News!

Urban Open Space Corner: La Mesa Verde Builds Community Through Gardening

“We see the garden as a vehicle for social change...It helps to know you are connected and part of something.”

In the face of local food insecurity, Sacred Heart Community Service is providing families with a sustainable source of fresh, nutritious food through their Authority-funded home gardening project, La Mesa Verde.

Urban Open Space Corner: Watershed in a Box - Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful

“I love those ‘a-ha moments,’ when someone learns something new and sees an opportunity to take action”

One local organization is taking conservation lessons inspired by the 64-mile long Coyote Creek, part of Santa Clara Valley’s largest watershed, and bringing them to the community in a unique way. 

Urban Open Space Corner: CommUniverCity’s Growing Sustainably Program

“It’s hard to eat healthy. We’re introducing kids to things like seasonality of produce and buying organic.”

San Jose State students are getting out of the classroom to share lessons in healthy food and our environment with local kids and their families. 

Urban Open Space Corner: Guadalupe River Park Conservancy's Student-Led Explorations Along the River

“Every day we get to see ‘the awe’ and experience how excited the kids are to be outside”

Hands-on, outdoor educational opportunities encourage students to take active roles in their learning, allowing them to make discoveries in new and exciting ways. But many children, especially those coming from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds, face obstacles to connecting with nature in educational settings.

Urban Open Space Corner: Saving and Restoring Santa Clara’s Last Remaining Open Space

In the shadow of Levi’s Stadium and Santa Clara’s residential subdivisions and office parks, there’s a little sliver of open space along the Guadalupe River where wildlife roam and migratory birds stop as they travel along the Pacific Coast.

Urban Open Space Corner: Valley Verde’s Home Garden Project

“We all garden together and make new friends. We learn from each other.”

When the economic crisis hit back in 2008, Raul Lozano started to hear about all the families that were struggling not just to afford housing, but also to afford food. “I heard the food banks were overwhelmed,” and there were too many people who needed their support.

Urban Open Space Corner: Living Classroom’s Edible and Native Garden Project at Campbell Unified School District

Environmental education can start at any age – one local nonprofit is helping to get kids in their earliest years of school out of the classroom to learn about science, our natural environment, and healthy food.

Urban Open Space & Environmental Education Corner - April 2019

When Measure Q was passed by voters in 2014, the Open Space Authority made a commitment to invest in nature within our communities and created the Measure Q Urban Open Space & Environmental Education Grant Programs. Here are two recent updates from funded programs.

Urban Open Space & Environmental Education Corner – February 2019

When Measure Q was passed by voters in 2014, the Open Space Authority made a commitment to invest in nature within our communities and created the Measure Q Urban Open Space & Environmental Education Grant Programs. Here are three recent updates from funded programs.

Urban Open Space & Environmental Education Corner – January 2019

Happy Trails, an exciting new program launched by the Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose and funded through the Open Space Authority's Measure Q Environmental Education grant program, is helping urban families gain exposure to nature. Learn more about how this community-focused program is positively impacting San Jose families!