2023 Schedule – Pacific Time

This year, Southern Oregon Land Conservancy teamed up with Unete Center for Farmworker Advocacy and Southern Oregon Climate Action Now to develop and pilot the “Youth Climate Protectors” program. This program, fully funded by the Oregon Health Authority, introduced local Latino/a/x high school students to the science of climate change, then took them out to a number of public and private protected lands where they learned about the human/land relationship, explored land-based career pathways and collaborated on climate change-related community action projects. In this session, we will discuss the process of developing the program; the enthusiastic funding and partnering responses we enjoyed; the crucial role of cross-sector collaboration in bringing the program to fruition; the lessons we learned; and the future of the program. We will also share reflections and insights from participants about their experience. We will finish the session with activities that will help participants articulate their “why” for engaging youth in their organization’s work, and will help participants think creatively about potential collaborators beyond typical land trust networks.