Below is a guest post from our friend, Laura Carver, who is the Portland, OR director of Youth Empowered Action Camp — a unique and amazing-sounding summer camp based in California and Oregon for young and aspiring social justice activists.
Do you work with, live with, or know youth who care about our environment and the future of our planet? Are you a middle- or high-schooler who cares about climate change? If so, what are you doing this summer?
Youth Empowered Action (YEA) Camp is a unique and fun week-long summer camp for 12-17 year-olds who want to make a difference on climate change or other important issues. Youth at our camps develop skills, knowledge and confidence to get involved and display leadership on the issues they care about–from deforestation and climate change to human rights and factory farming.
YEA is for any teen who cares about making the world a more sustainable place, or who might not feel comfortable speaking up, or isn’t sure how to apply their passions to bring about a more compassionate and peaceful world.
Our program launches youth on a lifetime of activism and social change. From learning how to apply art and creativity to social change, to communicate more effectively, to run an effective school club, or to plan a campaign, campers leave YEA with concrete skills and a recognition that they have the tools to be able to make an even bigger impact. We connect our campers interested in climate change to organizations like 350.org so they can apply their new skills and confidence to the great work that non-profits are doing and know what amazing resources are available for them. We also build a community with each other to support campers in taking action and staying involved long after camp has ended.
This year, our campers from summer 2010 have attended hearings about coal-fired power plants, worked on projects to green their schools, participated in 350.org’s 10/10/10 day of action, gone to climate rallies, gotten eco-friendly vegan meals in their cafeteria, started a Green Team at school, and more! Working in their schools and communities, they are role models for their peers who care about the earth and encourage their friends and families to take action to protect the planet.
YEA Camp runs camps in Portland, OR, and northern California, but we have campers travel from all over the country. To find out more about YEA Camp or to apply to come to camp, please visit our website at www.yeacamp.org.