About Terra BIRDS
Our mission is to educate and empower youth through gardening.
Terra BIRDS stewards over 13 acres of land in the City of Flagstaff.
Mission
Terra BIRDS educates and empowers youth through gardening.
Vision
Terra BIRDS cultivates the inherent abilities, creativity and desire in young people to empower them to engage and thrive as responsible citizens.
Est. 2011
The History of Terra BIRDS
History & Background
Terra BIRDS was founded in 2011 in Flagstaff, Arizona to address some of the challenging educational, environmental, and socio-economic issues we are facing as a community through our innovative, multi-faceted, hands-on education programs that focus on sustainability and youth empowerment.
Teachers, parents, businesses and political leaders, school administrators, non-profit partners and concerned citizens began to collectively voice a common concern that our current educational system was not able to adequately meet the overwhelming needs of its diverse, changing, growing population. Our formation was a response to a community-wide need for quality and innovative sustainability-oriented education that would help ensure the long-term environmental and socio-economic sustainability of our region.
Terra BIRDS recognizes that a key to make lasting, positive changes lies in empowering youth with knowledge, skills and self-confidence that is accomplished through collaborative, just, and sustainability-oriented education.
Our community possesses much strength, diversity, inventiveness, and self-determination. We are a border town to the Navajo, Hopi and other Native nations and are heavily influenced by their traditions. Many of our oldest families and neighborhood communities are Latino or African American. We have one of the highest per capita Ph.D. populations in the nation because of our strong academic, scientific and research communities. There are many talented people and entities that are dedicated to building a strong and healthy community that is based on the principles of sustainability, justice and collaboration.
However, our community faces many pressing environmental, economic and social justice issues. In many ways, our community represents a microcosm of the nation’s pressing problems – problems that, for the most part, have not been created by individuals or neighborhood communities, but are a by-product of decisions made and actions taken on a larger scale.
We’re doing important work over here.
Terra BIRDS is unique in our community because we combine environmental stewardship, urban habitat restoration, and food production in K-12 schools. We are the only nonprofit that offers environmentally sustainable jobs to local at-risk youth.
Terra BIRDS believes that the only way our community can become resilient, sustainable, equitable, and just is by providing nature-based education and sustainability-oriented employment to the young people, with particular focus on youth that are often excluded.
Regular and safe access to nature and learning how to grow a bountiful garden shouldn’t be determined by race, ethnicity, family income, ability, or identity.
Join Us in Making a Difference
Support Terra BIRDS
Your donation helps us connect youth to nature, grow food in school gardens, and provide paid job opportunities for at-risk youth in Flagstaff.
You can make a secure, fee-free donation online with button below. We also gratefully accept in-kind donations of materials and supplies to support our garden programs.
To set up an in-kind donation, please email us at info@terrabirds.org.
Thank you for helping us grow a healthier, more connected community!
