Youth Allies is a leadership & youth-organizing Program for Santa Fe area youth ages 13-19.

For more information about Youth Allies, how to sign up for the Leadership Program, and to get involved in current activities visit the Youth Allies website www.youthalliesnetwork.org, write to us at youthallies@earthcarenm.org, or call us at 983-6896.

Or visit us on Facebook at “YouthAllies ForSustainability.”

Join a diverse group of your peers after-school and on weekends to explore environmental and social issues and become active and engaged leader in your community. Through Youth Allies you will have the opportunity to organize a community action project, educate your peers at conferences and in schools, work on grassroots campaigns in partnership with community organizations, and serve on City commissions, task forces, and advisory boards.

You will have the chance to exercise leadership, build skills and knowledge in the areas that are relevant to you life, and make a positive difference. Our goal is for you to feel empowered to create a better future for yourself and your community.

You can participate in the program in three ways:

Youth Allies Action Network – just want to check it out and see if it is for you? Come to a weekend action project or training.

Youth Allies Leadership Institute – a nine-month intensive training institute for youth ages 13-19. Includes two overnight weekend camps and weekly Saturday sessions throughout the school year.

Youth Allies Organizers – if you’ve completed the Youth Allies Leadership Institute or  have a stellar record of community engagement, you can apply to become a paid youth organizer. Youth Organizers lead all kinds of projects, campaigns, and activities throughout the year and receive a $1000 educational stipend for their service.

Current Youth Allies Organizers’ Community Action Projects

Seam Rippers: Reduces consumption and waste by creating personal items using repurposed materials. Seam Rippers focuses primarily on sewing as an alternative to purchasing sweatshop produced textiles. The project also includes additional Do-It-Yourself activities, from toothpaste to earring production.

 

Community Gardening: Four youth-led garden plots provide an opportunity for youth to learn and teach about organic gardening in the southwest, local food production, and self-reliance. Food grown in the garden plots is used for Food Not Bombs community meals and food entrepreneurship projects.

 

Food Not Bombs: Diverts food from the waste stream and turns it into hot, healthy meals for the homeless and hungry, food preserves, compost, and food for animals. Food Not Bombs serves community meals weekly at local parks and homeless resource centers and educates the community about hunger, food issues, and global justice.

 

Art & Social Change: Uses visual, graphic, and performance art to educate and inspire action on social and environmental issues.

 

 

 

Eco-Schools Student Coalition: Brings students together from middle and high schools across the district to assess opportunities for conservation and waste reduction in schools, and to then create district-wide eco-schools initiatives and campaigns in the areas of energy, food, water, transportation and waste systems.

 

Blueprint for Sustainability Project: Promotes strategies to reduce household consumption and waste through service-learning projects at SEED (Sustainability Education and Enterprise Demonstration) Centers including grey water, rainwater catchment, household gardening, energy conservation & efficiency, solar kitchens, and other sustainable living techniques.

 

Youth Advisory Board: Is a nine-member youth board created to work alongside the City of Santa Fe’s Sustainability Commission in order to implement the Sustainable Santa Fe Plan. The Youth Advisory Board develops youth-led campaigns that address the objectives of the plan. The Youth Advisory Board also promotes sustainability efforts at the community scale through the annual  Sustainable Santa Fe Awards (the awards recognize model projects in Green Building, Renewable Energy, Water Conservation, Ecological Adaptation, Food Systems, Alternative Transportation, Waste Reduction, etc. and are given out on Earth Day).

 

Peer-Education: In partnership with the Citizen Schools Program at De Vargas Middle School, Youth Allies provides sustainability education and leadership development training for seventh and eighth graders.

 

 

 

Youth Voices for Change: In partnership with Youth Media Project, Youth Allies produces biweekly segments that raise awareness about social justice and sustainability issues from a youth perspective.