NEWS

ECO EDUCATION WELCOMES EMERGING ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS

Eco Education was selected by the Minnesota International Center and the U.S. Department of State to host a site visit with emerging environmental leaders from Russia examining public participation in environmental management. During the visit, we showcased our expertise in urban environmental education, service-learning, youth leadership and civic engagement and visited a partnering school to speak to one of our teachers and learn more about students’ service-learning projects at the school.

The visitors were participants in a project entitled “Equipping Civil Society and Other Stakeholders with Practical Tools to Ensure Public Participation in Environmental Management" and work with various groups throughout Russia including Tigirevskiy State Nature Conservation Park (Barnaul), the Tomsk Oblast Environmental Conservation and Natural Resource Use Committee (Tomsk), Biologists for Nature Conservation (St. Petersburg), and the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve (Terney).

Eco Education would like to express our gratitude for the opportunity to bridge culture and build relationships by sharing our experience and expertise—we found the exchange to be mutually beneficial and look forward to supporting the International Visitor Leadership Program again in the future!

SOCIAL JUSTICE AMBASSADOR TRAINING

Our recent Social Justice Ambassador Training at Great River School in St. Paul launched deep efforts at the school to help students connect more honestly and fully around racial identity and intersecting identities. We talked about the meaning of our privileged and oppressed identities, the historical framework for white privilege, and work we can do to create healing systemic change in our communities that will lead to holistic environmental stewardship. Each student walked away with the tools to create a personal plan of action. We are excited and invigorated by the energy Great River students brought to the room!

ECO EDUCATION x GIVE TO THE MAX DAY

Thank you to everyone who generously supported Eco Education on GiveMN's Give to the Max Day! Your financial contribution supports young people and educators through innovative, culturally-relevant programs that empower young people to improve the health of the environment and their communities.

ECO EDUCATION THANKS STATE FARM YAB!

Eco Education has been selected as one of 64 community organizations to receive a youth-led service learning grant from State Farm's Youth Advisory Board. The State Farm Youth Advisory Board has granted over $20.7 million in grant money since its inception in 2006, empowering youth to implement service-learning in 331 communities. Additionally, applications are available for interested, passionate youth aged 17-20 to become a Youth Advisory Board member. More information can be found at www.statefarmyab.com. Applications must be submitted online by October 3.

SEEKING AMERICORPS PROMISE FELLOWS

Eco Education is seeking two AmeriCorps Promise Fellows who are excited by the challenge of building and expanding the role of our organization within the Twin Cities community. The Promise Fellows will work closely with middle school and high school students facilitating dialogue, organizing, and taking action around multiple social identities in relation to the environmental justice movement, achievement gap and service-learning in the Twin Cities. This will empower young people to connect social movements and transform the structures that sustain systemic oppression in our communities. Additional opportunities will be to co-create a bicycle pulled garden, social justice retreats, and help develop an environmental justice curriculum. For more information or to apply, please download the application below. Application deadline is August 15th, 2011.


Eco Education Promise Fellow Application

FROM CLASSROOM TO CREEK

For the first time ever, we've expanded our programs to an inner-ring suburban district by partnering with Valley View Middle School in Edina! Eco Education partnered with teachers to implement our Urban Stewards program into all 7th grade science classes, resulting in about 20 student projects focused on pollution of Nine Mile Creek. Read more here about how Urban Stewards helps students make connections between what they learn in the classroom and the real world.

RICHARD LOUV & THE NATURE PRINCIPLE

Eco Education was an endorsing organization for two events on May 16 & 17 at the MN Landscape Arboretum featuring Richard Louv, author of The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder. Louv discussed the "nature principle" and signed copies of his new book and, on May 17, delivered the keynote address at a public policy conference on how interaction with nature improves the health of humans and the earth.


 

NATIONAL YOUTH LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Eco Education is a conference affiliate of The 22nd Annual National Service-Learning Conference which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on April 6th-9th. Originating in Minnesota in 1989, the National Service-Learning Conference is the largest gathering of youth and adults involved in the service-learning movement. Each year, it draws approximately 2,200 attendees from across the United States and around the globe.

