Environmental Education for Students of Color
Project Sponsor: Students of Color Environmental Collective (SCEC)
TGIF Grant: $16,520
Project Theme: Environmental Justice
Project Description: This project, “Environmental Education for People of Color”, is divided into two parts: People Of Color Environmental Justice Conference and Outdoor Education for People of Color.
The People Of Color Environmental Justice Conference aims to foster an intersectional environmental movement that inspires and empowers underrepresented folx in the environmental movement. The conference will consist of keynotes, panels, and workshops from environmentalists of color to recenter the environmental movement around those most marginalized by environmental degradation. Creating an intentional space in environmental education for people of color reshapes the current dominant environmental narrative to a more inclusive and equitable one for long term justice and sustainability.
Outdoor Education for People of Color aims to ensure students of color have access to affordable outdoor space with two retreats (Fall and Spring). Retreats will be part of an outdoor education plan focused on organization and movement building, leadership workshops, reflection activities, guided hikes, environmental consciousness, and personal and community development. This retreat will not only make the outdoors more accessible, it will also strengthen the Students of Color Environmental Collective as an organization and ensure internal community building, retention of community history, and a passing of environmental and institutional knowledge that will withstand yearly member turnovers.
Project Goals:
- Create spaces and opportunities on campus that offer an environmental education that is accessible, diverse, and relevant to people of color
- Ensure the recruitment, retention, and support of students of color in environmental spaces
- Providing both on-campus and off-campus opportunities to engage with environmental justice