Success Stories: Twin Cities Watershed Districts

We all live in a watershed, but you might not know yours yet!  Growing Green Hearts works to connect people to place, including connecting you and your group to your watershed. 

Over the past decade, Growing Green Hearts has partnered with 9 different watershed districts then empowered classrooms and organizations like yours in making positive impacts on our local waters. 

For example, during the ups and downs of COVID times; Growing Green Hearts connected teens and tweens from churches in Capitol Region Watershed District.  The groups have been moving water knowledge into water action for their churches, communities, and neighborhoods! 

Macalester Plymouth United Church, St. Anthony Park Lutheran, Christ on Capitol Hill, and Galilee Lutheran used the hands-on enviroSTEM curriculum called Connect-the-Drops: Faith, Science and Youth Leadership.  These lessons combined with community projects to improve water quality equate to a boost in watershed discipleship! 

People are making positive impacts on water while hiking their neighborhoods, paddling Lake McCarrons, planting rain gardens, adopting storm drains, and even embedding water stewardship into worship.

Other success stories includes school prairie plantings, like rain gardens.  Deep-rooted prairie plants like blazing star, bluestem grass, and lead plant work hard to filter and clean water; so project with watershed districts are a great fit! 

At Stevenson Elementary, Growing Green Hearts has built bridges between the school and local watershed districts, including coaching teachers on grant writing and project design. 

At Stevenson Elementary, kids of all ages are learning to be green leaders as they participate in their service-learning prairie plant projects.

Reading and math lessons come alive in their outdoor classroom spaces with enviroSTEM author talks and teacher trainings provided by Growing Green Hearts.