Georgia Institute of Technology
 

Youth Leadership Partner Groups

Campus Climate Challenge

Launched in part by a former Brower Youth Award recipient and with numerous  past recipients in leadership roles, this coalition is easily one of the most powerful student networks in North America. With 37 partner organizations and 500+ local groups the Challenge unites young people to fight for and win clean energy and climate policies on campus while demanding that governments and corporations  do the same.

Sierra Student Coalition

Sierra Student Coalition is the student-run arm of the Sierra Club and has produced nearly ten Brower Youth Award recipients. SSC, through the Sierra Club’s national network of state chapters and its own student activist network, gets high school and college students involved in national environmental campaigns while providing great support, training, and resources.  David Brower was the primary architect of the Sierra Club’s lobbying and political efforts as the Club’s first Executive Director from 1952-69.

Youth Venture

Youth Venture inspires and invests in teams of young people globally to design and launch their own lasting social ventures, enabling them to have this transformative experience of leading positive social change. Youth Venture helps Venturers through the process of designing and launching their ventures, providing guidance, how-to’s, and a process for designing and pitching a venture idea. When the Venture team is ready to launch, Youth Venture offers seed funding of up to $1,000, guidance, tools, and support.

Earth Force

Created by the Pew Charitable Trusts, Earth Force is a national organization that focuses its programs on schools, teachers and kids 10-14 who want to create environmental solutions in their communities.  They provide curriculum resources for teachers, and opportunities for young people to be leaders in environmental issues, including nationally on their Youth Advisory Board (ages 12-17).

Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC)

SEAC is a student-run national network of students and campus environmental groups (mostly college, some high schools) with a history of championing environmental justice campaigns at the local and national level. SEAC tends to be less hierarchical and more radical with a broader range of tactics (including non-violent direct action) than groups associated with an existing national environmental group like SSC.  They hold regional and national gatherings, publish a newsletter (Threshold), and members vote on a National Council and national campaigns.

National Wildlife Federation’s Campus Ecology Program

In addition to Fellowships, NWF has a well-established program helping campuses pursue a range of “Greening Projects,” from transportation to environmental purchasing.  They also conduct trainings in support of these projects for teams on students, faculty, and administrators from schools enrolled in the Campus Ecology Program.  Their Campus Environmental Handbook lists success stories of Greening Projects from around the country.  College campuses can become members of the Campus Ecology program.

Roots & Shoots

The Roots & Shoots program, founded by renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall, works with tens of thousands of young people in almost 100 countries, connecting youth of all ages who share a common desire to implement successful community service projects and participate in special events and global campaigns.  Many projects focus on wildlife, with environment and people-centered programming as well.

Young People For (YP4)

YP4 is a long-term leadership development program that identifies, engages and empowers progressive leaders to promote social change in their communities.  Their yearlong fellowship program for college students starts with an all-expenses-paid National Summit in Washington, D.C., and provides organizational and financial support for executing meaningful social justice work.

YES! (Youth for Environmental Sanity)

Founded in 1990 by two teenagers, YES! is a nonprofit organization that connects, inspires and empowers young changemakers to join forces for a thriving, just and sustainable way of life.  Their three program areas are Global Leadership Jams, Leveraging Privilege for Social Change, and Supporting Aligned Movements.  They work at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal, and systemic transformation. YES! has spoken to more than 650,000 students and organized more than 90 week-long gatherings for visionary young leaders from 65+ nations.