The Young Environmental Justice Advocates Academy
Program Overview
The YOUNG ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ADVOCATES ACADEMY (Academy) reflects The Global ARC’s commitment to supporting Youth of Color in developing their voice and bringing it into the public dialogue. The goal of the Academy is to create a pipeline that trains and activates Youth of Color as activists and leaders in the Environmental Justice Movement in San Diego.
The Academy, which hosts two cohorts per year, cultivates these leaders/activists through a mix of formal training and hands-on experience. It accomplishes this by:
1. Taking participants through a series of workshops on Climate Science, Environmental Justice, and Nature-Based Climate Solutions, with a focus on how these issues affect the local community.
2. Training the youth on the development and implementation of a Community Education Campaign focused on the benefits of applying Nature-Based Climate Solutions (e.g., green infrastructure, planting trees, community gardens, water harvesting, composting systems, bioswales, etc.) to their respective neighborhoods.
3. Supporting youth as they utilize what they learned in the training portion to develop their own Community Education Campaign focused on how Climate Change and Environmental Justice affect their community and what they can do to protect their community.
4. Connecting participants/alumni with youth-led advocacy groups addressing Climate Change and Environmental Justice.
The Community Education Campaign has the young people utilizing Creative Arts as the platform for delivering the key messages of their campaign. As the Creative Arts messages are presented to their peers, family, and other community members, the young people will facilitate focus group discussions and listening sessions related to the key messaging. Participants have fun utilizing their creative talents, while at the same time gaining skills in storytelling and narrative development. The listening sessions will also help the youth to gain additional skills in civically engaged research and advocacy
Applications for the Spring 2024 Now Open
For more information and to get on our mailing lists for future cohorts, please fill out the interest form below!
You can also download the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 information packet.
Academy Youth Zines
What is a Zine?
Sitting somewhere between a full magazine and a pamphlet, zines are short, creative works that emphasize accessibility in its production, utilizing a variety of tools and techniques from hand-sewn covers to scrapbook-style pasted snippets through the pages. It is due to this focus on accessibility, both in the zine’s production and in its messaging, that zines have become popular as a tool for grassroots efforts and marginalized peoples to highlight messages and stories that would otherwise be difficult to find the resources for through more large-scale commercial means.
It is in this Do-It-Yourself spirit that the Young Environmental Justice Academy has its members creating zines as part of their experiential learning, so that they can apply their creativity and take with them a powerful public education and outreach tool for their activism.
Academy Zines
Each cohort of the Academy can choose to create a zine as part of the program, supported by our staff and community partners but ultimately led by the youth themselves. You can find the zines for free digital access down below, and if you would like access to printed copies for events or other distribution, please contact us either through the form above or through any of our team members, and we would be happy to talk in more detail!
Spring 2022
Fall 2022
Spring 2023
Fall 2023
This page will be updated with more zines and other media as each cohort completes their creative projects, so check back in the Summer to find our Spring 2024 cohort’s work!
Past Projects by the Young Environmental Justice Advocates
The Block Party
Presented by The Young Environmental Justice Advocates (Spring cohort 2023) and in partnership with UCSD’s Climate Justice Action Research Scholars!
On Saturday May 20th at Ocean View Growing Grounds our high school advocates alongisde University scholars hosted this event to provide a fun way for the community to get together, obtain resources, learn, and talk about climate and environmental jusitce and mental health.
As per usual, The Global ARC’s events aim to connect community members with one another in a fun, free, and educational manner. With the guidance of our former Program Director Raphael Lagoc and UCSD Professor Leslie Lewis (leader of UCSD’s Climate Justice Action Research Scholars) these young scholars successfully collaborated and planned out an event.
Listening Session - Spring 2023
District 1’s Council member Joe LaCava and Policy Director Brian Elliott met with our Spring 2023 cohort at Ocen View Growing Grounds to discuss the importance of environmental justice and youth advocacy. The advocates provided a tour of the garden to Mr. LaCava and presented their Zine, an advocacy project highlighting environmental and climate issues/topics that are of personal importance to the students. Mr. LaCava gave the students insight into the local government’s efforts and had an open discussion with the students and our partners from Youth Will.
We were evry greatful to have Couniclmember Joe LaCava and Policy Director Brian Elliott for taking the time to meet with the our students and our growing grounds!
“Running Out of Time”
Unveiled in October 2021, this mural entitled “Time is Running Out” presented two possible futures from the viewpoint of our Young Environmental Justice Advocates. This cohort is from City Heights Youth for Change and is a message to their community, one that is often overlooked in the conversation on climate justice.
On the left, is a future filled with industrialism filling the air with pollution. On the right, a future in which humans live in harmony with nature and there are clear skies ahead. Both futures
feature flags from nations around the world, emphasizing that climate change is a global issue is it up to all nations to cooperate in order to secure our future. The center arch depicts droughts, floods, forest fires, and melting ice, four examples of the impacts of climate change that we are currently experiencing.
This project was done in partnership with the AJA project with facilitation by Javier Arreguin Villegas.
You can see the mural at 3826 Euclid Ave, San Diego, CA 92105.
Listening Session - Fall 2021
In connection with the unveiling of the mural, the youth conducted a dialogue with community members (including the President of the City Council) on the dangers of climate change and what the community can do to protect themselves
Vertical Garden Demonstration Site
To show people how to grow food in limited spaces, the youth researched and built vertical gardens as a demonstration for community members. Once built, they conducted presentations on the “how” and “why” at a community Family Harvest Festival.
A vertical garden is a garden that grows upwards rather than outwards. With this method, there are unlimited ways to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, and all types of plants. Vertical gardens are important because they have many environmental, social, and economic benefits. Some benefits include reducing the urban heat island effect, conserving water, and, of course, providing food! Vertical gardens are also examples of nature-based climate solutions as they harness the power of nature to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also help us adapt to the impacts of climate change
Read more about vertical gardens here!
Want to build your own? Check out our Pinterest board for ideas!