Giving Compass' Take:

• Richard Louv at Children & Nature Network interviews Karen Pittman, president, and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment, a nonprofit that focuses on leadership and youth development. 

• What are the core challenges for young people to access nature and outdoor education opportunities?

• Read about the importance of access to environmental education. 

Karen J. Pittman is president and CEO of the Forum for Youth Investment, a national nonprofit, nonpartisan “action tank” that combines thought leadership on youth development, youth policy, cross-system/cross-sector partnerships and developmental youth practice with on-the-ground training, technical assistance and support.

Karen is a respected sociologist and leader in youth development. Prior to co-founding the Forum in 1998, she launched adolescent pregnancy prevention initiatives at the Children’s Defense Fund, started the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research, and served as senior vice president at the International Youth Foundation.

Did you have experiences in nature that helped form who you are today? As a child or an adult?

I grew up in a working class, urban neighborhood in a family that emphasized the value of sending children outdoors to play. We did not, however, do any organized outdoor activities beyond family picnics. So it wasn’t until I was in high school that I realized that you could walk the length of Washington D.C. through Rock Creek Park, or stand on the waterfront of the Potomac River.  Learning this was liberating. To this day, I seek nature to calm, inspire, reflect, and marvel at the intricacy of life.

You’ve spent your career launching youth development organizations and initiatives. Tell us what youth development is and how you became involved in this work?

It is interesting that people rarely ask what early childhood development is, but frequently want to make sure we are working from a shared definition of youth development. Youth development first and foremost is a stage in the ongoing process of social, emotional, physical, cognitive, civic and moral development that begins at birth and continues, in many ways, throughout life.

Read the full article about youth development in nature by Richard Louv at Children & Nature Network.