The conference focuses on service-learning as a way of teaching and learning that builds academic skills and citizenship while addressing community needs in a genuine way. It convenes teachers and other service-learning practitioners, administrators, researchers, policy-makers, youth leaders, parents, program coordinators, national service members, community-based organization staffs, and corporate and foundation officers.The conference connects participants with service-learning leaders through three days of plenary sessions, thought leader series, and service-learning projects. With more than 200 workshops, it provides access to new ideas and networking opportunities.

Visit the conference website for more information!

WE LOVE THE WEDGE 

Eco Education is honored to be a 2010 WedgeShare Grant recipient! The Wedge Coop's WedgeShare charitable giving program was created for community organizations whose work aligns with the cooperative principle that co-ops "work for the sustainable development of their communities" and who work in one or more of the following areas: environmental quality, protection or beautification; natural health and wellness; natural food and sustainable agriculture; community involvement; and/or cooperative-related activities. Read more here about this year's recipients. Thank you, Wedge Coop!

YOUTH ADVISORY BOARD

At Eco Education we believe that building tomorrow’s leaders is the most important task at hand in the world. We need real and genuine youth voice and power at the center of everything we do. In order to create this learning community, we are building a diverse Youth Advisory Board Steering Committee composed of students from Macalester College, The Blake High School and Menlo Park Academy to oversee the creation of our Youth Advisory Board with 15-20 members from the majority of schools we partner with for next fall.

The steering committee met for the first time at Common Roots this past January where we talked about the formation, expansion, and mission of our first Youth Advisory Board. We envision that the Youth Advisory Board will grant funds for student-led service-learning projects at our schools, support students during the Urban Stewards process, help them during their Action Projects, deepen our diversity of identity, background and experiences which is critical within our organization, and organize a social justice retreat for middle and high schoolers. The Youth Advisory Board will also have the opportunity to help guide the NYLC's National Urban Service-Learning Institute this summer.

We are very excited to keep meeting bi-monthly for the rest of this year to continue exploring the intersectionalities of our passions, dreams, identities, and the power that will become of a youth-led environmental action and justice network between our schools. A special thanks to Best Buy Children's Foundation for their Youth Voice Matters grant which will support the Youth Advisory Board.


 

SCHOOL STORIES

Eco Education is once again having a stellar year with our partnering schools! We continue to work with a committed cohort of returning teachers and have welcomed several new partnerships. This year, we will be partnering with the following schools:

Minneapolis: Sanford Middle School, El Colegio Charter School, YingHua Academy, Anthony Middle School, and FAIR School Downtown

St. Paul: Highland Park Jr. High, Como High School, Harding High School, River’s Edge Academy, and Great River School

And for the first time ever, we have expanded our programs into an inner-ring suburban district by partnering with Valley View Middle School in Edina!  This year, we will be working with two science teachers to implement our Urban Stewards program into the entire 7th grade science classes. They are very excited to be working with Eco Education to enhance their environmental education unit while exploring the nexus of race relations and environmental justice. Here's an update from two of our other schools:

River’s Edge Academy (REA) participated in an eight-week Urban Stewards course this past fall semester. As part of the Urban Stewards process, students conducted a community assessment and decided to focus on the diverse West Side community. After a walking tour of the community and interviews with Riverview Economic Development Association (REDA), Neighborhood Development Alliance and West Side Safe Neighborhood Council, the students decided to address issues at Parque Castillo—a struggling community park on the West Side. Residents, business owners, and visitors have expressed issues with the park including littering, homelessness, loitering, alcohol and drug use, and violence. Students worked with a panel of mentors and community partners that included Joe Maternowski, Eco Education’s Board Chair, and Juan Jose Palacios from the Green Institute. This panel provided regular feedback and support to the students as they developed their action project. Last month, Eco Education awarded a mini-grant to REA students which they will use to support not only the restoration of the park’s reputation but also make it more accessible to the entire community. On April 9th, the students will do an organized park clean-up, prepare the garden, and picnic with other community members from the West Side. Everyone in attendance will write their wishes for Parque Castillo on student-made ornaments that will be placed on a newly planted tree. The students also plan to sponsor a bench at Parque Castillo, with a plaque that will read,  “Rivers Edge Academy—Go Green or Go Home.” Congratulations to the students at REA and their teacher, Sarah Oppelt, for making a lasting impact on their community!

