Sierra Club Grassroots Network
The Sierra Club Foundation supports the Sierra Club’s National Volunteer Education Project, which funds volunteer groups doing charitable environmental work across the country. To accomplish its objective, the National Volunteer Education Project relies primarily on the Grassroots Network of over 90 volunteer teams focusing on local, regional, and national issues. Some projects focus on lasting issues like grazing reform and stopping nuclear power, while others address emerging concerns like labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and protecting pollinators. A support team of Sierra Club national staff provides resources and training to build the capacity of Grassroots Network teams to achieve their charitable goals.
Sierra Club Chapters and Groups
The Sierra Club Foundation provides annual support to the Chapter and Group Education Project of the Sierra Club and to the charitable environmental programs of chapters and groups around the country working on a range of critical local and regional environmental issues, such as uranium mining, habitat protection, green transportation, sustainable food systems, and environmental health.
With millions of members and more than 64 chapters and 400 local groups nationwide, the Sierra Club has the resources to empower people and influence public policy through community activism, research, public education, advocacy, organizing, and litigation.
Sierra Student Coalition
Founded in 1991 as the youth-led chapter of the Sierra Club, the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) has taken many different forms and roles in the environmental and climate movement from supporting youth in shutting down coal plants in their cities to securing clean energy commitments from high school and college campuses. SSC has historically focused on training and education as a way to build youth leadership. Thousands of young people (ages 14-35) have participated in SSC training workshops and gone on to build a better world as organizers working on a number of issues from food sovereignty to renewable energy.
Today, SSC continues to provide training and tools for young people to fight for climate, racial, and economic justice through programs for varying levels of experience in organizing and activism, including:
- Summer Program (Sprog): a climate justice organizing intensive program
- Climate Justice Academy: an entry-level climate justice 101 training program
- Training for Trainers: a program for current trainers to further develop leadership and facilitation skills
- Being Young Ain’t A Crime: a learning series that builds capacity for the youth climate justice movement to align and act in solidarity with Black liberation movements