Clearwater - The Clearwater Legacy Project

The Clearwater Legacy Project

Pete Seeger launched Clearwater 40 years ago with a vision of saving the Hudson River. Clearwater is renewing that spirit in 2009 to honor Pete’s 90th birthday, sloop Clearwater’s 40th anniversary and the commemoration of Henry Hudson’s arrival 400 years ago. Clearwater will again make a historic contribution to the Hudson Valley as we launch the Clearwater Legacy Project. This project will help grow the next generation of environmental leaders critical to our future.

Clearwater’s strategy to inspire, educate and activate the people in the Hudson Valley is still a powerful formula for success. Clearwater has wonderfully effective and synergetic program departments based on each of these themes. Over the last 40 years, our concerts, sloop education programs and environmental advocacy programs have inspired, educated and activated millions of people. We are the grassroots leader for the greening of the Hudson Valley, often referred to as the “Clearwater Nation” or “The Flagship of the Environmental Movement”. Clearwater is the 12 year old who starts a recycling program in their school, the leader of the DEC, the business owner incubating green jobs, the musician singing for a cleaner river or the parent who teaches their kids how to live in harmony with nature. At this critical time, we need to mobilize all our resources to grow the next generation of environmental leaders. As Pete says, “The time is now or we will not, I fear, have a future for the human race.”

The children in the Hudson Valley represent the lasting legacy and best hope for a sustainable future. Clearwater has developed a comprehensive program that combines the economics of developing green jobs for our youth and sustainable energy technologies for our cities. Clearwater has piloted connecting kids to the Hudson River and its watershed through innovative, hands-on learning programs that provide a continuum of learning and internship experiences from elementary school through college. These programs must be expanded to build a continuous “pipeline”, generating interest in the environment at a young age and then building on those experiences throughout elementary, middle and high school. Clearwater will help connect kids from the pipeline programs to career opportunities in the emerging green economy.

This comprehensive plan to develop the next generation of environmental leaders will establish a leadership pipeline for youth between the ages of 5-18, inclusive of all ethnicities, economic and cultural backgrounds from New York City north to the Capital District. We plan to focus particular attention on youth from inner city or under-resourced communities within the Valley’s environmental justice designated communities such as Harlem, Yonkers, Peekskill, Newburgh-Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Kingston, Hudson and Albany-Rensselaer.

To create this pipeline, three key components, all of which have been researched extensively, are necessary. The proposed Clearwater Legacy Project will make a significant impact and will provide a model for others to replicate:

Phase 1. Clearwater Center for Environmental Leadership and Justice: A base for creating progressive youth leadership development through inspirational and educational programs at an 84-acre state-owned campus in the City of Beacon.

Phase 2. A Lasting Legacy for All: Reaching out to all economic sectors in a sustained effort to endow programs serving low income and inner city populations.

Phase 3. Green Cities Initiative: Connect kids from eight key waterfront cities, via Green City Mentors, directly to the emerging green jobs, green cities sector.

Clearwater youth education programs reach over 15,000 people each year. Up to 250 children from this group can enter into the leadership pipeline with experiential, life-changing programs at summer camps, environmental leadership retreats and green job demonstration programs. At least 50% of these young people will be from inner city, under-resourced environments (the 8 key inner city communities) and will attend programs and training on scholarship. If we want a green sustainable future we must invest in our youth and grassroots. Pete launched the Clearwater 40 years ago to help save a river and begin saving tomorrow. The Clearwater Legacy Project is the natural step forward for a man and an organization taking strong leadership to grow the next generation of environmental leaders!

Make a contribution to support The Clearwater Legacy Project.