By Melanie Slone
The Prebys Foundation’s Healing Through Arts and Nature initiative awarded $5.2 million to 50 nonprofit organizations that use arts, culture, and nature to support well-being.
“Our intention is to honor culturally grounded approaches in arts, culture, and nature and to reflect what we know to be true: that wellness can be nurtured in the shared spaces of everyday life, through creativity, connection, and time in nature,” says Prebys Foundation CEO and President Grant Oliphant.
Un Mar de Colores
One of the programs awarded is Un Mar de Colores, an afterschool program in Oceanside for students ages 13–17, teaching environmental literacy, career readiness, and mental and physical well-being.
“The ocean has a unique ability to ground young people, offering a space for nervous system regulation, confidence-building, and belonging through repeated time in nature,” says Mario Ordoñez-Calderón, the co-founder and executive director of Un Mar de Colores. “Nature is a space that is incredibly healing, a space where a lot of our communities are coming to reconnect with a different side of themselves.”
Un Mar de Colores supports mental, physical, and social well-being through environmental education, ecotherapy, and long-term mentorship.
Through five different youth programs, the organization provides accessibility in the field of mental health, reaching all types of students and training future mental health providers in the field of ecotherapy.
The Oceanside afterschool surfing program for 8th graders puts “kids out in nature in a culturally grounded way,” says Ordoñez-Calderón. “Nature can offer healing outside of a clinical setting.”
The Saturday day camp program for families is countywide.
The staff is bilingual, English and Spanish, and the programs and materials are free for families.
As a Latino, Ordoñez-Calderón says, “Surfing has given me community, connection, calmness… I want to see people like me surfing.”
Mid-City Community Advocacy Network
Mid-City Community Advocacy Network (CAN) offers community youth programs promoting civic health and advocacy. In 2025, the organization took 18 Youth Council members on a camping trip to Joshua Tree National Park. This year, the trip was to Yosemite.
Victor Ponce, the lead organizer at CAN, says the Prebys grant has been used to install new programming, such as surfing, kayaking, and rock climbing.
The organization is also focused on advocacy. “We want to make sure that our youths’ voices are heard and represented,” says Ponce.
Alondra Munguía, a youth participant in CAN, says, “We are seeing a lot of climate-change problems, pollution… When we get to bond with nature, we get to appreciate it.”
Ponce adds, “Marginalized groups usually can’t afford to go to these kinds of places, so these organizations make it possible for them to connect to nature.”
The group also provides free public transportation and fights for access to local parks. “You shouldn’t have to go that far to enjoy a park space,” says Ponce.
Alondra says the experience has helped her become a leader. “I learned how to speak in public. …I gained confidence. I learned how to speak up for my community.”
The program is open to middle and high school students, especially in the City Heights area.
