L.L.Bean has donated $22,000 to the Foundation for Portland Public Schools to continue a partnership between Rippleffect and Portland’s three middle schools. This funding allows students to participate in activities including kayaking, hiking, rock climbing and outdoor team-building activities with their peers, teachers and Rippleffect staff.

With L.L.Bean’s support, the Portland Public Schools has provided outdoor education experiences for all middle school students since 2019.

“Democratizing access to nature across socioeconomic, racial, and cultural lines is one of the ways we are supporting the equity focus of the Portland Promise,” said Foundation for Portland Public Schools Executive Director Andrea Weisman Summers. “Exposing students who live in an urban environment to positive interactions with nature helps build a lifelong respect for open spaces, conservation, and natural resources. There’s also research that shows that spending time in nature leads to increased academic achievement, student engagement, and better physical and social-emotional health. We are so grateful to L.L.Bean for their support of this important work.”

Students at King, Lincoln, and Lyman Moore Middle Schools participate in a range of activities with Rippleffect and school staff. The experiences are designed to expose students to nature and outdoor activities and to build community and strengthen the foundation of peer-to-peer and peer-to-adult relationships at school.

“The Rippleffect collaboration has been instrumental in helping develop leadership through team building,” Lincoln Middle School Interim Principal Robyn Bailey said. “This relationship has helped Lincoln students find success through outdoor education, shared values, and an opportunity to explore learning outside the classroom walls.”