Beginning in the mid 1990s, Houston-based entrepreneur and wilderness adventurer Steve Rosencranz drew other business and education leaders together around the goal of empowering low income youth to develop into responsible adults, and utilizing wilderness education as an effective means to accelerate that development. Emphasizing a philosophy and approach inspired by Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, The Woods Project has evolved out of the program launched in 1999 to bring youth into the woods for transformational learning experiences.

Steve began the journey in eastern Maine, converting a failing wilderness education camp into a non-profit, known as The Darrow Project. He raised sufficient initial funding to bring it back to life, then recruited a board comprised of interested alumni of the Camp. He then initiated a program to offer scholarships for low income youth from Houston to attend the Camp. He developed relationships with organizations including YES Prep, Chinquapin School, Inner City Outings, and I Have a Dream in order to identify appropriate students to participate. Over the next four years, approximately 25 low income youth and two teachers from Houston spent two-week sessions at the Camp. In taking the best of the Darrow model and modifying it in light of changing trends, Steve opted to formalize what had been essentially a personal program into a corporate model. The Woods Project which emerged from that early success would follow a volunteer-driven model, combining a volunteer leader corps with educational institutions committed to the program and with locations conducive to wilderness education. Steve identified five factors critical to the organization’s success:

1. Access to low income youth
2. Strong buy-in from the entities that provided the participants (schools, social agencies)
3. Access to partnership with appropriate venues in wilderness areas
4. Engaged volunteer leaders
5. Funding

Steve acted on the belief that there were many adults looking for more involvement in ‘doing the right thing’ -- putting their time as well as their money to work in worthy non-profit ventures. He believed there were many wilderness camps that shared a common mission with The Woods Project and would want to collaborate with The Woods Project. He also believed that numerous groups dedicated to youth would see the benefit of a well rounded wilderness education curriculum. He knew the young participants would respond well to wilderness programs that combined ‘fun’ education with wilderness challenge and mentoring by motivated adults. And he was confident money would be available as the mission was proven.

The Maine program had demonstrated that low income youth do respond well to wilderness programs. The next step was to determine if such a program could be run effectively with 100% volunteer leadership. To facilitate this objective, The Woods Project aligned with Inner City Outings, a part of the Sierra Club. ICO provided a protocol for qualifying, training, and providing an insurance program for leaders and participants. Through ICO, the organization developed a number of trips throughout the year that allowed for leaders and youth to have multiple touch points that led to strong mentoring relationships. The formal ICO relationship continued until 2008, when The Woods Project incorporated and moved into the next phase of operations.

In 2006, The Woods Project moved beyond the Darrow Camp era when Steve led a group of 11 student participants on a ten-day trip to Yosemite. The students, from KIPP Houston High School, were accompanied by two KIPP staff persons and two ICO certified leaders. The trip included five days of backpacking, as well as time in San Francisco to explore the city. It was an outstanding success. The students grew noticeably in terms of confidence and leadership skills. Equally significant, they developed new perspectives to help them succeed when they eventually leave home to engage a challenging new environment in college.

In 2007, the model expanded to include site-based education. The Wood Project developed a strong relationship with Glacier Institute (GI), a non-profit located near Glacier National Park, whose mission is to provide low-income and other youth environmental education in a wilderness facility. Their programming and use of their excellent wilderness camp facilities had previously aimed primarily at brief outings (less than 5 days) for small groups of elementary- and junior-high-aged school groups during the spring and fall, and was generally underutilized in the summer. The Woods Project designed a joint program to serve 36 youth over two weeks. The results exceeded our highest expectations: 29 youth from KIPP and 7 youth from Chinquapin School attended the program, along with ten volunteers who donated a total of 14 weeks of volunteer time during the Summer session and another ten weeks of volunteer time during the school year. 

In 2008, The Woods Project replicated the model in multiple locations. We cemented relationships with key institutions in Yosemite and Donner Pass, while continuing our Glacier program. That year, 88 youth and 23 volunteer leaders spent two weeks at one of the three camps. All were very successful and the expansion model was proven to be effective. We also enhanced the spring/fall programming to include more youth and more activities.

By 2009, the program had grown to provide opportunities to over 200 students. The program infrastructure continues to expand, including fine-tuning of the Project’s recruiting of students and training of leaders. School year programming will include more students in more activities throughout the Houston area.

The Woods Project success and results to date validate the model of low-cost/high-impact/volunteer-driven wilderness education. The Project’s partnering organizations – both schools and locations -- report high satisfaction with the outcomes, and have indicated their desire to increase their participation. Volunteer leaders express enthusiasm and remain engaged in a full range of Project activities.

Since its inception, The Woods Project has been funded primarily through donations from individuals. Funds raised have grown from approximately $5,000 in 2000 to $300,000 in 2010. In 2007, The Woods Projects received its first funding from foundations, with grants from four foundations covering approximately 35% of the Project’s total funding needs. In 2008, The Woods Project incorporated and received 501 (c) 3 status from the IRS as a non-profit organization, qualifying the Project to receive foundation support and providing tax benefit to Project donors.

In the shared vision that drives the organization, by 2012 the Project will have at least six locations providing two- week summer programs to 1,000 low income youth, as well as companion programming in the spring and fall. The track record to date has been outstanding - our model has been proven and is well positioned to expand dramatically. With adequate funding, the Project can achieve even more success toward the goal of changing lives by providing opportunity to low income youth to develop confidence and leadership skills.