Happy end-of-the-year! I hope it finds you all in great spirits and joyful times. Our EnviroTree is up and twinkling in our office, fresh off the Lights of Kindness competition.
It is that time of the year and our most recent grant proposal has been lucky enough to be entered into the voting stage of the Pepsi Refresh Challenge. Our proposed project for the $50,000 prize will help local youth develop sustainable team building & leadership skills. Winning this grant will help solidify the future of the Three Spheres Leadership Academy. Last November, Envirolution™ and the rest of the GREENevada coalition won the Pepsi Refresh grant and was able to successfully complete the High School Sustainability Competition in the Washoe County School District.
What is the Three Spheres Leadership Academy (TSLA)?
As a result of its Project Recharge and GREENevada programs—which work with K-12 schools in Washoe County to promote energy efficiency and sustainability through school projects and integrated curriculum—Envirolution has determined a specific need to continue the education of those outstanding students and student leaders who demonstrate excellence, passion, and leadership in sustainability and green business. We aim to empower and cultivate these outstanding students and student leaders to be the future green business and community leaders through a program that gives them a stronger foundation in the integration of environmental, economic, and social (the “three spheres”) aspects for a sustainable future. The TSLA project will encourage participation of the most energetic, enthusiastic and talented high school students or professionally minded young adults to explore energy efficiency, sustainability, and business and economic integrations, while considering social impacts of the program outcomes. The ultimate aim is to empower them to be the green business and community leaders of our region’s future.
Who: Graduation-inclined high school students or professional minded young adults, ages 16-20, who have shown interest in sustainability, green technologies, or green businesses.
What: A program that creates opportunities for youth leaders to learn how to implement sustainable solutions in their community while training them how to build, work, and live in this new, ever-growing green economy. These youth leaders will identify issues in their communities, create action plans for sustainable solutions, and work to implement these solutions.
Why: To empower youth with the skills and experiences necessary to become the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs of the green economy. We are developing youth leaders and educating them in the overlap of environmental, social, and economic lenses known as the triple bottom line.
Where: The program starts with a week-long immersive on-site experience at the Grizzly Creek Ranch in Portola, CA. This is followed by a week focusing on education within the Reno green economy and community, gaining exposure to a variety of sustainable businesses. The rest of the program takes place in Reno with additional on-site experiences to aid in researching, identifying and creating complete action plans for the youth leaders’ chosen sustainability projects and will focus on the initial stages or complete implementation of their projects.
When: Summer of 2012, slated to be a 5-week program: 06/18/12 to 07/20/12
We need all the help we can get to win this and every vote counts.
Please visit our page on Pepsi’s Website to register a profile with Pepsi Refresh and start voting for us every day. You will get five votes per day so feel free to check out some of the other great causes also running and support your choices, us especially :-).
If you need some guidance in how to use your extra daily votes, then follow this link and say Envirolution™ referred you to receive the Progressive Slate newsletter with more great causes and ours.
Additionally you can vote from your Facebook account or by texting 110888 to PEPSI 73774