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Why not?
“Some look at things that are, and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask, ‘why not’?”
– George Bernard Shaw
Hi everyone! We are looking forward to this year. We started it off on a good foot by hosting the Grand Aspirations January Gathering for six local programs across the country here in Hapeville. We learned how other programs have been able to effectively carry out their missions, whether it was urban farming, weatherizing homes to improve energy efficiency, or revitalizing their local communities.
Two key ideas that we have been left thinking over came up in the open space designed for discussion on the last day of the gathering. One idea was the concept of cross-pollination between the programs: What would happen if we decide to visit each other over the summer and see what our fellow programs are doing? We can learn new practices, create communities across programs, and encourage each other as we take steps to change our world! Continue reading
Reno, NV Envirolution Three Spheres Leadership Academy
The Three Spheres Leadership Academy (TSLA) is an Envirolution summer program, which engages local youth in our community by introducing them to local entrepreneurs, leaders, businesses, and sustainable practices. TSLA first kicked off in the summer of 2012; for five weeks area youth learned about the Reno community and its leaders. Participants saw that it can be one thing to live in the community, but it is a whole other thing to be actively involved in helping the community to become more sustainable!
Intro to sustainability
Building a solar water pump at Girlfarm
TSLA empowers our local youth to step up, and take leadership roles in the community. Participants are encouraged to become youth leaders and are given the opportunity to hear and connect with local leaders. In 2012 TSLA participants heard 23 people discuss how they have made an impact in our community. These youth leaders participated in
24 field experiences around the Reno-Tahoe sustainability community, and engaged in a variety of service learning projects in our community, like building a solar water pump for irrigation at a local farm, and helping frame a storage shed for a non-profit. The TSLA students were trained and certified to perform a triple bottom line analysis, evaluating the economic, environmental, and social perspective in making decisions. Continue reading
January Gathering 2013: A Tale of Three Cities
Our journey begins on December 28th in our nation’s capital. A dozen young Solutionaries from all ends of the country are convening at the Steinbruck Center in downtown DC. From Arleta, California and Reno, Nevada in the west to West Virginia in the east, these intrepid travelers join up with hosts from the new Washington DC Summer of Solutions program to learn the skills they will need to empower other young people through their programs and produce real green economy solutions. It is the beginning of the first of the 2013 January Gathering trainings (yes, even in late December), where we will work together to transform our minds and get prepared to run incredible programs this summer.
Solutionaries at the DC January Gathering map their feelings of interconnectedness at the end of the week.
FCF Lexington Seeking a Program Development Intern
Could you be FCF Lexington’s Program Development Intern for our 2013 Strong Camps? Full Circles Foundation Lexington is currently looking for someone with an outgoing personality, great personal organization, and a self-motivated work ethic who wants to improve his/her leadership skills, work within a wonderful community, and be an important provider allowing young women to have a great summer! More information can be found on our website, including a detailed job description and schedule. We would love to have you join our team!
Additionally, applications for 2013 Summer Fellow positions in both Raleigh and Lexington are going to be open this month! Know someone who wants to have a summer filed with laughter, meaning, and female empowerment? Spread the word if you know someone who might be interested in applying! Continue reading
Solutionaries: 2012 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 12,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 20 years to get that many views.
Education for (Environmental) Liberation
This blog post, written by Chicago Program Leader Nell Seggerson, is cross-posted from Letsgochicago.org.
In this blog, I’m going to attempt to pack the two things I think about all the time into one tidy package about the future of our communities: schools and climate change.
A motto we use (not very much but enough that I’m going to say it’s our motto) here in Chicago is “A school in every neighborhood, a garden in every yard”.
BORING:
We’ve been talking about the connection between the education system and sustainable community transitions for awhile now and it makes sense to us that we should be working with schools, but mostly because schools are a resource to get more kids involved, not because we recognized why the schools need us. But as times in education shift, it’s becoming more clear why schools and community-based environmental groups need each other.
In Chicago right now, we’re in the midst of a battle for public education. It’s the modern apparatus of a 200 year movement for public education that includes the fight of slaves teaching their children to read and black organizers building freedom schools during the Civil Rights movement. But now, as the bloody hand of neoliberalism claws at one of the city’s (and country’s) last remaining public institutions the ground is being laid for a huge community uprising.
In March, the Chicago Board of Education will release its list of school closings. So far there have only been rumors and small leaks from the Mayor’s office, but predicted numbers have been around 100 schools.
WOW! Continue reading
Introducing Two New Twin Cities Program Leaders!
Please help welcome our newest additions to the team, Aly and Elizabeth! They’ve arrived just in time for a massive transfer of information from last week at Chicago’s January Gathering. Though that’s a lot to digest over our long-distance Skype call meetings, they’ve already hit the ground running!
Aly Young
I’m from Rochester, Minnesota, but I’ve made Northfield my home (I’m a junior at St. Olaf College). I love to ride and fix my bike, run, play music, ski, cook, build things, knit, read, write, draw, and make things in general. I first heard about the program from my friend and former RA, Patricia Lamas, who told me all about the awesome things she got to do in the summer of 2012. I’m passionate about helping create strong, supportive communities; when a group of people care strongly for each other and the land around them, that’s when social and environmental change happens! This summer, I’m really excited to help foster that community as part of Summer of Solutions; I’m especially eager to become a part of the active Twin Cities urban farming and biking scene. Prior to becoming a Summer of Solutions program leader, I’ve been a SustainAbilities Representative at St. Olaf, served actively in residence life, and studied ecology in the Boundary Waters and Costa Rica. Outside of the academic year, you’d most likely find me paddling up at my family’s cabin on Pelican Lake or playing banjo on the street in downtown Rochester. I’m thrilled to be a part of something great! Continue reading
Making connections in Little Rock
Free stuff seems to be a pretty foolproof way to capture the attention of college students during finals week. While some students passed our table with the sullen, unseeing eyes of preoccupation and sleep deprivation, many were lured in by our sirens song of “summer jobs here!” and tote bag giveaways. Harmony, Caitlin, and I were at Hendrix College for a few hours of tabling in mid-December to build our email list, get the word out about SoS, and advertise for our latest job opening.
Reflections on January Gathering
As I walked out of the house where all my new friends were and I passed the church where I had spent 22 of 24 hours the last five days, a sadness clutched my heart. I had spent so much energy in the warm and welcoming walls of that building. I had learned about some of the most powerful tools anyone my age could have. I had forged friendships that would last a lifetime. I couldn’t help but feel that each step I took was taking me away from all that.
I was headed for a lonely train ride to a lonely bus ride back home, where I’d be hours away from anyone I’d shared these days with. It was hard to keep positive with that in mind.
As I sat on the train and I gazed out the window, I saw dozens of buildings, and something slowly dawned on me. I began to grow fearful. While I was at this Gathering, my thoughts had revolved around all the things I could do. As I looked out, I realized how much I would not be able to do. In this city alone, there were millions of people affected by the complex social and personal problems we had been identifying. There were surely hundreds of people trying to help the way we were. I realized how difficult it would be to unite all these solution-seeking individuals, and how little they could do to disrupt these issues which affect all of humanity. Continue reading
Solutionaries 