Fundación La Puerta

Fundación La Puerta

Fundación La Puerta has grown alongside Tecate, Baja California, embracing the complex challenges and blessings of a border town. Our place-based programs provide unique educational opportunities, sharing a vision that human and natural ecosystems can best thrive in partnership.

Where measurable change meets community, nature, and purpose.

For more than 40 years, Fundación La Puerta has worked to restore and honor the environmental, cultural, and social heritage of the Tecate River watershed. Our impact is rooted in people — children discovering nature for the first time, families transforming their neighborhoods, youth stepping into leadership, and communities reconnecting with the land they call home.

In 2026, this collective effort was recognized nationally when Fundación La Puerta received Mexico’s highest environmental honor, the Premio al Mérito Ecológico, awarded for excellence in environmental culture, community engagement, and ecological restoration.

Today, our impact continues to grow across four interconnected areas:

🌿 Environmental Education

Learning from the land. Caring for our future.

• 120,000+ children reached through CEALP since 2000
• 2,900 preschool children connected to nature through Seeds of Wonder (2023–2026)
• +130 urban gardeners trained across Baja
• Hands-on learning through workshops, interpretive walks, and multisensory experiences
• Strengthening environmental awareness and early childhood connection to nature

🌱 Community Connection

Communities transforming the places they call home.

• 11 active community groups in 2025
• 15 intervention sites across Tecate, El Hongo, and Tijuana
• 335 participants engaged in weekly and biweekly environmental sessions
• 692 native plants grown in the NSV nursery
• 34 native species propagated and cared for in 2025
• 6,145 seeds and cuttings recovered through community efforts in 2025
• Creation of community gardens and native plant nurseries, regenerating community parks and schools, especially in proximity to the Tecate River.
• Participation in festivals, expos, radio programs, and civic collaborations
• Leading River Clean-ups along 7 miles of urban river for over twenty years

🌟 Youth Leadership & Volunteerism

A generation growing with purpose.

• Youth ages 14–22 engaged in leadership, service, and environmental action, contributing 7,300 hours of youth leadership volunteer service only in 2025
• Development of socio-emotional skills, teamwork, and community responsibility
• Volunteer Workshop Leaders offering sessions in well-being, creativity, and human development, with 2,077 community member attendances recorded in 2025
• Strengthening belonging and environmental stewardship among young people

🌳 A Legacy for the Community: The Professor’s Park

A sanctuary of nature, culture, and community belonging.

• A 28‑acre park serving thousands of families each year
• Home to environmental education, youth leadership, and volunteer programs
• Preservation of an accessible chaparral ecosystem within city limits
• The cultural heart of our city, Tecate
• A living classroom where nature, culture, and community flourish
• 3 annual seasonal festivals, welcoming more than 10,000 participants each year, celebrating the Spring Equinoctial, World Environment Day, and the beloved Día de Muertos — a cultural tradition that earned Fundación La Puerta the distinction of “Patrimonio cultural intangible de la frontera de México” (Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Mexican Border Region)