Environmental
Connection Opportunities for Students (ECOS) - Program Design
Overview - "Working the Economy"
ECOS meets the challenge of environmental justice 1 through the projected growth of employment in environmental fields. Kansas City faces a $4B sewer and stormwater project, mounting air quality issues, diminishing landfill space and the need to plant 120k trees in the next 10 years. All of these projects will require a local workforce. And who better to benefit from these new jobs and increased earning potential, than our young urban residents – improving themselves, their futures and their neighborhoods. KC Metro Job Growth
The ECOS program is designed to mirror the sustainability system of social, economic and environmental balance. ECOS contains four components, educate, involve, prepare and connect:
Educate
ECOS provides a science-based hands-on curriculum designed around Kansas City’s most urgent environmental needs including urban water quality and solid waste. The curriculum provides the context for students to understand and value summer internship and future green job opportunities.
Involve
ECOS includes significant service-learning and community education projects for the students including planting rain gardens and trees, testing water quality and restoring habitat. Students need direct and meaningful involvement to see themselves as part of a mainstream movement. One of our graduates recently stated, “The ECOS program made me feel like I was part of the environmental movement. I enjoy working with like-minded environmental people and want to continue.”
Prepare
ECOS incorporates job and life skills (including money management) to increase the success rate of students who represent a very diverse population in a field that has historically employed individuals from very similar backgrounds.
Connect
Our students work with over thirty environmental professionals over the course of a year. And they are exposed to additional adult role models through paid summer internships. Students are taught the concept of social capital and begin building a network of adults they know and trust who advise them, advocate for them and help them to navigate their path towards adulthood.
Service Learning and Internships for Dropout Prevention
The service-learning projects and internships designed into the ECOS program directly address dropout prevention. A 2008 study by Civic Enterprises found that 70% of dropouts reported that they did not see the real-world applications of their schoolwork. In addition, 80% of students believed that if schools provided opportunities for real-world learning including service-learning and internships, their chances of graduating would improve.
The End Result
Once they’ve completed the program, our students have new knowledge, new experiences, new skills and new connections to open doors that didn’t exist for them before. Our goal is to develop the next generation of urban residents who are actively involved in the environmental movement, advocate on behalf of themselves and their neighborhoods, and are benefiting from growing job opportunities in the environmental field.
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Green Works in Kansas City
1 Environmental Justice is defined as the fair treatment
and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race,
color, national origin, or income with respect to the environment.
Non-Discrimination
Green Works in Kansas City is committed to providing high-quality educational opportunities to qualified students regardless of economic or social status. Green Works will not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation or physical disability.
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