Annual Report: Come Alive Outside 2018

ANNUAL REPORT 2018 FINANCIAL REPORT PASSPORTS MILE A DAY PARK RX GREEN STREETS DESIGN CHALLENGE HIGHLIGHTS WHAT’S NEXT BOARD & STAFF • Financial Report • Passports • A Mile a Day • ParkRx • Green Streets • Design Challenge comealiveoutside.com • Highlights PO Box 267 • What’s Next Rutland, VT 05702 • Board & Staff (440) 525-6076

Come Alive Outside is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that works closely with partners in healthcare, public health, outdoor recreation and the landscape profession in order to get people off the couch and back outside in communities across North America.

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MISSION

VISION

To inspire collaborative community systems that create the awareness, intention and opportunity for people to live healthier lives outside.

Healthy individuals, families and communities enjoying the full benefits of great outdoor spaces where they live, work and play.

FIVE PRINCIPLES

OUR WHY

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

Children today spend over seven hours a day looking at screens and half as much time outside as they did in 1980. The numbers are even worse for adults, and this replacement of time in nature with screen time is having a profound impact on our mental and physical well-being.

Get active outside Grow something you can eat Learn with your hands in the soil Connect with nature Play unplugged

2018 BY THE

2018 FINANCIALS

NUMBERS

+ $256,208

33,861 Total Program Participants

Total Revenue

- $210,503

4,800

Total Expenditures

Passports

820

Vermont Grants: $151,630

Mile a Day

Vermont Corporate Sponsors: $58,050

Total U.S.

REVENUE

Vermont Individual Donors: $966

242,274

$

National Corporate Sponsors: $27,476

160

Park RX

National Individual Donors: $4,152

28,000

Total U.S.

Green Streets

EXPENDITURES

191,128

$

Vermont Programs: $140,374 Admin: $33,561

Marketing and Fundraising: $15,256

National Programs: $8,935

81

Design Challenge

102 Total Canada

REVENUE

13,934

$

Total Canada

EXPENDITURES

12,375

$

Canada Grants: $7,555

Total Community Partner Organizations

Canada Corporate Sponsors: $6,379

Green Streets: $5,204 Admin: $1,916

Design Challenge: $5,255

3.5 M People Media Reach 3

PASSPORTS This hyper-local program gives families added incentive to stay active and take advantage of access to nearby nature. Children earn points and win prizes for visiting local parks, farmers markets and community events and completing tasks or finding secret codes.

Passports are currently available to students in select regions of Vermont through funding support from the Vermont Department of Health and other local partners. We provide passports to K-6th Grade Students in the following school districts: Addison Central School District, Bristol Elementary, Greater Rutland Central Supervisory Union, Rutland City Public Schools, Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union.

2018 STATS

4,800 55%

Participation Rate

77%

Children more excited about Physical Activity

70%

Families that increased Physical Activity

46 4

Students Reached

Community Partners in Vermont

MILE A DAY Mile a Day is a walking challenge that provides extra incentive for people to establish and track healthy walking habits.

This program is produced with support from Rutland Regional Medical Center, Community Health Centers of the Rutland Region, Heritage Family Credit Union and other local partners in Rutland, VT. In 2018, we ran two 100 Miles, 100 Days Challenges.

In 2019 we will run a 30 Mile Challenge in the spring, a 100 Mile Challenge in the summer and a 50 Mile Challenge in the fall.

2018 STATS

820

“

Participants in Rutland County

53,874

Total Miles Logged

76%

Participants who increased Physical Activity levels

37%

Completion Rate

I would have not walked at all during the winter if not for this challenge. Because of it, I got a Fitbit, monitored my activity, walked ‘on purpose’, and competed with my granddaughter for daily steps! Thank goodness for the Winter Challenge!

”

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PARKRX With support from the Bowse Health Trust, Come Alive Outside administers a pilot Park Rx program in Rutland County, VT that provides unique support to participants after they receive an outdoor prescription from their doctor. We engage cohorts of participants for 12-week intervals and support each patient with one-on-one weekly health coaching, as well as tools for tracking progress towards their goal.

2018 STATS

160

Total Referrals from Healthcare Providers in Rutland County

» 86% » 88% “

My A1C was down and may be able to be off diabetes medication later this fall.

”

“

I am healthier, have more energy, and I now have a more positive outlook on struggles and issues at hand.

Not so stressed.

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”

64% Participation Rate

Self-reported being more active because of program

Self-reported positive impact on mental wellbeing

4.9

days/ week Average increase in Frequency from 2.5 days/week

32.6

minutes /day

Average increase in Duration from 19.5 minutes/day

Meets the CDC recommendation of 30 minutes/day!

GREEN STREETS 2018 STATS The Green Street Challenge creates the opportunity to celebrate the importance of outdoor play by laying down sod and creating temporary parks on prominent streets in communities across North America.

Sod producers and landscape professionals partner with local businesses and downtown associations and donate all time and materials to put on these events at no cost to the community.

