New Voices Are Rising seeks to increase civic participation within under-represented communities, increase young people’s commitment to environmental justice, and reduce air and water pollution that severely impact both human health and the health of the San Francisco Bay. The program helps young people gain the skills and experience in civic engagement that they need to begin to tackle the problems — including environmental health problems — that disproportionately impact their communities.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM
2017 New Voices students
Two to four students from the Summer Institute are recruited to become New Voices Are Rising Fellows during the school year, giving them the opportunity to pursue environmental justice work in greater depth. The students use the skills they learned and the leadership potential they developed, applying it to community capacity-building and outreach projects with New Voices and program partners focused on reducing toxic exposure, addressing climate change, and increasing competency in low-income communities and communities of color to meaningfully engage in environmental decision-making.
NEW VOICES ARE RISING ADVISORY BOARD
What’s New with New Voices
Reflecting on a Successful Summer Academy
Thanks to your support, we graduated 16 high school students through our 11th annual Summer Climate Justice Youth Leadership Academy this August. Watch the video above and get a glimpse of their educational journey.
Sending Off Our Summer Academy Graduates August E-News
I’m choking on toxic air… / the fumes are so hazardous – it just ain’t fair… / I’m calling out every generation before mine… / Our mothers, fathers, grandparents and so on who be telling us ‘it’s fine’…” Last week, New Voices Are Rising student Michelle read her poetry about inheriting toxic pollution to an audience of friends, family, program partners, and other community members at New Voices’ annual Climate Justice Youth Summit.
Thank You For Supporting Youth Leaders! Your Support is Amplifying Youth Voices for Our Communities and the Environment!
Thanks to you, our New Voices crowdfund campaign “Fired Up for the Change We Need!” raised more than $25,000 to support the 2018 Summer Climate Justice Youth Leadership Academy! You have ensured that our cohort of 16 New Voices students will have an impactful summer of environmental justice training and leadership development.
Apply to the 2018 Summer Acedamy! Applications are now open
The Summer Climate Justice Leadership Academy (Summer Academy) is an intensive 6-week program for youth and young adults 15-19 in Oakland. Join a community of people who want to make sure that all Oakland residents can survive and thrive in a changing climate.
New Voices Tests the Water
“Ploop ploop ploop” is the unique sound made by pouring out a bottle filled with lake mud and water. During New Voices Are Rising students’ and Rose Foundation staff’s recent cleanup of Oakland’s Lake Merritt, we pulled out several bottles and a number of odd bits of trash from the lake’s brackish water.
Thank you to our institutional program funders, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, the California EPA,the East Bay Municipal Utilities District, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, New Resource Bank, and the Oakland Fund for Children and Youth.
