The Will Steger Foundation is kicking off the summer with research to develop and launch an innovative mentorship program within the RE-AMP network that connects youth climate leaders with veteran staff from climate-focused non-profit organizations across the Midwest.

Mentorship is defined as a mutually beneficial learning relationship between two people that involves caring, commitment and trust. This project, which received grant funding through the RE-AMP Strategic Initiative Fund, aims to build egalitarian and intergenerational relationships that allow both participants to gain powerful new insights and perspectives.

The development of this program comes at a critical time for the environmental movement. Now over 40 years old, the environmental movement is experiencing a point of stagnancy. There is a gap between public opinion and political progress. The number of Americans who say there is evidence for global warming is on the increase and there is strong public support for clean energy; yet, climate change remains a partisan issue with very few recent political victories.

Research is indicating that we need to change our approach.

In a 2011 report, Cultivating the Grassroots: A Winning Approach for Environmental Funders, Sarah Hansen found that rather than continuing to rely on top-down strategies, we need to increase support for grassroots organizing in communities that are directly impacted by environmental harms.

“We need a holistic approach to solve the complex problems such as those our environment and climate face today. Problems in our environment stem from a long chain of complicated reactions and overlapping factors,” says Hansen. “Conceptually and practically, science is never isolated from culture, society and the economy.”

As a young climate organizer from Minnesota, I am excited to be working with the Will Steger Foundation this summer as a Research Assistant on this project. I have seen the work my peers are doing across the Midwest to engage new communities in the climate movement and create innovative solutions. They are organizing to transition their campuses from coal power to clean energy, launching initiatives to grow the green economy, and committing to inclusive organizing practices.

Young people have always been at the forefront of social movements. Today in the Midwest, they are pushing the boundaries and changing the dominant narrative around climate to focus on its impact on people, so that it is understood as more than an environmental issue. By moving the debate from protecting polar bears and ice caps to social justice, human health, and resilience of communities, they are broadening the environmental movement and spurring innovative solutions that address the systemic nature of the problem.

Across the country youth organizers are building authentic relationships with marginalized, low income, and communities of color and collaborating on local victories that strategically build political pressure for large-scale change. Many valuable insights have been formed from these experiences, and youth still have a lot to learn.

By fostering open dialogue and mutual learning between young climate leaders who are working on the front lines in their communities and veteran staff from environmental organizations, this program will increase the flow of knowledge, resources, and ideas across the generational spectrum, and lead to necessary growth in the climate change movement across the Midwest.

I see huge potential for synergy by creating a space where youth organizations and established non-profits can build relationships and share skills. A few examples include:

• How have youth organizations leveraged social media?
• What expertise do established non-profits have to offer on high-level networking?
• How are youth redefining the boundaries of the environmental movement in new and necessary ways?
• How can veteran staff support and learn from these efforts?
• How can we collaborate, leveraging relationships with key constituencies and influential decision-makers?

I look forward to seeing how this program will shape the Midwest climate movement and help us build a more powerful movement.

If you are interested in participating in the mentorship program or if you have research or ideas to share, please contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 612.278.7147.

The Will Steger foundation would like to acknowledge and congratulate all of the youth organizers involved in the Chicago Clean Power Coalition on the announced closing of the Crawford and Fisk coal plants. Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and the Illinois Student Environmental Coalition (ISEC) have been deeply involved in the Coalition and spent countless hours testifying at the State Legislature, organizing in front-line communities, documenting the public health impacts of both plants, and drawing public support for an end to these big polluters. LVEJO, an environmental justice organization based in the Little Village neighborhood on Chicago’s south side, released the following press release.

There's something unique about the Midwest. Of course, every geographic region of the country has its own style, its own vibe, its own culture to be proud of.  But as a born and raised Midwesterner, it's always seemed to me that the Midwest is basically begging to become the hub of a new, sustainable future for America.  State environmental coalitions across the Midwest have been growing, and the Midwest Powershift of October 2011 proved that Midwesterners are committed to working together on environmental issues.

Out of a vast array of already existing networks and organizations arises the Midwest Youth Coalition, which, "by pooling time and resources, …will reduce redundancy, provide models and outlines for new campaigns just coming online and offer a regional set of cohesive communication messages" (MYC Mission Statement).  Most importantly, the Midwest Youth Coalition seeks to solidify and grow existing networks and relationships both in and among the Midwestern states.

Currently, the Midwest Youth Coalition has one Steering Committee member from each of 6 different Midwest States (listed below), as well as a Communications Lead, Marie Donahue.  Our Steering Committee Chair is an as yet undecided position, but we have the guidance of the amazing Abby Fenton of the Will Steger Foundation to help us through the process of Coalition building. Over the next year, we hope to solidify specific goals and issues for the Midwest Youth Coalition to address, as well as to grow our networks and grow as a coalition in general.

