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Mission + Impact

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Riverbend’s 30-acre preserve in Gladwyne, PA is an island of green. Open to the public daily from dawn to dusk, Riverbend welcomes visitors to walk the trails and explore the grounds. An essential function of the preserve is its use as an outdoor classroom for a wide range of on-site education programs.

   

    Field Trips For Thousands Of Children

In 2023, Riverbend will welcome nearly 5,000 students on field trips. Students and teachers say…

“You never know what’s gonna happen next. It’s very adventuresome. It looks wild–there are so many plants all around!”
- Colin Nealis, age 9

 

“The Riverbend experience was AMAZING!! We had a wonderful outdoor experience.  One of many more to come, we hope.”
- Diane Honor, 5th grade, Philadelphia

 

“After doing the project, I hear kids being very outspoken about litter. They point to the drain and say ‘It's gonna do down there! It's gonna go into our watershed.’ This whole experience was amazing. I learned so much.”
- Kristen Kelly, 1st-5th grade teacher at Rhodes Elementary School

 

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         Summer Camp for All

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Riverbend’s beloved Nature Summer Camp has run every summer for 41 years, enrolling nearly 900 children per summer. Riverbend is proud to have increased camp scholarships from two in 2022 to twenty-six in 2023! Thanks to a dozen generous families whose gifts allowed these children to benefit from a scholarship of 80% or more, we have increased access to free play in nature this summer. 

Coming out of the pandemic, our renewed focus on camp scholarships is an outgrowth of the board and staff’s fierce commitment to increasing equitable access to nature. You can read Riverbend’s DEI Plan here. Furthermore, Riverbend embraces collaboration, and over the past year, we have strengthened existing partnerships and forged new ones. We are proud to have partnered with the Ardmore Avenue Community Center in collaboration with Bethel AME Church of Ardmore/Bethel Community Garden this summer to bring campers to The McKaig Nature Center to explore habitats (pictured). Working together, we can amplify our collective impact in addressing environmental challenges.

 

 

 

The Region’s Biggest Environmental Education Staff

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With 8 permanent Environmental Education (EE) staff positions and 5+ part-time season EE staff positions, Riverbend maintains the largest team of Environmental Educators in the Philadelphia region. All educators undergo annual training and re-training to stay current on best practices in STEM and EE teaching.

 

 

 

    Commitment to Low-Income Children

Thanks to our fierce commitment to equity and access, 48% of our education program hours go to low-income students. Riverbend made a positive impact in Upper Darby and Norristown Area School Districts last school year, reaching all 4th graders in both districts plus Norristown’s entire 3rd grade in spring 2023. 40% or more of student bodies in these districts are of low-income family backgrounds. Thanks to Riverbend’s generous donors, the Nature-Based STEM Series was provided free of charge. 

Our three-part Nature-Based STEM Series encourages collaboration and critical thinking about local environmental issues. The program features an initial classroom visit, which introduces the environmental concepts to be explored, a field trip to a partner nature space in the students’ own community, and a culminating outdoor exploration of the students’ school yards for an application of their newly acquired scientific inquiry skills. 

Multiple visits from the same educator is a hallmark of trauma-informed and culturally responsive education, and has allowed Riverbend to build and deepen our relationships with teachers, students, and schools alike.

Through collaborations with both the Norristown Farm Park for our Norristown school partners, and the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge for our Upper Darby school partners, our education team facilitates outdoor experiences that students and teachers could access again for free after the program ended. Research has demonstrated the benefits of place-based environmental education; it not only promotes academic achievement but fosters environmental and economic resilience within communities (National Park Service). 

Riverbend’s work of forming connections between youth and their local environments cultivates a culture of care for neighbors of all species alike. In these parks, students lifted up rocks to find salamanders, traversed streams, and fed native fish.

 

 

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           Teaching the Teachers

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Classroom teachers know that hands-on projects conducted outdoors increase student’s interest in science. To prepare students to address timely environmental issues and succeed in STEM-based careers, strong partnerships between nonprofits and schools are key. Riverbend’s year-long Community of Practice professional development program is a grant-funded initiative to coach teachers on how to teach science curriculum outdoors. After only three days training with Riverbend at the program’s 2022 kickoff event – our Summer Science Workshop – the school teachers were already reporting an increase of up to 70% in their confidence and knowledge of outdoor STEM instruction.

Riverbend has been investing in classroom teachers as valued and respected partners in nature education for nearly a decade.

By the numbers:

  • This year, enrollment doubled, with 18 teachers enrolled in the 2023-2024 cohort. 

  • 1,265 students

  • 100% low income school

 

 

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“Would 100% recommend to any teacher who asked!” - Melissa McCabe, 6th/7th grade STEM teacher in School District of Philadelphia

 

The year-long program culminates in a student-led Earth action projects: 

  • reducing plastic litter by creating of reusable cloth bags

  • creating school field guides and interpretive signage

  • feeding birds by installing birdhouses

  • cultivating a native plant garden

  • constructing an absorptive garden to reduce runoff

  • planting flowers to support bees

  • compiling a tree inventory and encouraging school administration to plant native trees

  • organizing a trash collection on school grounds

 

Students also take a fully subsidized field trip to Riverbend’s preserve. We look forward to welcoming them to our living laboratory next spring!

 

 

 

A Community Resource for Parents & Children

Every month, Riverbend hosts a nature-themed public event, with most events priced as “Pay What You Wish” to ensure inclusion. Topics include bird-watching, tree-planting, Solstice celebrations, book events, after school clubs, cookouts, and a new Eco-Fair. Riverbend is a great place for families and friends to fall in love with nature.

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Training the next generation of stewards

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Every summer for ten years, Riverbend’s Director of Conservation has trained four college students and up to a dozen teen volunteers in habitat management and native plant stewardship. Students rave about this program:

“My experience as a Habitat Management Intern at Riverbend was incredible. Working with the teen volunteers and the other interns inspired conversations about the importance of environmental education and the necessity of creating constructive solutions to the climate crisis. It was a joy to know that the hard work of removing invasive plants and preparing the planting site will pay off for the future.”

- Sarah Eckstein-Indik, Summer Habitat Intern attending Brandeis University

 

Watch Riverbend in Action

5,000+

Native plants were planted since 2008

40+

educators received professional development in nature-based STEM learning in 2022-2023.

8,000+

students engaged through our school programs and nature camps in 2023.

68%

percent of Riverbend's program visits benefited low-income students in 2022.

1,250

Students participated in STEM-based Aquaponics program