Dear
current and future members of the youth climate movement,
You're
invited to join us June 1 to August 1 for The
Summer
of Solutions, an experiential training and community
organizing program sponsored by Global Exchange and run
by college students who are pioneering systemic and transformative
solutions to
global warming.
View Summer of Solutions Video / Read Post on It's Getting Hot in Here
At
Power Shift 2007, youth from across the country came together in DC to
address
global warming and envision a renewable energy society and a just and
sustainable
economy. This
summer we will be applying
that vision and power in ways that will give us the tools to generate
concrete
and sweeping changes in our communities nationwide!
We
are writing to you because we know you want to build solutions to
climate
change amidst the ever-growing network of the climate movement. The
Minnesota-based Summer of Solutions
program
will give you the tools and experience to lead the transition to a
post-carbon
society through hands-on work to form it with youth leaders from across
the
nation.
As
a group of college students, our model is a little unorthodox, or
perhaps just
crazy, but it has facilitated some amazing work thus far. We run community-based
projects that are
holistically focused on building a sustainable society.
We are tackling renewable energy, sustainable
re-industrialization, energy-efficiency, urban gardening, social
networking,
and much more. These
projects will be a
starting point for our summer experience, but we will be learning,
expanding
and innovating together. As
a part of
the program, you can define where we go with the support networks we
have
already built— we will shape the solutions together.
As
students, we understand the necessity of making money in the summer to
support
our studies and know this is must for many of us. In
order to make money and do the work we love, we’ve established a partnership
with Global Exchange, a 501c3 that will house the funds we raise and use
throughout the summer.
Instead of dishwashing or painting to pay
rent this summer, we're relying on both our own fundraising efforts and
fundraising
you can do to collect tax-deductible donations to support yourself so
we all
can work full-time this summer on community organizing and project
innovation. We've
found that raising
money only requires talking to people we know about the work we love
and the
vision we have and then demonstrating that they can enable us to do it.
Even
better, we’ll help you with your fundraising!
Please
check out the following pages to learn more about the Summer of Solutions program. If you’re interested,
return the easy application
by one of our priority deadlines - April
1st, April 15th, or April
29th – to summerofsolutions@gmail.com
The sooner you get yours in, the better chance you have. If you are
psyched but
can’t make it to Minnesota,
talk to us, because there are similarly amazing, collaborative summer
programs
across the nation this year. We
hope you
can join us for an incredible summer.
Sincerely,
The
Minnesota
Summer of Solutions Team and Global Exchange
