Earth Force uses the 'What is it?" game from KIDS Consortium to engage participants in learning about the service-learning, community based learning, or community service experiences and how they interrelate. First, participants are given an overview of the core principles of service-learning. Then they review short description cards of classroom activities and categorize them under service-learning, community based learning, or community service experiences. A discussion with activity leaders follows.
Earth Force believes that real change happens in communities when stakeholders come together to form a common agenda. Earth Force brings together school districts, community based organizations, corporations, communities of faith, and institutions of higher education to create such a coordinated effort to engage young people.
We bring together partners to transform how communities educate and engage young people around environment issues. Together, Earth Force and our partners stimulate opportunities for young people living in low-income communities to engage in real problem-solving around environmental issues in their communities.
Earth Force training materials for the watershed-centered GREEN program include items such the 'Deep Questions dice box', Earth Force tip cards and GREEN Educational posters pictured here; and the 'Protecting Our Watersheds' curriculum activity book.
Our approach combines the best of community development with youth civic engagement, service-learning, and environmental education. The result is national and local networks of organizations that successfully engage youth in civic life. There are three essential elements to our work:
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Build support and consensus within communities, national organizations and among local leaders
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Increase the capacity of schools and community-based organizations to effectively engage youth
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Expand the impact of local programs by coordinating the work of like-minded organizations
The Policies, Practices and Players Grid - a way to synthesize and categorize and make sense of all of the information gathered in Step 3 (Policy and Practice Research) of the Earth Force process.
Community partner trainings are a large part of our work. The photos on this page are from a partner training that Jan Sneddon and Alyssa Hawkins of Earth Force conducted in Flint, Michigan. Participants included new teachers from Genesee Intermediate School District (6 teachers - 4 new, 2 returning) and Lapeer Intermediate School District (13 teachers) that are participating in the Watershed STEM Initiative, which is funded by a grant from the Corporation for National and Community Services' Learn and Serve America K-12 program. Click on the photos for more details!