We are:

• Illinois: Rafael Hurtado
• Michigan:  Marion Berger
• Ohio: Casey Slive
• Minnesota: Carlos Dabu
• Wisconsin: Amanda Lazzari
• Iowa: Holly Jones

Together, we will work to increase cooperation and work among the states of the Midwest, and to address major issues affecting the Midwest as a whole.  Although we're in the very earliest of our development stages, I can already tell the Midwest Youth Coalition will do great things. We are passionate, we are innovative, and we are ready for action.  Our states are the homes of manufacturing giants such as Detroit, craving the production of solar panels and wind turbines.  Our vast farmlands and Great Lakes provide ample opportunity for wind power.  We see the potential, and we know that that potential can only be reached through our collaboration.  We're ready to show the nation just what the Midwest is capable of.

And while we each have our own goals, our own dreams of what we want the Midwest Youth Coalition to do for the Midwest, we're united in the fact that we're ready to work together to create widespread change.  Personally, I'm ready for the Midwest to become America's first large-scale green economy.  As an avid longtime participant in the Green Economy Leadership Training and native of the city of Detroit, I'm passionate about transforming the Midwest economy to a more sustainable economy in all senses of the word.  And it is only through the innovation of our youth and the passion of our united activists that we will make this shift.

Working together, the possibilities of what we can accomplish are limitless.  So get to know us! You'll be hearing much more from us over the course of the next year.

Full versions of our current vision and mission statements are listed below:

Mission

The Midwest Youth Coalition is a grassroots network that seeks to secure a just and ecologically responsible future.  By coordinating collaborative campaigns across Midwest campuses and communities, and by providing a space to share skills, resources and ideas, we will bring a solutions-oriented approach to our most difficult environmental challenges.

Vision

The Midwest Youth Coalition envisions a shared space for Midwest youth to exchange skills, ideas and models, to encourage and facilitate discussion and to offer guidance and support to statewide coalitions trying to get off the ground. This space will likely take the form of a website that can host various resources, a monthly or bi-monthly conference call to keep state leaders up to date on the going-ons in the rest of the region, and a steering committee that can support regional events and campaigns.

The Coalition will seek to support statewide coalitions in each of the Midwest states and to assist those coalitions in the work they do. Midwest is defined at this point as Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. By pooling time and resources, the Coalition will reduce redundancy, provide models and outlines for new campaigns just coming online and offer a regional set of cohesive communication messages. Finally, the Coalition will help build valuable relationships and community throughout the Midwest.

Join us!

The Steger Foundation is proud to partner with Focus the Nation in our mission to educate, empower, and engage a new generation of climate leadership on a local, regional, national, and international scale. A nationally based organization, Focus the Nation (FTN) accelerates the transformation to a clean energy future by fostering connections between generations, and empowering young people through education, civic engagement, and action.

All FTN programming is intensely focused on empowering young people’s imaginative, civic and systems-thinking capacities so they can become powerful agents of change in their own communities. The skills that young people gain through FTN programming can be applied for decades in addressing the root causes that affect our current environmental, social, political and entrepreneurial challenges.

As part of a national program aimed at engaging climate youth leadership across the country, FTN is launching Clean Energy Forums a core component of their part 'Forums-to-Action program.  Aimed at developing new student leaders to drive solution oriented clean energy collaborations between their campuses and communities, the F2A program provides students with leadership skills, energy literacy, experiential learning and professional development.

The following Clean Energy Forums are being hosted in the Midwest this February and are open to the public:

University of Wisconsin Madison, Feb 15th

Through Focus the Nation’s Forums-to-Action Program, a multidisciplinary group of UW-Madison students is planning a clean energy forum for February 15th, 2012. This year’s event will focus on ways the campus and Madison community can speed adoption of energy efficiency and conservation measures in buildings. Students and campus leaders will come together with energy experts, business leaders, and elected officials to identify roadblocks and solutions in this effort to pick the low hanging fruit known as ‘negawatts’. One panel session will seek innovative solutions to get more rental property owners investing in energy efficiency retrofits. A brainstorming session over dinner will inform an action plan which students will implement over the next semester(s). This event represents a great opportunity for the campus and Madison community to come together in addressing an issue of great import.

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place February 15th, 2012 from 3-7pm in Union South, Varsity Hall III.

Who should attend:

• Students or community members interested in energy efficiency, energy policy, or renewable energy
• Business leaders
• Elected officials

Focus the Nation is now accepting applications to launch September 2012 teams. This spring they will be selecting one school in each state across the US to participate in our F2A programming. Sign up to host a forum for 2013.