The Eco-Elite: An Eco-Literacy Program The Eco-Elite are middle and high school students from the Norton Neighborhoods of San Bernardino, California, especially the Valley View neighborhood, south of Mill, north of Orange Show Road, and between Tippecanoe and Waterman, is comprised of 351 households. Middle School children are bussed to Serrano Middle School, High School students to San Gorgonio High School. The Eco-Elite empowers teens to become masters of their environment--their natural, social, economic, and political environment. The Eco-Elite is an asset-based youth and community development project. It is based on empowering teens to use their gifts and talents and the assets of their neighborhood to increase their sense of mastery, their sense of place, their sense of pride, and their hope for the future. |
|
The Eco-Elite spend time in training to enhance their mastery by:
- learning the plants and animals of the Santa Ana River
- learning about the history of their neighborhood and the people who live there
- learning about gardening, nutrition, physical fitness, and environmental issues
- learning about careers in environmental science, city government, and health and human services
- learning about safety issues related to fire, guns, auto, bicycles, and CPR
- learning about other topics that emerge from their exploration and discovery of their neighborhood's ecology
The Eco-Elite take action to:
- Inspire and empower their peers and younger children in their neighborhood
- Get their neighborhood's fair share of city services
- Encourage and help their neighbors to comply with city codes relating to the appearance, animal control, safety, and environmental protection
- Create interpretive signs for the Santa Ana River Trail to be installed in the neighborhood
- Clean up and protect the Santa Ana River levee and river bottom
- Create a Native California Plant garden and learn how Native Americans used these plants
- Create an asset-map of their block, street, and neighborhood, including a "capacities inventory" of some of the people living there
- Make their work accessible to all in Spanish and English
| Western Plants and Environments |
|
Institutions |
Scientific Societies |
| Western Native Plant Societies |
This project is facilitated by Ron Graybill, PhD, Facilitator, Norton Neighborhoods Project; Community Outreach Director, Loma Linda University and Medical Center, (909) 910-9339 or (909) 558-7775
