Joel D Valdez Library invites you to an exhibit by Parks in Focus, on display until September 30, 2025.
Connecting Youth to Our Nation’s Public Lands through Photography
Since 1999, the Stewart L. Udall Parks in Focus® Program has been putting cameras in the hands of youth and leading them on educational adventures to visit, photograph, and explore some of Arizona’s most inspiring landscapes and celebrated public land
Through the support and partnership of the Western National Parks Association, Parks in Focus® hosts in-school, after-school, weekend, and summer activities with youth from local schools and community organizations in outdoor classrooms ranging from neighborhood parks to the Grand Canyon.
Photography inspires the mission of Parks in Focus® to encourage youth to get outdoors and to learn from and engage with the natural and cultural resources of the places they visit. Photography serves as an outlet for youth to discover their creativity and to share personal stories about their outdoor experiences, their communities, and their lives.
More nformation
For more information regarding the Udall Foundation’s work, please visit its website. For images to use with this press release or for more information regarding Parks in Focus®, please contact Ernesto Somoza, Parks in Focus® Program Manager, at somoza@udall.gov or 520.354.0456.
About the Udall Foundation
The Morris K. Udall Foundation was established by the U.S. Congress in 1992 as an independent executive branch agency to honor Morris K. Udall's lasting impact on this Nation’s environment, public lands, and natural resources, and his support of the rights and self-governance of Native Americans and Alaska Natives. In 2009, Congress enacted legislation to also honor Stewart L. Udall for his half century of distinguished national leadership in environmental and Native American policy. The agency is known today as the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation (Udall Foundation) and is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona.
The Udall Foundation is authorized by Congress to:
- Award Scholarships, Fellowships, and Internships for study in fields related to the environment and to Native Americans and Alaska Natives in fields related to health care and Tribal public policy.
- Connect youth to the Nation’s public lands and natural resources to foster greater understanding, appreciation, stewardship, and enjoyment of those lands and resources through photography, positive outdoor experiences, and environmental education through the Stewart L. Udall Parks in Focus® Program.
- Provide funding to the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy to conduct policy research and outreach on the environment and related themes.
- Provide funding to the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy, a program of the Udall Center, for research, education, and outreach on Native American and Alaska Native health care issues and Tribal public policy issues.
- Provide funding through the Udall Center to The University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections to serve as the repository for the papers of Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall and other such public papers as may be appropriate and assure such papers' availability to the public.
- Provide impartial collaboration, consensus-building, training, and conflict resolution services on a wide range of environmental, natural and cultural resources, Tribal, and public lands issues, conflicts, and disputes involving the Federal Government through the John S. McCain III National Center for Environmental Conflict Resolution.”
