The Concept

Address issues of self-esteem and personal and civic responsibility in at-risk youth through an after school outdoors program.

Dwain Wilson came to Community Partners in March of 2000 with a vision of how lessons learned from nature could be beneficial and relevant to urban kids. A ropes course and other challenge-based activities would help develop self-esteem and a sense of support and community among the students, and a better understanding of and connection to nature would help develop personal and civic responsibility.

The Challenge

To remain open, flexible and motivated when faced with the real-world trials and tribulations of putting a concept for a program into actual practice. Dwain found that running a nonprofit organization was much harder than he’d ever imagined. “A social entrepreneur has to be so blind to the realities... in order to just dive in anyway,” he says.

How Community Partners Has Helped

Working with Community Partners has been deeply instructive for Dwain. Working with staff brought a clearer understanding of the financial realities intrinsic to running his program, and led him to rethink and reconfigure some aspects. One pilot effort with a supportive teacher brought new discoveries about what students can gain from the experience, while a second test proved rocky, at best. The results of both his successes and setbacks have only served to strengthen and clarify Dwain’s vision for Wildwoods.

“Community Partners doesn’t operate like a standard business incubator,” he says. “It’s more of a laboratory where social entrepreneurs can come and test their ideas and see if they work.” Currently he is working to strengthen the organizational side of his project and is seeking to make better use of the board he developed with the help of Community Partners’ staff.

Staff relationships have been key as well. Community Partners’ staff member Janet Elliott was on site to help Dwain through a difficult pilot program, and the individual attention and support he received from Community Partners helped him push forward when he felt like giving up.

SOURCE: Community Partners 2001-2002 Biennial Report

PROJECT STATUS: The Wildwoods Foundation has been a project of Community Partners since 2000 and continues to grow each year to bring outdoor experience and community-building programs to youth.

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