Elevate Youth

About

Elevate Youth helps to create “big smile moments” through outdoor recreation and education for youth ages 10-14 in the Greater Boston area. Participants explore connections to nature and leadership development alongside our Outdoor Mentors.

Categories Program Children & Youth Community & Advocacy Mental Health

Program Details

Our mission is to empower young people to explore the outdoors and to inspire awe by sharing in the richness of the natural world. Our vision is to spark a lifelong love of the outdoors, fostering self-reliance through routine immersion in nature. Elevate Youth provides opportunities for young people to lead healthier lives by promoting equitable access to nature. We work alongside our youth to elevate their voices as the next generation of diverse environmental stewards.

Since 2017, Elevate Youth has empowered over 900 middle-school aged youth to explore the outdoors and experience the richness of the natural world in over 650 trips and after-school enrichment sessions. We strive to increase equity and access to the outdoors for under-resourced youth using a cohort-based model that offers a tailored curriculum centered on learning about native flora and fauna, exploring green spaces in local neighborhoods, and developing outdoor skills. Our curriculum focuses on social-emotional learning, whereby all young people participate in weekly enrichment sessions alongside supportive adult mentors. The culmination of the program is a group outdoor adventure.

In 2023, Elevate Youth offered 85 outdoor experiences, served more than 175 under-resourced youth, and enlisted nearly 70 dedicated adult mentors. In a recent survey, 95% of participants reported reduced stress levels after an outing and 98% appreciated the support provided by adult mentors.

Key Programs
The Odyssey Program for schools and community partners is our year-round outdoor program that facilitates relationship building, mentorship, and social and emotional development for young people. Through the Odyssey Program, Elevate Youth aims to foster strong lifelong friendships; enhance self-confidence, resourcefulness, and resilience; and to provide youth a chance to try new activities, learn new skills, and develop an appreciation for the outdoors.

Elevate Youth recognizes that sustained nourishment is a key element to experiencing transformative outdoor experiences. Our E.A.T. (Educate, Access, Thrive) Initiative integrates health and wellness into our curriculum as an essential component to creating a long-term impact in a child’s life. The E.A.T. Initiative is directly informed by the expertise of professional chefs, nutritionists, and community health facilitators.

Elevate Youth launched FishOn! in the spring of 2023 thanks to extraordinary support from the MA Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. FishOn! has already provided a local fishing experience for over 100 youth from the Dorchester, Roxbury, and Jamaica Plain communities.

The goal of the Elevate Youth Leaders Program is to equip and encourage teens to be effective environmental advocates and conservation leaders in their homes and communities. Highly motivated students are recruited from Elevate Youth programs into a one-year internship program that focuses on practicing leadership—through teaching, service, outdoor adventure, and more—among their peers and within their community.

Population Served
We collaborate with young people between the ages of 10 and 14 who live in the Greater Boston area. The majority come from under-resourced communities.

Staff Composition
Elevate Youth has two Lead Outdoor Instructors, Waddy and Shawna. Sophie is the Director of Programming and Operations, and Chaya is the Executive Director. We are a small but mighty team!

Cost to Participate
All of our programs are free for youth and their families.

Contact Chaya Harris, Executive Director chaya@elevateyouth.org (617) 359-3448 Website

An overhead photo of an Elevate Youth member outdoor rock climbing at Hammond Pond looking toward the top of the route and smiling.

Elevate Youth having fun in the lake during summer camp. One youth is giving another youth a hand onto a blue and green inflatable raft on the lake.

Elevate youth participant practicing his route finding skills on the indoor climbing wall. He is looking at the camera while paused halfway up the wall in an indoor rock climbing facility.

Group of kids standing in the woods at Elevate Youth Summer camp. One youth is winking and giving a thumbs up sign while three other kids smile. A wooden camping structure is in the background amid a green forest.

Elevate Youth participant cross country skiing. A child wearing sunglasses stares down at their cross country skis in concentration while skiing on a smooth open stretch of snow on a bright day.

Recent Case Studies

A child in a blue shirt and a child in a red shirt are playing the game Twister outdoors, on a surface of dried grass and leaves.

Program

Integrative OT

The Integrative OT program model provides nature-based occupational therapy services for children in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Integrative OT also co-hosts free Heeling Cancer hikes with a local massage therapist for adults undergoing cancer treatment or who are cancer survivors of any kind.

Four sticks are bound together by twine, creating a frame around pink-colored leaves and pink paper hearts that say “I LOVE YOU MOM” in a child’s handwriting.

Program

Bearfoot Occupational Therapy

Bearfoot Occupational Therapy provides nature-based pediatric occupational therapy that combines expert guidance with transformational sessions to unlock the best version of a child's most authentic self.

A large group of participants line up for a photo at the edge of a hill. They are all dressed in biking gear and have their arms thrown up in the air as a sign of triumph; some also have bikes by their sides. The background is a beautiful shot of a vast canyon, with rolling green hills that disappear far into the horizon. The clear sky overhead is lit up by a bright sun.

Program

The Cycle Effect - Building Belonging on Bikes

The Cycle Effect uses mountain biking as a catalyst to mentor riders and foster belonging, physical wellbeing, mental health, community engagement, leadership skills, and fun outside. The Cycle Effect provides bikes, gear, transportation, bilingual coaching, and low-cost programming to eliminate barriers to entry for an otherwise exclusive sport.