Core Training for Organizations

Build your organization’s capacity for youth-led learning and civic engagement.

Core Training helps organizations build the knowledge and confidence to make youth-led learning part of their practice. Grounded in Environmental Applied Civics (EAC), participants learn how to create opportunities for young people to investigate issues that matter to them, understand the systems behind those issues, partner with adults, and take meaningful action.

Two women in a room with wooden floors and walls, one standing near a whiteboard and the other gesturing towards it. The woman near the whiteboard has gray hair and is wearing a white jacket, while the woman pointing has curly dark hair and is wearing a tan hoodie and black boots. There are bookshelves on the wall and a ceiling fan above.

Bring youth-led learning into the work you already do.

Not a new program (unless that’s your vision)

Strengthen youth-led learning

Make civic engagement real

We’ll help you identify opportunities to give young people greater ownership of their learning.

Leave with a plan & support

Learn how to develop youth-adult partnerships, strengthen youth agency, and let students lead

Get practical strategies to move beyond awareness toward investigation, participation, and action.

We’ll provide support for a full year to help you implement your plans.

What to Expect from Core Training

A practical, no-cost professional learning experience designed to help organizations move from learning about youth-led approaches to putting them into practice.

Live & Interactive

Our sessions are all live, with extended time for planning, breakout sessions, and problem-solving

Pre-Work & 4 Sessions

We’ll be together for 4 live sessions, and you’ll take 1-2 hours asynchronously to complete pre-work on your own.

11 Hour Commitment

You’ll spend 11 hours learning over the course of the training. Professional development certificates are available.

Virtual & Accessible

Sessions are held on Zoom, accessible from anywhere. We celebrate all learning styles and welcome feedback.

The Core Training is aligned with the North American Association for Environmental Education’s Professional Development of Environmental Educators: Guidelines for Excellence, as well as Universal Design for Learning principles.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Earth Force offers Core Training several times throughout the year. Upcoming opportunities, dates, and registration information will be listed on this page.
If your organization is interested in partnering with Earth Force outside of the training dates, please contact us.
Core Training is designed for organizations that work with or support young people, including nonprofits, environmental organizations, youth-serving organizations, and other community-based organizations. It can be useful for team leads, program staff, organizational leaders, and others who want to strengthen youth voice and leadership in their organization.

It is not designed for individual educators.
Yes! Having multiple staff members participate can help organizations develop a shared understanding and create stronger conditions for implementing youth-led learning and civic engagement. Organizations interested in training larger teams can also talk with Earth Force about organizational support.
Core Training is offered through live virtual sessions, allowing participants from different organizations and communities to learn together.
Core Training explores how adults can create opportunities for young people to ask questions, make decisions, contribute their expertise, and share responsibility for the work. We dive deeply into the structures and practices that support meaningful youth-adult partnerships.
The training is a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning.
Pre-Work : a self-paced introductory module on Environmental Applied Civics (EAC) Estimated time: 1-2 hours
Live Sessions: four collaborative virtual sessions to dive deep with a cohort of other practitioners
Ongoing Coaching: virtual 1:1 follow-ups to meet your goals going forward for a year

What Participants Take Away

"Krysten and Taylor were absolutely lovely facilitators. They perfectly modeled what it means to teach the teacher in a communicative, respectful, and supportive manner."

Participant
"I entered this class somewhat familiar with Earth Force's EAC model, but I am leaving feeling much more confident that this is a framework we can integrate with our Climate Action Planning framework for teens. I am so excited to be improving the work we do by incorporating all of Earth Force's fantastic resources!"

Participant
"This has been really helpful - it provides some clarity to a confusing task of curriculum building."

Participant
"I joined the Earth Force training last year, put it into practice, and saw successful outcomes. Then having the opportunity for a refresher course reignited the value of this framework."

Participant

Next Core Training

Join us for the next Core Training

Registration now open for Fall 2026.

In this virtual, cohort-based course, you’ll learn how to help students identify local environmental issues and work directly with community leaders to change policies, making your existing programs more impactful and truly youth-led.

This training is designed for

organizations who work directly with youth or who are providers of professional development, especially those with an environmental and/or civic focus.
folks in school-wide roles, such as curriculum specialists, sustainability coordinators, or department leads

“This was the most thorough training I have ever received with so much additional documentation and support. It was so amazing!”

2024 Participant

FALL 2026 DATES

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October 26, 2026

October 28, 2026

November 2, 2026

November 4, 2026

All sessions are virtual and from 2-4pm Eastern Time.

Apply now

Meet Your Facilitators

Close-up of a young woman with short brown hair, wearing a black turtleneck and dangling earrings, outdoors with blurred greenery in background.

Krysten Dorfman (she/they)

Krysten advises over 200 organizations on integrating Environmental Applied Civics into youth programming across North America. She is the lead facilitator in the EAC Core Training to empower educator/youth-serving organizations in facilitating effective student-led environmental engagement.

Krysten holds a Master's degree in Behavior, Education & Communication from the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. As an Engaged Pedagogy Initiative fellow, she developed graduate-level curriculum on sustainability education and coordinated NSF-funded research on teacher-student curriculum co-design. Krysten’s participation in eeVAL's series on Culturally Responsive and Equitable Evaluation enhances their ability to help organizations design meaningful assessment strategies that center equity and youth voice.

Lead Facilitator

A woman with short dark hair and glasses smiling outdoors with green leaves in the background.

Alyssa McConkey (she/her)

Alyssa oversees all of Earth Force’s program delivery and evaluation to ensure frameworks are grounded in evidence-based practices.

Co-Facilitator

A smiling man with curly dark hair and wearing sunglasses on his head, outdoors with rocky terrain and snow-capped mountains in the background.

Taylor Ruffin (he/him)

Co-Facilitator

Taylor leads Earth Force’s Implementation Lab, collaborating with and learning from educators in the delivery of high-integrity EAC.

SJ Jennings (she/they)

SJ leads district-level strategy at Earth Force, specializing in integrating EAC into system-wide educational policy and practice.

Co-Facilitator

"It is really amazing to watch the transformation in student-led projects become something they care deeply about and work to create a change that is tangible and for their community! "

— 2026 Core Training Participant