The Latham Foundation

Welcome to 🎉 This week The Latham Foundation is proud to feature Lynchburg Humane Society as one of our 2025 .

Congratulations for their very popular and already full camp for March 28! Lucky teens 12-15 years old are about to learn more about the animal medicine and animal welfare fields! 🐈 Vet camp will include educational materials, hands-on learning, special guests, and a book to take home. 🐕

https://lynchburghumane.org/services/humane-education/vet-camp/

Teen Veterinarian Camp! - Lynchburg Humane Society Join us for Saturday Vet Camp! Kids 12-15 years old are invited to join us to learn more about the animal medicine and animal welfare fields! Vet camp will include educational material, hands-on learning, special guests, and a book to take home. For scholarship information, please email education@ly...

Welcome to 🎉 This week The Latham Foundation is proud to feature SPCA Westchester, one of our previous 2024 .

SPCA Westchester’s Humane Education (HE) Program offers transformative, hands-on learning experiences that cultivate empathy, emotional intelligence, and social responsibility. Through meaningful interactions with animals, children witness the realities of animal welfare firsthand. These experiences nurture compassion, spark curiosity, and encourage ethical decision-making, laying the groundwork for a lifelong commitment to kindness. 🐕

SPCA Westchester launched two initiatives: Camp Critter, a weeklong summer camp for younger children, and Junior Veterinarian Science Camp, an immersive one-day program for older students interested in veterinary medicine and animal welfare.

Read all about it in our Winter 2026 Latham Letter
https://www.latham.org/latham-letters/

Latham Letters – The Latham Foundation

Welcome to 🎉 This week is proud to feature Animal Friends as one of our 2025 .

Animal Friends expanded and enhanced their educational offerings for teens interested in animal welfare with a range of immersive learning experiences designed to deepen their knowledge, skills, and passion, and empower them to advocate for animals.

The Solutionaries Mini Apprenticeship camps encouraged teens to explore critical animal welfare issues and advocate for animals and environmental causes, as well as hands-on training where teens learned how to work with animals using evidence-based methods that prioritize the animal’s comfort and agency.

At the end of summer there was a four-day Teen Animal Advocacy Summit, where teens visited local 🐶 animal welfare organizations, participated in a vegetarian cooking class, and met with journalists to learn how media can be leveraged for advocacy. Each participant then selected and researched an animal welfare issue that was meaningful to them and developed a presentation that they shared with local lawmakers and animal rights advocates, giving their voice a powerful platform. 👏 Make sure to check out their article in the latest issue of the Latham Letter!
https://www.latham.org/latham-letters/

Welcome to 🎉 This week is proud to feature as one of our 2025 .

Animal Protection New Mexico (APNM) expanded its humane education curriculum, The Animal Connection, to two remote areas of New Mexico 🏜️ long recognized as areas with a high need for animal welfare advocacy. APNM also fostered vital partnerships between teachers, local leaders, organizations, and businesses to help students raise awareness and address intractable issues in their communities, specifically those related to animal overpopulation and dog bite 🐕 safety. 128 high school and middle school students, from 12 to 17 years old, living in rural New Mexico tackled critical animal welfare issues in their communities.

The project helped strengthen the student-teacher bond, as the teacher reported to APNM that students began to share their personal experiences with animal cruelty and how they had started caring for and advocating for their companion animals within their families. This resulted in parents reporting to the teacher with enthusiasm that they were happy their child had participated in an important project that helps the community.

Read all about it in tour Winter 2026 Latham Letter
https://www.latham.org/latham-letters/

Latham Letters – The Latham Foundation

New Latham Letter Winter 2026 - https://mailchi.mp/latham.org/the-new-latham-letter-is-available-online-19882521
www.latham.org/latham-letters
Grant Reports on Teen Empowerment!

Welcome to 🎉
This week The Latham Foundation is proud to feature East Bay SPCA as one of our 2025 .
We are proud to highlight their School Break Animal Camps! Their spring Animal Camps are offered for this April and March. Campers learn about the human-animal bond with a fun animal twist on the traditional day camp experience. They participate in crafts, games, and animal interactions each day. Scholarships are also offered. A great way for animal-loving kids to spend school holidays!🐶
4https://eastbayspca.org/youth-programs/kids-teens-animal-camps/school-break-animal-camps

School Break Animal Camps - East Bay SPCA School Break Animal Camps Spacing: small Our School Break Animal Camps put a fun animal twist on the traditional day camp experience. First through fifth graders will participate in crafts, games, and animal interactions each day that are sure to get your tail wagging! Scholarships are available! Ap...

