Building Community Through Connection to the Land and Access to the Outdoors

We define social and emotional learning (SEL) as an integral part of education and human development. SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain supportive relationships, and make responsible and caring decisions.SEL advances educational equity and excellence through authentic school-family-community partnerships to establish learning environments and experiences that feature trusting and collaborative relationships, rigorous and meaningful curriculum and instruction, and ongoing evaluation. SEL can help address various forms of inequity and empower young people and adults to co-create thriving schools and contribute to safe, healthy, and just communities.

The term “ACEs” is an acronym for Adverse Childhood Experiences, these might include things like physical and emotional abuse, neglect, caregiver mental illness, and household violence. The Latine population is more likely to have experienced ACEs that negatively affect their childhood development, their academic performance, ability to socialize, and more. The more ACEs a child experiences the more likely they are to have poor outcomes later in life such as substance abuse, depression, heart disease, obesity, and others. By providing students with positive childhood experiences Vamos is able to engage in trauma-informed care and help mitigate some of the negative effects of ACEs. Through our programs and mentor relationships, we can help students build core skills, confidence, and other positive skills that can increase their likelihood of success in life.

There is a disparity of access when it comes to academic and outdoor activities in our community. Latine families often have a hard time communicating with school teachers and staff, which prevents parents from actively participating in their children’ academic journey. Migrant families that constantly move from state to state, also have a hard time navigating school systems, causing students to have poor academic performance. Latine students have less access to after-school recreational and outdoor activities, they often stay at home while their parents work. Vamos works towards creating opportunities to help create more equitable access to academic support and recreational activities.