The Watershed Project connects students and young adults with their local environment through hands-on education, field trips, curriculum development, and workforce training. We deliver in-school programs for K–12 students, train educators, and provide paid internships and career-building opportunities for youth and community members underrepresented in the environmental field. We’re cultivating the next generation of watershed stewards and environmental leaders through all of these various avenues.
PROJECTS
K-12 Environmental Education and Workforce Development
Our Approach
The Watershed Project connects young people to their local environment through programming that is place-based, relationship-driven, and rooted in community.
We believe that meaningful environmental education and career pathways start close to home—right in the neighborhoods where youth live, learn, and grow. We bring students and young adults to nature by visiting parks and restoration sites within their own communities, where they can see firsthand the impact of watershed stewardship. We also bring nature to students by turning paved schoolyards into vibrant outdoor classrooms. We design our programs with cultural humility and an awareness of local environmental justice issues to make learning meaningful and inclusive.
We deliver our K-12 education programs to full classrooms during the school day to ensure that every student—regardless of their background, schedule, resources, or access to extracurricular activities—has the opportunity to participate. Our team uses a hybrid model, offering direct instruction in some classrooms and teacher training and curriculum support in others, based on what works best for each school and community. Our high-quality, standards-aligned curriculum enhances what teachers are already required to teach and fills an important service gap, complementing out-of-school programs.
As students grow, so do their opportunities with us. Our programs are designed as a developmental pathway:
- Elementary students begin with hands-on watershed exploration.
- Middle and high schoolers deepen their understanding through watershed stewardship and field experiences.
- Young adults step into leadership roles through paid internships and green workforce training.
The Watershed Project operates a paid workforce development internship program called The Green Collar Corps, or GCC. The GCC provides a unique, yearlong opportunity for young adults to explore green careers in an in-depth, hands-on way in a small, supportive cohort. Participants rotate through multiple focus areas—from water quality to community engagement—building practical skills, earning certifications, and developing a clear sense of potential career paths with support from experienced professionals and dedicated mentors.
By combining environmental education and green workforce development, we’re not just teaching about the watershed—we’re preparing young people to protect and lead within it.
What we do
The Watershed Project provides a continuum of services that support young people from early environmental exploration through career readiness and employment. We design our programs to meet students and emerging professionals where they are—whether that’s in the classroom, in the field, or on the job—and to grow with them as they build knowledge, skills, and confidence.
Our services include:
- Place-based K–12 environmental education, aligned with academic standards and grounded in local watershed issues.
- In-school instruction and hands-on outdoor learning, including classroom lessons and field trips to local parks, restoration sites, and green schoolyards.
- Support for diverse learners, including English language learners and students with limited access to nature.
- Professional development for teachers, including curriculum resources, training, and co-teaching opportunities.
- Green workforce development for youth and young adults, offering:
- Paid internships and employment opportunities, including our Green Collar Corps, Greening Urban Watershed Apprenticeship, and Summer Field Crew.
- Skill-building and job readiness training, with a focus on equity and environmental justice.
- Mentorship and career exploration through special interest pathways in Environmental Education, Cleaning Urban Watersheds, Community Engagement, Greening Urban Watersheds, and Water Quality Monitoring.
- Opportunities to earn certificates and develop technical skills that are aligned with the environmental sector.
- Structured advancement pathways that guide participants, from classroom learners to field interns to leadership-track apprentices and permanent staff.
- Paid internships and employment opportunities, including our Green Collar Corps, Greening Urban Watershed Apprenticeship, and Summer Field Crew.
Together, these services create a pipeline that nurtures curiosity, builds capacity, and opens doors—preparing the next generation to protect and restore our watersheds while pursuing meaningful careers in the environmental field.
Our impact
10+
Contact hours with each K-12 student
100%
Of students in our programs receive outdoor learning opportunities
500+
Hours of professional environmental work experience for each Green Collar Corps intern each year
“We spend so much effort and money on standardized tests, when there are real problems in the world that The Watershed Project brings to light for our students. The information my students are learning with this project is what really should be mandatory in schools.”
3rd grade teacher
City of San Pablo
“The program was an amazing experience for students to have. I love how there are a variety of ways in which the program is hands-on. They provided in depth and grade-level appropriate content that they were able to transfer to the field experience. Students LOVED their time at Tilden Farm. I loved how students were able to interact and make connections with water and their community.”
1st grade teacher
City of San Pablo
“The educators made this a very strong program. They understood the need to balance the science with the students’ ages and ability to focus. I was very impressed by their ability to keep the kids focused and interested.”
6th grade teacher
City of Pinole
“I’d put in a good word for the way the activities are structured. I like that the students get to relate variables, see connections and patterns for the ecology and chemistry associated with climate change…As a veteran marine science teacher, I do not regret getting involved with the program and look forward to being part of it in the future. It’s really well organized and well worth any science teacher’s time.”
High school marine biology teacher
City of San Francisco
“My favorite part of the program is the field trip and learning about the watersheds. Maybe I can improve at being an expert of our watershed.”
Montalvin Manor
3rd grade student
“This is the perfect field trip – best field trip ever!”
City Richmond High School student
“Throughout the internship, I got to be part of a lot of different projects, which made every week exciting and different.”
Green Collar Corps (GCC) Intern
“Coming into this program, I didn’t fully know what to expect, but I was excited to get hands-on experience and to learn more about environmental work. What I ended up gaining was way more than just job skills, I gained a deeper connection to my community, to nature, and to the people around me.”
Green Collar Corps (GCC) Intern
“Beyond the hands-on work, I also gained soft skills that I’ll carry with me. I got better at communicating especially when teaching kids or speaking with people at community events. I learned how to work closely with a team, how to take initiative when something needed to get done, and how to adapt when plans changed, which happened sometimes during fieldwork. The biggest thing I took away, though, was a sense of purpose. Everything we did whether it was planting trees, teaching, or testing water had real meaning. It showed me how important it is to stay grounded in your work and to always remember why you’re doing it. This experience gave me a clearer picture of the kind of work I want to keep doing in the future even if it’s not in the environmental field.”
Green Collar Corps (GCC) Intern
“What an honor to get to collaborate with really awesome problem solvers…Solving problem after problem, we just had to be so creative and not have limits on the way to do things. I just love that spirit of TWP– that’s like, ‘We’re here to make positive interventions on the land and in our communities. We have an idea and we just try it.”
Greening Urban Watersheds Apprentice
How can you help?
Apply
Apply here to become a Green Collar Corps intern or Greening Urban Watersheds apprentice.
Teach
We invite educators to contact us to receive watershed curriculum and an online teacher training.
Learn
Browse our newsletter articles for more in-depth features of our work, and sign up to be the first to receive future updates.
Support
Donate to The Watershed Project to sustain environmental education and workforce development efforts.