Claude
Stephens

Claude Stephens is the Facilitator of Outreach and Regenerative Design at Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest in Clermont, Kentucky and the director of the Children at Play Network which is an ongoing project of Bernheim focused on working regionally to reenvision the landscapes for children’s play. The CAPN values play as part of healthy child development and as a means to reconnect children with nature in order to foster the next generation of environmental stewards. Claude has more than 36 years of experience working in museums and environmentally focused organizations and has served on numerous boards and civic action committees. His academic background is in evolutionary ecology and biology which continues to frame his approach to how humans might build deeper and healthier relationships with the natural world. Claude believes that communities thrive when every person has equitable access to healthy places in nature across their entire life.

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“What excites me most about working with the Louisville Rites of Passage program is the rich opportunity to discover new things about myself. In a way, this project is a late-life rite of passage for me. I look forward to the wisdom that will undoubtedly come from the youth participants.”