Environmental sustainability—and how to apply it—have become rising issues in many local communities and youth programs. The rise in environmental literacy programs coincides with the increasing need for innovative solutions and affordable models through which to apply them. Accordingly, programs have increasingly begun to offer paid and unpaid internships, jobs, and volunteer opportunities that expose today’s youth to the environmental stressors our world is facing, while at the same time teaching them the tools needed to develop these innovative solutions. One of the most popular or well-known programs of this sort is Green Corps, which operates on a national level. But local communities are developing programs, too, and they’re rising in popularity as they make meaningful impacts on their surrounding communities. Local programs can be advantageous in that they can more specifically tailor their programs toward a specific issue in their community.
In these local (and national) programs, students are taught the nuances of the dynamics that go into making an impact: planning and strategy, money management, goal tracking, and actionable measurement of the impact of their programs on the community.
I sat down with a few members of the Ecology Center in Berkeley, California, to gain some information as to how these programs work. This is just one of the many local programs sprouting up, and in many cases these programs are becoming the first line of defense for their local communities. Here’s a close-up of some of the innerworkings of these youth-involvement environmental programs.
What Is Youth Environmental Academy (YEA)?
Formed in 1969 in Berkeley, California, the Ecology Center serves as the hub for environmental literacy programs and job training for young people. The Ecology Center’s Youth Environmental Academy (YEA) is a green leadership development program for ages 14-22. YEA provides paid internships under the auspices of the City of Berkeley’s Youthworks program and Berkeley Youth Alternatives.
Twice a year, thirteen to fifteen youth are enrolled in the YEA program which takes from six to eight weeks to complete. During summer months classes can be more intensive, winter classes more extended. After meeting certain grade requirements, students begin as Youth Scholars. Interested and qualified scholars who complete the program can then apply to become Youth Interns and Youth Program Assistants, taking on more work and teaching responsibilities within YEA.
Farm Fresh Choice is YEA’s predecessor, a program that continues to operate through the Ecology Center. Farm Fresh Choice allows high school students to sell produce, sourced primarily through small-scale farmers of color, and sold at a Berkeley farmer’s market. Young people learn how to run a business, evaluate sales, and plan together for weekly orders.
Building on the success of Farm Fresh Choice, YEA added a strong educational component, modeled after Roots of Success. The Roots curriculum was founded by Raquel Pinderhughes, a professor of Urban Studies and Planning at San Francisco State University, and has served as an example for those communities particularly impacted by poverty, unemployment, and environmental injustice. The curriculum is adaptable and also is being taught in South Africa and the United Kingdom.
YEA uses five of the ten educational modules developed by the Roots curriculum. YEA focuses on:
- Health, Food Systems, Food Justice, and Sustainable Agriculture
- Alternative Energy
- Climate Change
- Water Conservation
- Waste Management and Recycling
Jacquse Wyatt, 23, is a graduate of YEA who is now learning about grants management in the Ecology Center’s office and also educates young people about sugary drinks at the local YMCA. Jacquse came through the YEA program attending classes, and going on field trips to local farms, recycling programs, and farmer’s markets. YEA students are taught to cook and learn about a balanced diet.
Dante Kaleo Alnas-Benson, 23, YEA Youth Program Assistant, entered YEA through the Farm Fresh Choice program and was instrumental in organizing a youth team for passage of Yes on Measure D in 2014, a soda tax that passed by a wide margin. Tax money from soda distributors is routed into Berkeley’s General Fund and from there allocated to nutrition programs like YEA. Dante currently is a Youth Program Manager coordinating shifts at various Berkeley farmers’ markets. Dante also had the opportunity to attend the Northern California conference of Rooted in Community or RIC, a national network that brings young people together to fight for food justice in low-income communities.
YEA students are encouraged to build upon each other’s ideas and to discuss what they witness about environmental justice in their own communities, creating dialogue in a safe space where it’s okay to make mistakes, just as long as there’s a willingness to review them later.
The big strength of the program, according to Dante and Jacquse, is in its professionalism and ability to create an aware group of young people who can “bring knowledge back to their own communities.”
These programs are proving to be invaluable partnerships between today’s youth and communities seeking to build a coalition that is more prepared to face environmental issues—on both a local and national level. Unique partnerships like these provide an unprecedented benefit to everyone involved, and we at basmati.com hope to see them grow.
For more information, see links to YEA at the Ecology Center, Roots of Success, and Rooted in Community.
- Youth Environmental Academy
www.ecologycenter.org/yea - Roots of Success
https://rootsofsuccess.org/what-we-do/10-modules/ - Rooted in Community (R.I.C.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooted_in_Community