We are embarking on another partnership with Tyronne Carter and his 7th grade students at Sanford Middle School. Mr. Carter, a 2010 recipient of the Kathy Kinzig Grant Award, will implement our City Connections program this year to help his students learn ecological concepts in the context of the urban neighborhood environment. They have determined that a focal point this year will be to investigate installing a school garden. As they research and assess the feasibility of planting a rain garden or a native plants garden, the students will collaborate with Women’s Environmental Institute and the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. Look for more updates throughout the spring as the students’ vision starts to bloom.



BUILDING JUST COMMUNITIES

On February 15th, Eco Education held a professional development seminar for teachers, students and community partners at Black Box Theater in St. Paul Central High School titled, ‘Jointly Constructed Relationships: Building Just Communities With Our Students.’ Central Touring Theater students (from St. Paul Central High School) performed short pieces to seed our conversations about the importance of building just communities and healthy relationships across our differences—a critical stepping stone to sustaining environmental stewardship among our youth. Audience participants came from diverse backgrounds—cross-age, cross-discipline and fields, cross-race and ethnicity, and cross-culture permitting the opportunity for rich discourse. After dinner, our 2010 Kathy Kinzig Grant recipients Tami Limberg and Tyronne Carter, shared and discussed their project experiences with the group. A big thanks to all in attendance and to Caribou Coffee for their generous donation of tea and coffee. A special shout-out goes to Jan Mandell and Central Touring Theater students, Kayla, Chris and Lena, for their powerful facilitation of our authentic conversation.



NEW FACES

This past fall, Eco Education welcomed Randee Edmundson, Program Development Manager, and Elise Griffin, Program Advisor, to our team.

Randee brings her diverse background as an educator for 26 years, teaching at rural and inner city schools of Minnesota, a rural school in Nepal, and most recently, a girl's boarding school in Tanzania. She also teaches in the Hamline School of Education graduate program. For six years, she worked for St. Paul Public Schools as the Environmental Science and Technology Federal Magnet Grant Coordinator developing partnerships between schools and community neighborhoods and then as K-12 Science Coach for St. Paul Public Schools Instructional Services coordinating standards-based curriculum development and developing partnerships between K-12 teachers and scientists to increase the quality of inquiry-based instruction in the classrooms. Randee enjoys the outdoors and is a biker, cross-country skier and naturalist. Since 1972, she has been guiding wilderness canoe trips for children and adults into northern Minnesota, Canada and Nunavut, all the way to Hudson's Bay and Coronation Gulf in the Arctic Ocean.

Elise is interested in exploring the intersectionalities of environmental issues, identity, privilege, oppression, and community agency. As Program Advisor, she is working to collaboratively recognize difference and synchronize inclusive initiatives and actions with emerging multicultural needs in the commons of our urban communities. As a recent graduate from Macalester College, Elise received her bachelor’s degree in biology with a concentration in international issues and a minor in environmental studies. Elise has studied black bear behavior and migration in Ely, Minnesota, worked hard building trails in the Alaskan wilderness, and served as the Environmental Justice Coordinator and Bike Share Program Coordinator of Macalester College. Her environmental journey began when she studied abroad in Tibet, Nepal and India on a Himalayan Studies Program. While there, she lived with Tibetan refugees, researched climate change in the Himalayas, and spent her time talking to some of the first communities to experience the devastating floods, droughts, and erosion caused by global warming. Elise enjoys spending her time playing outside, celebrating with friends and family by making food and drink, and working to be courageous and compassionate every day.