Community Visioning for a More Equitable Future

These recent months have upended routines and laid bare the deep structural inequities in our society, pushing many of us to reevaluate our priorities—and FFS is no exception.

At Free Forest School, we see that our model must change and evolve. Kids simply can’t play freely outdoors together as they used to, and no one knows when that will be safe to resume. What’s more, shortcomings of our previous model, and the organization’s rapid rate of growth, meant we fell short of achieving our goals and commitments to building an inclusive and empowering multicultural movement.

We are setting out to actively engage our community in a process of envisioning a new and better model—one that is grounded in equity and justice and that allows for growth at a sustainable scale.

Our Plan for the Future

After several months of working groups, community leader interviews, community-wide surveys, and live community update calls, we are honing in on a concrete plan to restructure our operations and programming in order to more equitably and sustainably bring about a world where every child grows up playing outdoors.

Take a look at our Community Visioning Final Update, and read on below for further details of our process and progress.

Our Visioning Process

With official in-person gatherings on hold, Free Forest School is taking this opportunity to think expansively about how we can best serve families in the months and years ahead. We believe that the best model will emerge when we bring many people to the table to share their perspectives—both members of our existing network, and community leaders who have expertise in reaching groups of kids and families we seek to serve.

Throughout the final months of 2020, we will undertake a Community Visioning process, with a variety of opportunities for you to participate. At a glance, we will:

• Start from Common Ground

We’ll start from our shared belief in the right of every child to play in nature, and a conviction that nature play offers profound benefits to children, families, communities and the planet.

• Seek Input to Generate New Ideas

Through surveys, working groups, community calls, and consultation with experts and leaders you help identify, we’ll gather concrete new ideas for creating access to unstructured nature play, particularly for kids who face significant barriers.

• Develop a New Vision for FFS

Building off our strengths, these ideas will feed into a plan for the path ahead that is both more inclusive and sustainable in the long run.

Community Engagement Timeline

Note that this timeline is fluid due to our emergent approach and may shift as the community visioning progresses.

Beginning August 15: Volunteer signup (see below).

Beginning Aug 21: Staff connect with volunteers to provide more information on various engagement opportunities; working group sign-up opens.

September 5: Working group sign-up closes.

September 8: Working group participant lists and schedules finalized and communicated.

September 9: Community Visioning Zoom Update #1 to introduce working groups. (Click here to view the video recording.)

By September 15: Contact made with a selection of community leaders; at least 8 interviews scheduled.

Sept 20 – Oct 1: Working groups complete two intensive Zoom-based workshops, producing concrete recommendations. (Click here to view the notes from the Community Gatherings, Direct Support, and Institutional Support working groups.)

September 26: Community Visioning Zoom Update #2 to recap what came out of the working groups’ first sessions. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

October 11: Community Visioning Zoom Update #3 to recap what came out of the working groups’ second sessions. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

October 12 – December 15: FFS staff will hold weekly work sessions to analyze the input from working groups, community leader interviews, snap surveys, and other sources and develop a proposal for a new FFS model, including short- and long-term initiatives.

October 24: Community Visioning Zoom Update #4 to share an update on staff progress towards developing a proposed new FFS model and gather community feedback. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

November 8: Community Visioning Zoom Update #5 to share a draft of the staff’s proposed new FFS model and gather community feedback. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

Throughout this period, we will distribute Snap Surveys periodically to obtain quick insights on focused questions. (Sign up below to receive the surveys.)

November 18: FFS staff will present one or more proposals to the Board of Directors based on an aggregate of community input, expert consultation, and practical considerations such as financial and legal considerations and organizational capacity.

November 21: Community Visioning Zoom Update #6 to share the proposal brought before the Board and gather community feedback. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

December 10: Community Visioning Zoom Update #7 to share a finalized version of the new model including work plan details and gather final community input. (Click here to view the recording, transcript, and slide deck from the call.)

January 1: Implementation of new model begins.