental efforts in communities where Amgen staff live and work. Below is a selection of grants the Foundation awarded to environmental programs in 2005-2008
The Nature Conservancy’s Stream to Sea: Land and Water Education for California's Next Generation
A grant from the Amgen Foundation supports the Nature Conservancy's partnership with the MERITO (Multicultural Education for Resource Issues Threatening Oceans) Academy in Northern California. MERITO provides conservation education, field trips, and hands-on wetlands monitoring and restoration programs for local teachers and minority students from under-served public schools as well as extended learning programs.
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
An Amgen Foundation grant supports the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy's Urban Environmental Schools Programs—park-based environmental education programs designed to teach students about the natural and cultural history of the San Francisco Bay Area, and support and complement their school work. The hands-on experience of learning in the national park, followed by classroom instruction, extends student learning long after their park visit is over.
Olympic Park Institute
Washington’s Olympic Park Institute has developed educational programs designed to inspire young people through hands-on science inquiry in the natural world. An Amgen Foundation grant supports the Institute’s “Tracking Regional Ecosystem Change" (TREC) program which allows students and teachers to monitor indicators of ecosystem changes caused by both natural and societal impacts.
Thorne Ecological Society
Colorado’s Thorne Ecological Institute connects kids to nature through hands-on environmental education. An Amgen Foundation grant supports the Thorne Natural Science School summer program. Thorne’s flagship summer outdoor education program transports students each day to different local ecosystems to learn hands-on about inquiry-based research methods and the diversity of their surroundings. As part of the summer program, Thorne offers summer program scholarships to underserved families, provides stipends for teaching assistants, provides teacher training and certifications necessary to meet State Child Care Licensing requirements, provides program development and develops class curricula kits for teachers.
Ventura County Resource Conservation District
Quality environmental education is a crucial part of preparing children for the complex environmental decisions of the future. California teachers and schoolchildren have a unique resource for environmental education in the California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC) Network. The Network serves as a gateway to engaging classroom activities like the “Jiminy Cricket Environmentality Challenge” and “Project Learning Tree” as well as opportunities for teacher training like “Renewable Energy for Educators.”
An Amgen Foundation grant supports a partnership between the CREEC Network and the Ventura County Resource Conservation District, which has pledged to bring more environmental education and outreach programs to Ventura County. The partnership will bring CREEC resources to the County’s over 145,000 school children as well as businesses, government and community groups. At least 1,000 Ventura County teachers will be trained to get the most out of the CREEC Network.
National Wildlife Federation
The goal of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. The NWF Seattle chapter’s Earth Tomorrow initiative is a year-long program for minority and underserved youth to develop lifelong habits of environmental stewardship and community service through leadership training, issues exploration, civic engagement and career development.
Click here to read more about the Earth Tomorrow program in Amgen’s 2006 Charitable Contributions Report.
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Pictured: High school students on a hike as part of the Earth Tomorrow program. |
The Audubon Society of Rhode Island
Audubon Society of Rhode Island (ASRI) designs standard-based environmental education curriculum by working closely with school administrators and teachers. ASRI educators visit classrooms throughout the year teaching age-appropriate science-based curriculum through hands-on activities. Curriculum includes basic concepts of community, habitat, live systems, life cycles, organisms and environments. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, the education program will be offered in every school district in Rhode Island, and will reach 33,000 students annually.
Save The Bay
Save The Bay (STB) increases student achievement in science education through two unique and innovative marine science education programs, AmeriCorps and Narragansett Bay Field Studies. Through both programs, STB reaches underprivileged students in Rhode Island high schools. Efforts focus on urban schools and under-performing rural schools.
Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín
The Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín promotes the study of contemporary history, conservation of the environment, and celebration of the arts. Amgen Foundation funding supports the planting of endangered Puerto Rican tree species in Parquè Doña Inèz and increases the park’s environmental education outreach. The program establishes:
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado
Founded in 1984, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) provides programs and activities designed to help Colorado’s land stewardship community best use volunteers to preserve, protect and enhance the state’s extraordinary public lands. Amgen Foundation funding supports the Youth Conservators Initiative (YCI). YCI engages Colorado’s future land stewardship leaders through VOC conservation projects and/or the V Outdoors Web-based activities program. VOC’s Youth Advisory Board hosts conservation projects selected, managed, and implemented by young people. Through such experiences, Colorado’s young citizens learn invaluable lessons about teamwork, leadership, and project management while building a strong environmental ethic and giving back to their community.
