Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures Canoemobile 2016: Evaluation Brief

Abstract

The Urban Wilderness Canoe Adventures program (UWCA) provides a continuum of outdoor experiences for youth and families. The Canoemobile program is an outgrowth of the original UWCA program. The Canoemobile program serves as a floating classroom that provides water-based activities to connect urban youth to the natural world through hands-on, outdoor learning on local waterways in cities across America. Between April and May 2016, over 1,000 participants from five states participated in the Canoemobile program and completed the post-trip survey. The majority of participants (96%) were from California, Minnesota, and Colorado. There were high levels of agreement across all survey items and the most frequent response for all nine items was strongly agree. For example, 92% agreed that contributing to their community was important; 91% agreed that they had learned new skills; and 88% indicated they felt like they belonged on the trip. In addition, respondents agreed that, as a result of the trip, they: were more interested in protecting the environment (86% agreed), had a stronger connection to nature (86%), will think about the environment more often (85%), had learned about outdoor jobs (80%), and were more aware of their personal strengths (79%).