Through Amgen Foundation grants to community programs and the many volunteer efforts of Amgen staff, the company supports environmental efforts in communities where Amgen staff live and work. Below is a selection of grants the Foundation awarded to environmental programs in 2005 and 2006.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island offers environmental education programs developed by Audubon educators, teachers and administrators around the state. The programs enrich school science curriculums by offering unique, hands-on experiences in the classroom and outdoors. As part of the program, students travel to Audubon refuges and the Audubon Environmental Education Center to study, collect, measure and observe the natural world.

The Audubon’s Environmental Education for Urban Schools initiative blends field and classroom experiences for inner-city students.

Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín

The Fundación Luis Muñoz Marín promotes the study of contemporary history, conservation of the environment, and celebration of the arts. Amgen Foundation funding supports the planting of endangered Puerto Rican tree species in Parquè Doña Inèz and increases the park’s environmental education outreach. The program establishes:

• A safety-net population of rare Puerto Rican tree species in an arboretum and provides stock to restore habitats and improve the survival prospects of these species in the wild
• An education center designed to provide information about environmental conservation and natural history to families, school groups and tourists

Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado

Founded in 1984, Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) provides programs and activities designed to help Colorado’s land stewardship community best use volunteers to preserve, protect and enhance the state’s extraordinary public lands. Amgen Foundation funding supports the Youth Conservators Initiative (YCI). YCI engages Colorado’s future land stewardship leaders through VOC conservation projects and/or the V Outdoors web-based activities program. VOC’s Youth Advisory Board hosts conservation projects selected, managed, and implemented by young people. Through such experiences, Colorado’s young citizens learn invaluable lessons about teamwork, leadership, and project management while building a strong environmental ethic and giving back to their community.

Olympic Park Institute

Washington's Olympic Park Institute’s Science Education Enrichment for Diversity Initiative has developed curriculum that centers on the Elwha River, soon to be the location of a landmark dam removal project, where students perform hands-on environmental science. Launched in 2005, the Initiative aims to expand science literacy among underserved, low-income students and develop the skills of science teachers. Through this initiative, the Institute builds on its experience in developing and implementing a curriculum for middle and high schools utilizing inquiry-based learning principles.