Welcome to 🎉 This week is featuring The National Link Coalition, our close partner for many years.

Over the past 40 years, researchers and professionals in human services and animal welfare have established significant Links between animal abuse, child abuse and neglect, domestic violence, elder abuse and other forms of violence. Mistreating animals is no longer seen as an isolated incident that can be ignored: it is often an indicator or predictor crime and a “red flag” warning sign that other family members in the household may not be safe. If we protect pets, we also protect people — and vice versa.

The National Link Coalition has researched and provided global education and advocacy efforts and help to prevent animal abuse AND domestic violence AND child abuse AND elder abuse by showing how these forms of violence are LINKed. These inter-species connections of violence are called: The Link. The National Link Coalition is a nonprofit, multi-disciplinary, collaborative initiative to increase awareness and address public policy, programs and research. They serve as the Global Resource Center on The Link between Animal Abuse and Human Violence.

Preventing animal abuse can also prevent human violence.

https://nationallinkcoalition.org/

The LINK-Letter from the National Link Coalition is provided free of charge. To read the February issue about how animal abuse is LINKed with human violence:https://nationallinkcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/LINK-Letter-2026-February.pdf

Welcome to 🎉 This week The Latham Foundation is proud to feature New Life K9s, one of our previous .

We are proud to highlight their important milestone - New Life K9s is now accredited by the Association of Service Dog Providers (ASDP).🦮 Both nonprofit organizations are dedicated to serving military Veterans and First Responders living with PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and military sexual trauma. Their focus is on high standards service dog training and reinforces their mission to provide reliable, life-changing service dogs to those who have served our communities and our country.🇺🇸 Together, they are continuing to change lives—one service dog at a time.

Check them out in action in our award winning film Hope Unleashed
https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/445392203

Vimeo

How DO you hello? 🤔

Registration is now open for our February Coffee & Connect! Join us next week, February 4, for an engaging and inspiring session led by Lindsay Woge and Marcy Fenell.

We'll learn all about how to get to know others - humans AND animals - using a developmentally appropriate and gamified approach with young people.

Takeaways will include:
- interactive ways to teach the complex concepts of consent, reciprocity, agency, and umwelt to youth
- fun and replicable skits, games, and other activities you can incorporate in your humane education programs
- tools to lay a foundation for bite-free, balanced, and deep connections

Register now: https://www.aphe.org/Coffee-&-Connect

We can't wait to see you there! 👋

Connecting with a compassionate community is the key to meaningful, sustainable, and energizing work. And there's no better place to find your humane education community than at the APHE National Conference! We are so excited to announce the registration launch for 2026 🌳🩵 Our website has all the details, so learn more and register here: https://aphe.org/2026conference

This year's conference, Rooted in Empathy: Branching Out in The Bay, is all about cultivating connections, blazing new trails, and creating meaningful change in wider communities. Featuring a dynamic lineup of presentations and speakers, pre-conference Learning Labs, panels, and roundtables—there’s something for everyone. And as with all APHE conferences, you’ll find plenty of opportunities to connect, exchange ideas, and build partnerships that will last. 💕🤝🏼 We can't wait to see you there!

Welcome to 🎉 This week The Latham Foundation is proud to feature our own Dr. Annie Petersen and her Award Winning Podcast The Resilient Animal.

In honor of Adopt a Bird Month we thrilled to highlight her latest podcast: Adopt a Bird Month: The Joys and Commitments of Bird Companionship.

In this episode we celebrate 🦜 Adopt a Bird Month by exploring the benefits of bird adoption and the profound bond humans can form with these intelligent creatures. Dr. Petersen highlights the challenges and responsibilities of bird ownership, emphasizing the need for proper care, socialization, and the ethical commitment of adopting from rescues instead of buying from breeders. The episode covers various bird species, 🕊️ their unique needs, and offers guidance ensuring that potential adopters are well-prepared for a lifelong commitment.
🎤 See/hear it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FBcu4JfoFI

Have a Happy National Train Your Dog Month, a joyful Change a Pet's Life Day, and the rest of the Year!
Watch Best Dog Ever in English and Spanish:
https://vimeo.com/281391817?fl=pl&fe=sh