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EDUCATION
Education
Program
BRN’s Education Program comprises place-based educational programs built around a common curriculum covering the restoration of watersheds, ecosystems, and communities, providing a culturally relevant context.
Our programs have taught more than 2,000 participants through hands-on learning, workshops, internships, programs, and outreach for youth through adults.
These opportunities help shape participants’ views of the environment they live in and the role they each play as stewards in their communities. By providing technical skills and training and connecting our participants to professional and informal community networks, they are more prepared and energized to act. Our current programming is divided into four ongoing interdependent initiatives.
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Borderlands Earth Care Youth (BECY) inspires and trains the next generation of land stewards by hiring culturally diverse youth living on the US/Mexico borderlands to restore the transnational watersheds they call home. Youth work with rock, wood, seeds, hands, and hearts to return flowing waters and riverside ecosystems to the arid borderlands.
Youth interns work alongside conservation professionals to make grassroots systemic change in historically overlooked and underserved communities. Simultaneously, youth learn leadership skills and are empowered to develop leadership roles with increased responsibility, accountability, and empathy. Since beginning in 2012, almos 200 youth have graduated from BECY.
BECY INTERNSHIP 2025
The upcoming paid internship will take place in Cochise County during intervals from March to June 2025.
The Borderlands Field Course is a multidisciplinary training designed to empower the next generation of environmental leaders. Guided by expert facilitators and presenters, it holistically addresses the ecological challenges facing the border region and the Sky Islands.
The program consists of a tour of different landscapes in Sonora, Mexico, from the capital to the area closest to the US border.
The course includes lectures, workshops, and practical and theoretical activities covering topics such as a sense of belonging, social justice focusing on migration, technical skills in soil restoration, native plant propagation, and biological corridors. The course is taught entirely in Spanish.
BORDERLANDS FIELD COURSE 2025
The upcoming course will take place April 13 - April 22, 2025.
Click the button below for more information and to apply.
Ṣu:dagī ‘O Wuḍ Doakag means ‘Water is Life’ in the language of the Tohono O’odham, a desert Indigenous community located along what is today known as the US/Mexico border.
Ṣu:dagī ‘O Wuḍ Doakag is a paid ecological restoration and rainwater harvesting internship that introduces youth to habitat restoration through the lens of culture and ecology. Youth learn the theories of rainwater harvesting and harvest rain on the Baboquivari High School campus with hands-on activities as well as other learning opportunities.
WATER IS LIFE 2025
The upcoming course will take place during several days from January to March 2025.
Each week, members of the Women Grow Food program engages in hands-on learning at the Deep Dirt Farm greenhouse. This program was founded and led by permaculture practitioner Kate Tirion of Deep Dirt Farm, a graduate of the renowned UC Santa Cruz Farm Program.
Members utilize the greenhouse facility, outdoor in ground and above ground garden beds, tools, seeds, and materials as they gain valuable training in permaculture techniques. Members then leave with a share of the day's seasonal harvest.
INTERNSHIPS
Learn new skills and gain valuable experience by working with our staff through internship opportunities. Available internships will be posted on our website job opportunities page as they become available or contact info@borderlandsrestoration.org to inquire about your specific internship needs.
SALUD COMCAAC
The Salud Comcaac program, a project initiated in 2020 by Senior Fellow Dr. Laura Monti, a long-time friend of the Comcaac, fosters community and ecological health in partnership with the Comcaac Nation of Sonora, Mexico.
Our partnership with the Comcaac community is rooted in the understanding that the desert and sea environment and the indigenous communities that dwell within them are interdependent.
