Project U.S.E.- Urban Suburban Environments

In 1970 Phil Costello and Jose Gonzalez started Project U.S.E. Through the next 54 years we are not only still standing but still believe in the same mission; give people, especially youth, the opportunity to learn more about about themselves, their community, and the natural environment around them. We are so excited to be celebrating 54 years! Stay tuned for information about events that will be happening in 2025, like our 55th Anniversary party and our 25th Annual 50-Mile Hike! Link in our bio to our YouTube to see program updates.

A beautiful day spent out on canoes with a group!! The group picked up the skills so quickly and had a blast learning. Nothing can compare to a beautiful day on the water 🙌

Check out our Pedal Farmers - they started the summer working in community gardens in Newark and learning to safely ride bikes and are now successfully summiting Mount Washington in New Hampshire. We've had the amazing experience of working with this year's group of Pedal Farmers and watching them grow, conquer fears and obstacles, and take on new experiences that will help them build confidence heading into the new school year and beyond. We're incredibly proud of them and can't wait to share some additional highlights and photos from an incredible summer of programming!

Our Pedal Farmers kicked off their end of summer trip to New Hampshire staying at the Highland Center. Next up is a 4-mile hike up to Lake of the Clouds, enjoying some beautiful scenery and taking in the sights along the way. Stay tuned for more highlights from the trip later this week and a huge thank you to the Appalachian Mountain Club for their support in making this trip possible!

Normally our Pedal Farmers are busy working in the garden, but thanks to our amazing partners at SoundWaters, they had the opportunity to sail on a beautiful schooner and enjoy some beautiful weather while exploring the Long Island Sound. It was a great day filled with fun experiences, including some hands-on science lessons about water quality, marine life in the sound, and even getting a chance to help with steering the ship and raising the sails. A huge thank you to Captain Mike and the rest of the amazing crew who helped make this a memorable day for all of the Pedal Farmers!

Our Pedal Farmers working through the summer to make our gardens flourish!

The second week of pedal farmers has come to a close and what a two weeks it has been! Our Pedal Farmers have spent time in the gardens and our Wildcat Wilderness Center, has come to teach us about safe riding on the road, we have work on our professional presence and communication skills with initiative activities and even got to make homemade pasta, salsa, pesto, and bread!

This past Saturday was Phil's birthday, what a legend! Still grateful for all the goodness Cos brought into the world...😇🌅🙏🏻🎈

We'd like to give a huge thank you to the Whole Cities Foundation for providing us with a grant to support our Pedal Farmers program over the next year as we work to engage more students and activate our new garden site at Grace West Manor. Their support over the years has helped us build, reimagine, and sustain the program and we can't wait to share updates on the impact from our upcoming work this summer with the Pedal Farmers!

Loved having these youth come out to help us get the garden spruced up in preparation for our Pedal Farmers starting in a couple weeks 🙌🙌

We are wishing Bear the best today as he starts his journey to Virginia! We thank you for all of your time and dedication over the last couple of years!

As we get ready for the Memorial Day holiday weekend, we're thrilled to announce that we've raised more than $67,000 from our Annual Hike fundraiser, nearly 40% over our original fundraising goal! We're incredibly thankful to all of our amazing donors, sponsors, hikers, and volunteers who made all of this possible, from securing in-kind donations to helping with all the moving parts of the event itself to keep our hikers safe on the trail.

With the additional funds raised, we'll be able to put together even more amazing, transformative outdoor education programs for students in the coming year. Stay tuned for some exciting updates as we start summer programming, and we can't thank everyone enough for helping us achieve such amazing results for this year's Annual Hike!

Love getting Newark Public Schools out to spend the day with us at Wildcat!! These students stepped out of their comfort zones for an adventure packed day of the ropes course and the wall.

Since January we have been extending the challenge to people to embark on an adventure with us to hike 50, 16.5 or 6 Miles in support of our mission, we couldn't have been more proud of the outpouring amount of support and participation we recieved. People came from all over the country to partake in the event, from New to Project people, to Alumni from all different eras. Our hearts are so full and we thank everyone who was able to come join us! We not only surpassed our first goal of $50k but we surpassed our extended goal of $60k!! 🙌🙌 We can't wait for next year! May 3, 2025 can't come soon enough!

We've saved our final sponsor post to recognize the hike support from Alated Biological Consulting connected to two very special individuals from the Project U.S.E. family! If you're connected to Project U.S.E. as a staff alumni or participated in our programming in the past few years, you undoubtedly know Teddy and Allegra, who were two of our outstanding Wildcat instructors that led countless high-quality programs that gave so many students memorable experiences.

We're incredibly grateful that they continue to support our mission through sponsoring this year's hike so that we can reach more students through outdoor and experiential education to help them develop lifelong leadership and teambuilding skills!

We're so excited and appreciative of the amazing Project U.S.E. community that has helped us surpass our original fundraising goal of $50K - we're still building momentum as we get ready for the hike tomorrow and closing in on our stretch goal of raising $60K. Every dollar we raise helps us reach even more students who deserve to participate in amazing outdoor and experiential education programs but may not be able to because they attend schools or programs that do not have the funding to make these amazing experiences available.

Thank you to EVERY sponsor, donor, hiker, and supporter who has been able to make a contribution to our efforts this year, and stay tuned tomorrow and next week for some amazing photos and updates from the trail and as we share some of our favorite highlights, photos, and videos from this year's hike!

If you've ever been hiking, you know how annoying it is to get small pebbles or gravel stuck in your socks or shoes while you're out on the trail 😖😠

One of our in-kind sponsors for this year has the perfect solution to that problem - Dirty Girl Gaiters makes easy to use, stylish gaiters to wear over your boots or shoes while you're hiking or trail running. We also love the backstory about the creation of their brand and their commitment to donating to nonprofits, all while encouraging folks to get outside and be active. Stay tuned for some great photos of their gear in action and learn more about their story and products at www.dirtygirlgaiters.com!

