Leave it Better Foundation was founded in 2009 with the conviction that youth are the key to healing our environment. Through hands-on activities, STEAM projects, gardening, and mindfulness exercises, we purpose to fill the void in our nation’s school system where environmental education is concerned. Our programs are designed to provide students with a space where they can master the art of being mindful towards themselves, each other, their communities and the world.
ABOUT LEAVE IT BETTER FOUNDATION
Leave it Better Foundation was founded in 2009 with the conviction that youth are the key to healing our environment. Through hands-on activities, STEAM projects, gardening, and mindfulness exercises, we purpose to fill the void in our nation’s school system where environmental education is concerned. Our programs are designed to provide students with a space where they can master the art of being mindful towards themselves, each other, their communities and the world.
ABOUT LEAVE IT BETTER FOUNDATION
LEAVE IT BETTER
OUR PROGRAMS
LEAVE YOURSELF BETTER
The Leave Yourself Better program promotes mindfulness through meditation, journaling, self-care, and DIYs. The eight-day program is divided into four units (meditation, body care, art, and food), with each targeting a different approach to leaving oneself better.
Upon completion of the program, students are more comfortable with engaging with their thoughts, nourishing their bodies with natural ingredients, and wholly embracing their identity.
CYBERSELF
Cyberself challenges each student to reframe his/her relationship with social networks. We begin the program by tracing the origins of the word cyber to the Greek word for steersman. This sets the stage for students to determine how they can take more control in online spaces.
Students leave the program empowered to use social media as a positive force to better themselves, each other, their schools, their communities, and the world.
WATER
The Water Program cultivates mindfulness of the role that of one of the world's most indispensable resources plays in our lives. During the four day program, students use investigative documentary techniques, learn how to test for lead contamination, and create detailed science journals.
As they interpret the results of their tests, students become more aware of the value of clean water and develop a sense of ownership over this critical resource.
AQUAPONICS
Offered in partnerships with OKO Farms, a Brooklyn-based urban aquaculture and education company, the Aquaponics program teaches students to farm in a sustainable, water-conserving fashion.
Over the course of eight days, students learn about the dynamic aquaponics ecosystem, which includes fish, bacteria, and plants. They perform water quality tests to ensure that the health of each of these components is accounted for and harvest microgreens using a technique that maintains the natural reGeneration process.
REGENERATION
ReGeneration, LIBF's pilot program, encourages students to build healthy relationships food. Each class constructs its own compost bin, an experience that opens the door to many first-time encounters with red wiggler worms and allows students to familiarize themselves with compostable food wastes.
After exploring the significance of nutrition and identifying different properties of healthy fruits and vegetables, students put their knowledge into practice. They use their own compost to plant vegetables and later, harvest them using the reGeneration technique.
BEES & BEYOND
The Bees and Beyond program is offered in partnership with City Growers, a Brooklyn-based non-profit that uses urban agriculture to facilitate connections between city kids and the natural world.
The program highlights the significance of bees to sustainable environments. Students learn about the anatomy of bees, the role they play as pollinators, and the threats they face today. This leaves them with greater consciousness not only about bees, but also about the interdependence that characterizes ecosystems and the world at large.
FILMMAKING
The film program introduces students to the world of filmmaking, which plays an integral role in many of LIBF's programs. After learning the six shots of filmmaking (close up on the action, close up on the face, wide shot, over the shoulder, medium shot, and experimental shot), students put their skills into practice.
They conduct interviews, taking turns being the cinematographer, interviewer, interviewee, and director. These roles are designed to enrich their storytelling abilities.
