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For Immediate Release February 10, 2009 Educational Initiative Aims to Create New Green Leaders POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, America’s Flagship Environmental organization, announced today its “Next Generation Legacy Project”, an ambitious educational initiative that will bring together school age children and young adults to train and prepare them to create a sustainable world with green jobs.
“The members of Clearwater and its founder Pete Seeger made history forty years ago when it launched the sloop and helped lead the effort to clean up the Hudson River, and today we’re making history again by launching this major initiative to create the next generation of environmental leaders” said Jeff Rumpf, executive director of Clearwater. Clearwater’s announcement came at a press conference held this morning at their main office here in Poughkeepsie, NY. Divided into three phases along programmatic lines, the “Next Generation Legacy Project” will first be manifest at the Clearwater Center for Environmental Leadership, which will open its doors this May at the former University Settlement Camp in Beacon, NY. Eventually, Clearwater will establish eight Green Cities / Green Jobs Satellite Centers in Environmental Leadership along the Hudson River in partnership with local environmental and community groups between New York City and Albany. Pete Seeger, the legendary folk singer and activist, said that teaching our young people to create a sustainable future is absolutely necessary. “The time is now or we will not, I fear, have a future for the human race” he said. Congressman John Hall (D-Dover), a former Clearwater Board Member said in a statement that was read at the press conference, “The ‘Next Generation Legacy Project’ is another important initiative from Clearwater. I applaud Clearwater’s efforts to educate young people and create the next generation of environmental leaders. In order to strive for a sustainable world, we must teach our future leaders about the importance of environmental stewardship, creating green jobs and a green economy. I am confident that the ‘Next Generation Legacy Project’ will help to achieve this ambitious goal.” Funding for the “Next Generation Legacy Project” will be attained through a mix of public and private grants, corporate contributions, individual donors and special events. “We believe the environmental movement is just beginning, not ending, and we are going to be a major part of it” said Allan Shope, president of Clearwater’s board of directors. About Clearwater’s “Next Generation Legacy Project”
Having taken a major role in cleaning up the Hudson and fighting pollution everywhere, Clearwater truly understands that to enact important changes you have to first inspire and educate people to do so. Now, with its “Next Generation Legacy Project” Clearwater will be broadening its mission by bringing together school age children and young adults from our cities, suburbs and small towns to train and prepare them “to pick up the torch”, as Seeger likes to say, and create the sustainable world, with green jobs, that we all need. To create the next generation of environmental leaders, Clearwater is developing a comprehensive educational program that focuses on many of the elements necessary for a green economy, including sustainable energy technologies, best practices in organic farming and employment opportunities in new job sectors. Presently, Clearwater is piloting a scaled-down version of this program, which continues to utilize the organization’s longstanding methodology of connecting young people to the Hudson River and its watershed through innovative, hands-on learning. The idea is that the “Next Generation Legacy Project” will greatly expand and increase the number of these programs to build a veritable “pipeline” of green thinkers and future environmental leaders of all ethnicities, economic and cultural backgrounds. The “Next Generation Legacy Project” is divided into three phases along programmatic lines, although parts of each phase will take place concurrently. First, the Clearwater Center for Environmental Leadership will open its doors this May at the former University Settlement Camp in Beacon, NY. This will also house Clearwater’s new headquarters. Beginning in June 2009, Camp Clearwater will open its doors at the Center and host over one hundred middle school and high school students in two three-week sessions, as well as provide 20 “Classroom of the Waves” sail programs for 1,000 low-income school children. The new Clearwater Center will also be home to the organization’s Environmental Justice department and production facilities for the “Clearwater Moment” radio program, both also accessible as part of the educative experience and making the Center a real “learning laboratory.” Clearwater youth education programs presently reach over 15,000 people each year. At Camp Clearwater, it is planned that several hundred students will be in the “leadership pipeline” at any time, experiencing life-changing programs at camps, seminars, retreats, demonstrations and green jobs programs. With a unique capacity to engage young people with the wonders of the environment, this first phase pulls together all of Clearwater’s extant educational programs—in the schools, on the shoreline and on the boat—and offers longer, more engaging learning opportunities. Over the years, Clearwater’s multi-day programs, like “Young Women at the Helm” and “Urban Outreach Internships”, have had great success at encouraging young people to become environmentally-responsible citizens and to seek leadership roles in our society. The Clearwater Center promises to continue and formalize this important function for an even greater number of future leaders. It will be open to the public and is bound to become a signature destination point for thousands of visitors each year who want to learn more about our green future.
Finally, the third—and most far-reaching phase of Clearwater’s “Next Generation” project—will be the establishment of eight Green Cities / Green Jobs Satellite Centers in Environmental Leadership along the Hudson River in partnership with local environmental and community groups. This is to ensure that eight targeted cities / communities—New York City (Harlem), Yonkers, Peekskill, Newburgh, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Kingston and Albany—have powerful connections to their waterfronts through environmental education programs that will, in turn, support green job development and training programs for young people from the region’s inner cities. Another key part of this third phase is the creation of fully operational zero-carbon working waterfront facility, in Beacon or Saugerties, that will have space for a harbor master, boat maintenance, crew facilities and home port for the sloop Clearwater. Major repairs and restoration of the sloop, our famed “floating classroom”, will also be undertaken. It is anticipated that the first phase of the “Next Generation Legacy Project” alone will create about 40 new jobs at the new Clearwater Center, not including numerous construction jobs. Funding for the “Next Generation Legacy Project” will be attained through a mix of public and private grants, corporate contributions, individual donors and special events. The first phase is expected to cost just under $600,000, with about $400,000 already secured. Cost estimates for the second and third phases are $7,200,000 and $12,000,000, respectively. David Leonhardt, in a recent New York Times Magazine article, discusses The Race Between Education and Technology, a book written by two esteemed economists, Claudia Goldin and Lawrence Katz, who point out that education benefits society by leveraging its investments in other areas—medicine, infrastructure or alternative energy, to name a few. Says Leonhardt, “Education—educating more people and educating them better—appears to be the single best bet that a society can make.” Clearwater’s longtime strategy of inspiring, educating and activating people is still a powerful formula for success. Utilizing the greatest natural resource in the region—the majestic Hudson River—Clearwater has been the grassroots model for effecting changes to protect our planet. More than ever before, we need to realize a green, sustainable future by investing in our youth and creating the next generation of environmental leaders. This is what Clearwater is now proudly committing its resources to as a part of Pete Seeger’s remarkable legacy to the human race. Contact: Tom Staudter Communications Director Hudson River Sloop Clearwater 845-454-7673 x112 toms@clearwater.org |
| Photos: Andrew Lenec/Clearwater |
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