Last year, the Central California Environmental Justice Network (CCEJN) launched a new program: “YES: Youth Environmentally Active”. We have worked in partnership with various sister organizations to implement a brand new EJ & Climate Change curriculum. We are thankful to our partners in this journey:  Little Manila Rising, Valley Improvement Project, Madera Coalition for Community Justice, Central Valley Air Quality Coalition, Greenaction for Health, Avenal Middle School AVID Class, and Environmental Justice and Sunrise Movement Kern.

In the coming weeks, we will be sharing the amazing projects that youth have implemented. For now, here is a quick preview of these upcoming stories…

Four middle school youth in Avenal learned about environmental justice, they traveled to Sacramento to talk to legislators and have been active in local efforts to shut down the landfill that is poisoning Avenal. They also developed the first ever “EJ Bingo” and are in the process of fundraising to produce it and selling to schools and families.

The great news is that this year, this opportunity is going to be open to any youth residing in the Central Valley.

CCEJN will be offering classes virtually to youth in the Central Valley that will teach them skills in  leadership and advocacy. Through this, youth will have the opportunity to empower themselves to advocate for their community. The classes will go over tools such as data portals, mapping software, collaboration, and networking. By using science standards, this curriculum will also allow students to create a project that is important to them and their community. 

The classes are free and will be held on Zoom every other Thursday at 6 PM or Sunday at 12 PM depending on the choice of the student. To register, please fill out the form at bit.ly/YesYouthEnviro.