Over the past year, EarthGen has been taking time to shape our next chapter by listening closely to communities across Washington.
To do this, we engaged more than 150 stakeholders, including youth, educators, community members, and partner organizations. This included two in-person community listening sessions in South Central and Southwest Washington, along with many one-on-one conversations that helped us better understand local priorities. Thank you to everyone who took the time to share their perspectives with us.
We launched this stakeholder engagement process because we wanted to better understand how EarthGen can show up most meaningfully in communities across Washington. We wanted to learn more about local priorities and how our work could better support young people taking action where they live.
To guide this listening, we asked questions like:
- What local issues, environmental or otherwise, most impact your community?
- What community resources (people, places, organizations) are already in place to support a healthier environment?
- How can EarthGen better partner with you to support young environmental leaders in your community?
Across regions and communities, several consistent themes emerged. We heard a strong desire for:
- Youth-led action with support: Young people have opportunities to learn, develop skills, and make a lasting impact in their communities, alongside educators and other adults who guide and collaborate with them.
- Clear and achievable pathways to action: Support that helps youth follow through on their ideas, turning inspiration into sustaining projects.
- Action grounded in evidence: EarthGen programs integrate science, whether Western or Indigenous, to inform youth-led solutions.
We learned and refined. Over the past few months, we’ve worked to incorporate what we heard into a clearer vision for EarthGen.
We’re excited to share an updated look at EarthGen shaped by what we heard. Our new one-pager offers a clear look at our focus, our approach, and how youth leadership shows up across our work, alongside educators, schools, and community partners.
Thanks for being part of this process and for helping shape what comes next.