Sustainability & Stewardship
The Elevate Youth staff are committed stewards of the environment, and we do our best to live sustainable lifestyles. While these low-impact practices come fairly easily to us, we understand that the youth and mentors we serve do not necessarily view this type of behavior as a priority in their own lives. We believe that this is in part due to a lack of knowledge about how human habits are harming our planet, which is why we include environmental education as a core part of our curriculum.
Here are some of the efforts that Elevate Youth takes to tie-in stewardship and sustainability to our programs:
Local, organic food. We are committed to getting local, organic food to bring on our trips, for example from our community supported agriculture (CSA) share from Family Dinner in Somerville.
Public transportation. We are committed to using public transportation when feasible to access our outings - for example when we have sailing trips at Piers Park Sailing Center in East Boston, or kayaking trips at the Blessing of the Bay Boathouse in Somerville.
Recycle. Our office is located within The Nonprofit Center in downtown Boston. The building is LEED certified, including the three-stream recycling services throughout the building.
Kick plastic. Our sponsors Patagonia and Costa have inspired us to kick the habit of using single-use cups, straws, containers, and bags. Our staff made this commitment on June 8, 2018 (World Oceans Day).
Leave-No-Trace (LNT). Our Executive Director is a NOLS Alumni and Leave No Trace Master Educator. Our staff is trained in LNT curriculum, and we use the 7 principles as a benchmark when we create trip plans and write outing curriculum.
