By Ben Blevins | Project Leader
The Deep Ecology Education Program (DEEP) brings together academic learning and community-driven ecological restoration. With our "Tending the Web of Life" initiative, we empower students and local partners to lead hands-on projects that drive meaningful environmental change in schools and neighborhoods.
This past quarter, our DEEP cohort joined native seed-harvesting workshops and collaborated with community partners to sustain local biodiversity. In partnership with VCU ecology students, over 1,000 native plants were cultivated in the Richmond Community High School greenhouse. We also hosted a team from Dickinson College and worked with three local congregations to deliver student-led “creation care” projects, encouraging participants to become active stewards of their ecosystems.
Our work centers on “kincentric pedagogy,” treating students as part of an interconnected web rather than outside observers. Our adaptive and relational approach evolves alongside land and community needs, using trauma-informed and collaborative practices. We help students and participants ask not just how to implement solutions, but why environmental challenges persist—fostering deeper insight and long-term responsibility.
Our theory of change identifies leverage points for transformation: challenging traditional aid models that keep power with donors, DEEP lifts up community voices as leaders and builds partnerships rooted in mutual learning. Migratory birds are a unifying theme, symbolizing shared responsibility across regions.
Looking ahead, Richmond students will travel to Arizona and Guatemala to exchange knowledge and learn from Indigenous leadership. In February, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) will join us for "Unforgetting in the Plantationocene," creating extracurricular activities to inspire transformative environmental thinking with insights from Edgar Morin’s work on relationality.
To build on this momentum, we will refine our curriculum, expand “soil school” and rewilding to new locations, and continue supporting student and young women’s leadership. Your support is crucial—each contribution plants seeds of leadership, resilience, and hope for a flourishing future. Join us or request our K-12 lesson plans to be a part of this journey.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