After the event the sod is donated to be installed at a local park or project that will help to create a permanent green space in the community.

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72K

Events in North America

Square Feet of Playspace

28K

48

Participants

Partner Organizations

With the partnership and support of Landscape Ontario in 2018 we were able to produce the most Green Streets that we ever have in one year!

2018 Locations: Hamilton, ON Westport, ON Barrie, ON Picton, ON Rexburg, ID

Calgary, AL Stroudsburg, PA Woodstock, ON Middlebury, VT Huntsville, ON

Toronto, ON Rutland, VT Toronto, ON Culver, IN

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DESIGN CHALLENGE 2018 STATS:

50

Student Participants in 2018

POSTSECONDARY PARTNERS: Algonquin College, Niagara Parks School of Horticulture, University of Guelph

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Communities Engaged since 2016

800

Student Participants since 2016

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The Come Alive Outside Design Challenge creates the opportunity for teams of college, high school, and elementary students to work together with landscape professionals to design and build engaging outdoor learning environments at schools and childcare facilities.

In addition to creating the new spaces at the schools, one of the primary goals of this program is engaging young people in the process of designing nature into our lives through vibrant urban gardens and green spaces.

We produced one design challenge this year in partnership with Landscape Ontario and Wentworth Landscapes to create a new playspace and school yard at First Adventure Childcare Centre and Georges Vanier Catholic School in Belleville, ON.

OTHER 2018 HIGHLIGHTS Rutland County Farm To School With support from the Bowse Health Foundation, Come Alive Outside continued to produce Farm to School programming in Rutland County, Vermont.

Through Harvest of the Month activities, 680 elementary school students participated in monthly cooking workshops creating recipes featuring different vegetables from local farms. Each month, volunteers work with a different class of students to prepare a recipe that the entire school then tries during a taste test at lunch. Approximately 1,060 students at five schools participated in these taste tests each month.

Come Alive Outside also provided support to student and faculty leaders at five school gardens during the summertime. In addition to these gardens, we also partnered with the Rutland Regional Medical Center to grow an acre of pumpkins and sunflowers at the hospital with approximately 350 elementary students from other schools in Rutland County. These students all participated in a Spring Planting event produced by Come Alive Outside, Wonderfeet Kids’ Museum and Rutland Recreation and Parks, as well as a Fall Harvest event.

Snowshoes in Libraries With a grant from the Vermont Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Come Alive Outside provided 40 sets of children and adult-sized snowshoes to four public libraries in Addison County.

This effort was done as a continuation of

similar work by the Vermont Department of Health in other counties and serves to expand the potential of libraries serving as resources to connect people with nature in the communities they serve.

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WHAT’S NEXT IN 2019 We’re Hiring We are very excited to be expanding our team and adding a full-time Program Director position. Founding director, Andy Paluch will move into this role to continue to expand the impact of our programs in Vermont and Ontario, as we hire a new Executive Director to guide the overall strategy and operations of the organization. Stay tuned for an announcement on this position coming in the second quarter of 2019!

Our New Look In January of 2019, we updated our logo and branding to coincide with the launch of a new website!

This website provides easy access to the five core programs outlined in this report and will continue to expand in functionality in the year ahead.

Expanding Programs with Digital Tools We are working to create an online design portal that will allow communities to quickly and easily lay out Passports with local parks, events and activities in their own region. This tool will drastically reduce the cost of replicating this program in new areas.

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We are also working to create online tracking tools for our Mile a Day program, in order to increase the scalability of the program, as well as allow for more effective data collection.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

VT STEERING COMMITTEE

Russ Marsan President

Tom Huebner Director

Scott Wentworth Vice President

Sarah Walker Director

Steve Costello Green Mountain Power

Michael Albert Treasurer

Zach Strauser Director

Rick Geise Secretary

Myra Peffer Director

Burt DeMarche Director

Jim Paluch Chair of Advisory Board

Sue Milheim Director

STAFF Andy Paluch Executive Director

Bethany Yon VT Department of Health Kimberly Griffin UVM Extension

Sarah Narkewicz UVM Medical Center April Cioffi Rutland Recreation and Parks Susan Schreibman Rutland City Planning Commission

Russ Marsan Carpenter and Costin

ONTARIO STEERING COMMITTEE Scott Wentworth Wentworth Landscapes

Jay Middleton Wentworth Landscapes

Tony DiGiovanni Landscape Ontario

Erin Walker Algonquin Lakeshore Catholic District School Board

Rutland, VT • andy@comealiveoutside.com

Jaya Davis Program Coordinator Rutland, VT • jaya@comealiveoutside.com

Lissa Schoot-Uiterkamp Program Coordinator

Sally Harvey Landscape Ontario

Milton, Ontario • lissa@comealiveoutside.com 11

comealiveoutside.com PO Box 267 | Rutland, VT 05702 (440) 525-6076