By Julene Reese ’85

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Helping justice-involved youth was not a focus Lewis Kogan envisioned when he became the executive director of utah state university’s swaner preserve and ecocenter. Yet less than a year after arriving in Summit County, he helped launch an outdoor recreation and mentorship program for at-risk teens in partnership with Utah’s Division of Juvenile Justice and Youth Services.

Early in his tenure, Kogan conducted an informal community needs assessment and found that youth mental health, wellbeing, and substance abuse were among Summit County residents’ top concerns. A USU Extension needs assessment confirmed that these issues were growing statewide. 

Kogan and other Swaner staff attended a community-building workshop through the University of Utah’s University Neighborhood Partners program. Staff from the JJYS were in attendance, and Kogan learned about their work to keep Utah’s most vulnerable kids out of the legal and criminal justice system through prevention and diversion programs. The discussion revealed a natural connection. 

“We know that youth wellbeing and mental health are top concerns for Utahns, and here we have an agency serving adolescents who are most at risk,” he explains. “It felt like a natural fit. Swaner operates through USU Extension, and our 4-H program provides a proven model for helping young people build life skills. We were well positioned to support nature-based experiences for these youth.”

So, when the JJYS staff approached Kogan about adding nature connection to their division’s prevention programs, he was all in. 

“Nature Centers have traditionally focused on teaching people to understand and care for the environment, for the environment’s sake,” he says. “Yet spending time in nature also provides tangible, positive benefits for mental and physical health.”

The Swaner and JJYS teams came up with a plan to launch a pilot program the following summer where Swaner — a 1,200-acre nature preserve known for its wetlands, wildlife, and environmental education programs — would create and facilitate outdoor nature-based activities for the youth. 

“I decided to call it the Wellbeing and Ecological Belonging, or WEB, Program,” Kogan recounts. “I felt that helping these kids develop a sense of belonging in both the natural world and their communities would help them thrive.”

With summer quickly approaching, the Swaner team hired a part-time bilingual program coordinator and scrambled to pull together around 20 activities and locations a month before the start date. 

Kogan says his team focused on activity sites that would be familiar and accessible to participants, particularly in the urban core of the Salt Lake Valley. But they also wanted to include non-urban sites that would introduce participants to scenic, wild places such as Antelope Island and Timpanogos Cave, as well as to more adventurous activities such as rock climbing and rappelling. 

“We went out on a limb a little,” Kogan says. “But we wanted to get it right for these kids and give them the best chance for success.” 

According to JJYS staff, youth ages 10–17 are referred to their prevention and diversion programs by a police or sheriff’s department, school guidance counselor, community organization, parent or guardian, or juvenile court. They said there has been a growing statewide focus on addressing root causes of juvenile criminality and investing in prevention programs rather than detention facilities. 

Youth participating in the WEB Program relied on JJYS for transportation to each activity twice a week. An early challenge arose because most participants lacked adequate gear, such as backpacks, water bottles, or sunscreen. Food insecurity was also common, as many teens arrived without having eaten breakfast and with no food to pack for lunch or a snack. 

Coincidentally, Kogan says around that same time, a private family foundation reached out to him and expressed interest in supporting the Swaner EcoCenter. 

“We told them about the WEB program, and they graciously came back with a two-year funding commitment that made it possible for us to provide for the kids’ needs,” Kogan says. “We are so grateful to them. It made a world of difference for participants to have the necessary supplies and food, and it was wonderful to watch them as the 10-week summer program progressed.”

Kogan says program leaders saw immediate positive changes as the youth cheered each other on at the top of the rappel route, learned to cook over a campfire, and tackled the steep trail to Timpanogos Cave together.

“They experienced risks and challenges and developed a sense of group cohesion and belonging that they’d never known,” he remembers. “We saw them becoming kids again — going from being emotionally shut down to behaving like kids their age should, making friends, goofing off, and enjoying the activities.” 

Swaner and JJYS staff hope that through the program, youth will improve their ability to manage stress, navigate difficult situations, and strengthen their hope for the future. They also hope the program sparks interest in nature and the outdoors, replaces negative behaviors with healthy pastimes, inspires future careers, and fosters a sense of belonging. 

Kogan said that pre- and post-program surveys showed increases in nature connectedness, self-efficacy, and wellbeing among participants, reinforcing what staff observed firsthand as youth gained confidence and formed meaningful connections.

Lehai Makoni, a plan manager with Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services, worked directly with the youth participants and saw some remarkable transformations. He recalls one teen who struggled to manage anger outbursts. Makoni was working on intake paperwork with him, and the boy tore up the packet and threw it on the ground. The boy did the same with another plan manager. But after his participation in the program, his mother reported that he is learning to communicate his emotions in healthier ways and even spends time outdoors photographing trees and rivers.

Another memorable moment for Makoni came during an ice skating activity at the Olympic Oval in Kearns, when two youth from rival gangs spent time together. They ended up talking, then helping each other learn to skate, and they left, unexpectedly, as friends. 

The program’s early success has attracted additional support. In March, Kogan’s team secured a $25,000 Nature and Human Health-Utah Pilot Grant from the University of Utah’s Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Department. The funding is helping support a formal study of outcomes, continue an after-school program through the school year, and develop a practitioner handbook to support similar collaborations. Kogan says they hope to expand the program to additional counties along the Wasatch Front and Back in the future.

What began as a small pilot program between a nature center and a juvenile justice office is becoming a laboratory for understanding how time outdoors can change lives. Kogan says the partnership has been one of the most meaningful experiences of his career.

“These kids are having genuinely positive opportunities that give them hope,” he exclaims. “These are profound moments we’ve had the privilege to witness. On paper, these kids may be ‘justice‑involved,’ but in real life, they are young people learning to grow from adversity. These kids are our future, and they deserve our attention and support.”