Wading Into Civic Projects

Photograph by Jim Fets

Each year, more than 25,000 youngsters learn how to solve environmental problems in their neighborhoods by participating in programs run by a charity called Earth Force.

The Alexandria, Va., group was created in 1993 with a $12-million, seven-year grant from the Pew Charitable Trusts, which was trying to find a way to channel the passion that young people show for the environment into projects that would demonstrate the value of working on civic causes.

Since then, Earth Force has grown to operate 10 offices across the country on a $2.6-million annual budget. The money comes from Pew and other foundations as well as from corporations, government agencies, and individuals.

A Youth Advisory Board, whose 15 members range in age from 11 to 17, helps develop and carry out the charity´s programs. Those include national campaigns like “Pennies for the Planet,” where the change that kids collect in jars set up in classrooms across the country is used to finance preservation of natural habitats, and “Get Out Spoke´n,” a campaign encouraging young people across the country to help make their neighborhoods more “bike friendly.”

Here, students from Shelby Junior High School, just outside Detroit, participate in a project to monitor the health of the Clinton River with help from Sue Kelsey, an environmental engineer at General Motors. The automobile company and the Clinton River Watershed Council are collaborating with Earth Force to determine water quality.