We're super excited for our Annual Hike on Saturday and want to recognize another one of our sponsors for this year's event Mama's & Cafe Baci (Mama's Cafe Baci), an amazing Italian restaurant in Hackettstown, NJ. They generously donated gift certificates for us to share with our top fundraisers, and it would be a great spot to visit if you love good food and enjoy outdoor dining. Follow them on Facebook or Instagram to see their latest updates and check out more about the restaurant by visiting their website at www.mamascafebaci.com.

Today marks one week until our Annual Hike next Saturday, and we can't wait to see all of our hikers on the trail! There's still time to register to hike, but you'll need to sign up before this Wednesday, May 1st at 5pm EST; if you still have friends or family you want to invite out, have them visit our event site at www.50milehike.org and sign up before the deadline.

We'll be sharing some final event updates and sponsor recognition as we wrap up final preparation for the hike this week, and definitely stay tuned next weekend as we share some great photos and videos live from the trail and post highlights following the hike next Saturday. Thank you to all of our amazing donors, hikers, and sponsors for all of the support so far and getting us incredibly close to hitting our fundraising goal in order to make outdoor and experiential education programs accessible to more deserving kids.

Today marks two weeks to go until our Annual Hike on Saturday, May 4th, but it's not too late to sign up! If you're planning on hitting the trail with us, we're encouraging folks to register this weekend so we can make sure we have an official 2024 Annual Hike t-shirt for you the day of the event.

Official registration for the hike will close on Wednesday, May 1st so be sure to sign up by then or make sure you spread the word to any friends or family you want to invite to participate. You can get more details about our fundraising updates and registration at www.50milehike.org, and stay tuned for more updates on our social media channels as the big day approaches.

Inframark professional development program yesterday with managers from New York and Connecticut! 👏

With about a month to go until our 2024 Annual Hike, we're making good progress on the fundraising front to reach our goal for this year's event - thank you to all of our early donors and event sponsors who have helped us get off to a strong start! There's still plenty of time to register to join us an hit the trail to tackle 6, 16.5, or 50-miles on Saturday, May 4th to help us raise money in support of our mission to expand equitable access to outdoor programs for more students in the coming year. You can sign up to hike or learn more about how to support our fundraising efforts at www.50milehike.org.

We're excited about seeing our hikers (old and new) for this year in a couple weeks, and keep your eyes out on our social media in the coming weeks for some important event updates and photos from the trail.

We're busy designing our latest Annual Hike t-shirt for all of the amazing folks who will be joining us on the trail on Saturday, May 4th to help raise money for our mission. With a little less than a month to go until the hike, now is the perfect time to register to join us. Friday is the deadline for us to get our order placed for this year's shirts, so if you plan to hike be sure to register by then to make sure that we can make sure to have your shirt ready for you to grab the day of the event.

Thank you to all of our hikers and sponsors that have helped us get off to a strong fundraising start so far, and stay tuned for some exciting updates as we get closer to the big day!

With the warm weather today, it's the perfect time to thank our latest sponsor for our 2024 Annual Hike - Bedrock Sandals. They graciously sent us a shipment of comfortable, stylish, durable sandals perfect for outdoor adventures, and have an amazing commitment to environmental conservation, sustainability, and donating at least 1% of their sales to non-profits.

Follow them on social media and visit their website to learn more about their mission and check out their gear!

We're going to switch it up today and introduce you to our unofficial office managers Hank (on the left) and Peanut (on the right). Between naps, they help make sure we stay on task at the office and keep things at Project U.S.E. running smoothly.

Leave a nice message for them in the comments and if you're a Project U.S.E. supporter or staff alumni we'd love for you to share a photo of your furry best friend (bonus points if you include a shot on the trail or outdoors)!

We're proud to announce another great in-kind sponsorship donation from Turtle Fur, who sent us a shipment of amazing, high quality neck warmers which were perfect for our recent cross-country ski trip and our future programs! They make warm, comfortable gear for all your outdoor adventures, and have a commitment to sustainability and increased access to outdoor spaces for all that aligns directly with our mission.

Stay tuned for more photos of their gear from our upcoming programs in the field, and follow them on social media to learn more about the great work they do and posts about how they work to make outdoor spaces more inclusive.

Shout out to Cocoon, our latest in-kind sponsor for our Annual Hike, who sent us an amazing haul of sleeping bag liners and travel blankets to use in the field on all of our overnight and expedition programs.

We're excited to put them to use and if you're an avid camper or traveler, you can learn more about them and check out their products at www.cocoonusa.com!

We want to thank our latest Annual Hike sponsor, KMF Companies, for supporting our fundraising efforts this year. They provide services around the design, building, and maintenance of outdoor spaces and facilities and also helped support our work over the past year in building out our new community garden space at Grace West Manor in Newark.

We're all about hands on work and activities in our approach to programming with students and glad to have them onboard as partners in supporting our mission!

We're excited to announce that we're making strong progress towards reaching our fundraising goal of $50,000 for our 2024 Annual Hike, with a little more than a month until the big day on Saturday, May 4th when our hikers hit the trail! There's still plenty of time to register and join us for your choice of hiking 6, 16.5, or 50 miles to help fundraise in support of expanding access to transformative outdoor education programs for more students.

Keep an eye out on our social media channels and our event page at www.50milehike.org over the coming weeks for more updates on event sponsorships, tips on prep and training for Spring hiking, and some fun announcements for some special custom Project U.S.E. gear for hikers and donors. Thank you to all of our amazing donors, sponsors, and hikers who have helped us get off to such a strong start!