New Voices Are Rising’s 2019 Summer Academy Is in Full Swing!
The Summer Climate Justice Leadership Academy is in full swing! This year’s theme is:
New Voices Fighting for Our Future! Youth Organizing for Climate Justice.
During the Summer Academy, New Voices is leading sixteen Oakland high school students through a five week intensive environmental justice training program to build their leadership, advocacy, and organizing skills.
In addition to externships with partner groups to build job experience and field trips to explore the issues in person, we’ve adding an action every week to the program. Students have the opportunity to get out and make a difference today, speaking with decision-makers, getting their hands dirty to grow food in their communities, and rallying for change. Follow New Voices on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to stay updated on actions you can join!
To give you a sense of just how jam-packed the program is, here’s what the schedule was for the first week:
- Tuesday: Introductions and Group Building
- Wednesday: Eco-Center Field Trip and Intro to Climate Change
- Thursday: Urban Farm Visit at WOW Farm in Oakland
- Friday: Oakland Street Academy Garden Workday
And we haven’t slowed down since.
Summer Academy students joined organizers from the Local Clean Energy Alliance to protest a bailout for PG&E, given their liability for disastrous wildfires across the state – and their work was featured in the SF Chronicle!
Students also toured toxic sites around Richmond, including the Chevron oil refinery, with Rose partner, Communities for a Better Environment, to better understand how climate issues are connected to air quality health threats today.
Still to come? A youth poetry slam for environmental justice, a field trip to the Pardee Resevoir to understand Oakland’s water source, and so much more.
We couldn’t run this program without your help.
Thanks to hundreds of supporters (maybe including you!) we hit our goal and raised over $25,000 in this year’s four-week crowdund for the Summer Academy.
Thank you for making all of this possible. We are so grateful to be in this fight with you.
Onward!