Grant awarded to Paso Pacifico
The Foundation is pleased to again support Paso Pacifico with a grant that matches my passion for the environment and endangered species and the Foundation’s mission of helping Women and Children through their”Building community and environmental leaders through the mentorship of women .”
Founded in 2005, Paso Pacifico’s mission is to restore and protect the endangered dry tropical forests and coastal ecosystems of Mesoamerica. In working towards their mission, Paso Pacifico empowers local people to develop more sustainable livelihoods in eco-tourism, fishing, agriculture, and forest management. They also look to advance women and children as environmental leaders, while developing strong relationships with private landowners.
Through the funding received from the McQuade Foundation in 2017, Paso Pacifico was able to support their sea turtle ranger program. This project made it possible for women receive multiple trainings in leadership, sea turtle monitoring, and also provided the opportunity for two of their female rangers to present their conservation efforts to an international audience. The growth in these women has been tremendous and they are poised to support women and girls in their communities. Funding from the McQuade Foundation will be used to cover the wages of five female rangers during a six-month period. In addition to these women rangers taking care of the sea turtle nurseries, they also conduct environmental education lessons that 50-100 children twice a month. Additionally, funding will also be used to help pay for the costs of workshops and meetings for a group of 20 young women, ages 15-20, as they learn about environmental education. Finally, funds will be used for t-shirts for the students and to help repair the Paso Pacifico bus, which is needed for field trips for these young women.
Paso Pacifico keeps detailed records of sea turtle monitoring efforts, including the date and times of ranger patrols and the measurement and identification of nesting sea turtles. This data enables them to track the activities of the rangers on duty. Paso Pacifico will document the experiences of the young women participating in the mentorship program through photography, anecdotal interviews, and through record-keeping that will track the level of participation in activities. To determine the feelings and attitudes of the young women participants, they will carry out a post-program survey. Finally, the Jr. Ranger program will be evaluated based on the number of graduates in 2020 and also through the number of children participants in citizen science events