What is this?

The Student Environmental Activist Training (SEAT) is a free program open to middle and high school students in the Sacramento area.
SEAT consists of a 10 unit curriculum designed and offered by 350 Sacramento, a local, grassroots environmental non-profit.

Key goals of this program are:
(1) Provide education and training around key civic, leadership, social justice, activist, and community organizing skills and concepts that aren’t traditionally covered in schools.

(2) Connect students across the region and create a network of support for students to create and collaborate across environmental, climate and social justice clubs at their schools.

(3) Connect students to opportunities: volunteer opportunities, workforce development programs, exposure to local groups working to advance environmental, climate, or social justice. Students will have a chance to hear from guest speakers including other nonprofits, community and social justice advocates and organizations, and green workforce development programs in the Sacramento area.

In the past 350 Sacramento has hosted an in-person Youth Camp For Climate Action over the summer to connect students with a shared interest in learning about environmental activism across Sacramento. The COVID-19 pandemic took away many social, developmental, and extracurricular activities. We hope this program can provide students an opportunity to learn and connect with one another, and go on to create activities in their own communities.

How does the program work?

Each unit focuses around a topic and consists of 2 educational modules, with varying formats including: presentations, discussions, and workshops. This program doesn't require homework. We just ask for active participation, this is an interactive learning space to empower, not overburden.

Each unit also has 1 community module, with varying formats including: community building activities, guest speakers from our partner organizations, networking spaces, and local events.

The SEAT program is offered as both an after-school program and a summer program. The frequency and structure of modules may vary with each full session (10 units) of the program.

Partner Organizations:

• GRID Alternatives:
  GRID is a leading voice in low-income solar policy and the nation’s largest nonprofit solar installer, having trained over 44,000 participants in solar installation and serving families throughout California, Colorado, the Mid-Atlantic region, and tribal communities nationwide. https://gridalternatives.org/
• Sunrise Movement Sacramento:
  A youth-led group of environmental activists in association with the national Sunrise Movement. https://sites.google.com/view/sacsunrise/home
• Fridays For Future Sacramento:
  A group of young environmental activists founded in the spirit of the international Fridays For Future movement. https://fridaysforfuturesac.org/ 
• Resources for Independent Living:
  Promotes the socio-economic independence of persons with disabilities by providing peer-supported, consumer-directed independent living services and advocacy. https://www.ril-sacramento.org/
• Social Justice PolitiCorps Sacramento:
  Crowdsourcing politics, a collection of social justice advocates and organizations that track, report on, and mobilize around local government happenings. https://www.socialjusticesac.org/