Audubon Center at Debs Park

Course Description

The 2024-2025 Audubon Youth Leader program is a 16-week program from November 3rd, 2024 to April 27th, 2025, occurring Sundays from 8:30AM to 1:30PM with the exception of one Saturday. The Audubon Center at Debs Park is looking for high school freshmen to seniors who are curious and passionate about the world around them, are interested in working with a diverse and collaborative team, and want to make a difference in their community and their natural world. At the culmination of their program, students will earn a California Naturalist certification along with an Educational Award for their time and dedication.

Audubon Youth Leaders Program Website

In partnership with Anawakalmekak, Audubon Center at Debs Park is offering Climate Stewards certification to high schoolers. Anawakalmekak is the first high school to offer this course as an approved UC A-G prep class. 

Audubon’s Public Programs Manager has helped co-construct the curriculum in partnership with Anawakalmekak instructors, focusing on climate science lessons. The program is specifically geared towards indigenous youth and honors indigenous practices of climate stewardship in the midst of our global climate crisis.

Organization Description: The Audubon Center’s mission is to inspire people to experience, understand and care for the local natural world.

In addition to restoring habitat for birds and other wildlife at Debs Park and along the L.A. River, the Center’s primary goal is restoring the connection between people and the land in Los Angeles. As the first center that Audubon built within an urban environment to specifically engage the Latino community, the Audubon Center at Debs Park has played an important role in building a more diverse and inclusive conservation movement here in Los Angeles and beyond. Community engagement lies at the core of the Center’s values and programming. In its holistic, people-focused, approach to conservation work, the Audubon Center at Debs Park serves as a community hub for environmental justice and advocacy work in Los Angeles and across the Audubon network.

Additionally, as the first LEED Platinum certified building in the country at the time of its construction in 2003, the Audubon Center at Debs Park prioritizes sustainability. The building serves as a further tool to educate and engage the community about sustainable buildings and green infrastructure.

The Center is operated by Audubon California, a state field program of National Audubon Society. Read more about the National Audubon Society here!