WRITING
Charles Orgbon III
GREEN FORWARD EXCITES
As an 18-year-old high school student
today, I found myself five years ago
thinking about the world and my role
within it differently. I saw my school’s
littering problem and I wanted to make
a difference, but then I found that our
world is facing problems even greater
than littering. I was aware of the issues,
but lacked the skills to do much about
them – so I learned the skills. Skills such
as grant writing, building collaboratives,
recruitment, outreach, and marketing
are what I found to be a few of the gaps
young people were lacking to solve
community issues. Greening Forward
grew out of this void for wanting to
fix this gap. Through peer-to-peer
programs such as the International
Young Environmentalists Youth Summit
(IYEYS), Greening Forward excites
2,000 young people, ages 5-25, around
solving environmental issues in over 15
communities around the United States.
In fact, through a generous $2,000 grant
from the Power of Children Award at
the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis,
Greening Forward was able to celebrate
our second International Young
Environmentalists Youth Summit.
IYEYS brings together amazing
youth like students from Evergreen
Community Charter School, who led the
implementation of a stormwater plan for
their school; Mario Ridgely, Jr., a 13-yearold who hosts his own eco-radio show,
Alive & Green; and Brooklyn Wright,
a 12-year-old environmental educator
known as Earth Saver Girl. Participants
network with other environmental leaders,
share stories, and brainstorm solutions
for a more sustainable future.
Youth working on virtually any
environmental issue can find a place
at the IYEYS: sustainable agriculture,
wildlife conservation, natural resource
Anniversary
Making a Difference
22 Inspired
conservation, transportation and air
quality, land use, and environmental
justice. Through panels, workshops,
and activities, youth built capacity
around non-violent communication,
grant writing, partnership development,
project planning, team-building, social
media, branding, volunteer recruitment,
succession-planning, and diversity
and inclusion. Presentations are led by
Students themselves; and, in fact, the
entire conference is put together by high
school and freshman college students.
We have found this peer-to-peer youth
leadership programming to be effective
in exciting today’s generation of young
leaders.
We invite readers to join the conversation
with #IYEYS on Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram.