The future needs you. Here's where you start.
You already know climate change is real. What you probably haven't had is a way to do something about it that actually sticks. We give you a real project, mentors who have done this work, and a crew of teens across Portland building the same future.
Start at your school. Or start with the whole city.
The Student Impact Program
Your team picks a real problem on your campus or in your neighborhood. You design the fix, manage the budget and build it, with college fellows and climate professionals backing you up. It costs your school nothing to bring us in.
See how the year works →Next Gen Innovators (NGI)
NGI connects school eco-clubs, neighborhood teams and students working on their own. You can share what's working, pool your people and turn one school's idea into something the whole city notices. When you're ready to lead, NGI's Leadership Academy is your next step.
Join NGI →A year that ends with something real.
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We start with you
SeptemberBefore anything begins, we ask your school and student leaders what matters most there, and we look at what's already been tried so you build on it.
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Get the foundations
OctoberCollege fellows walk you through how climate works here, including heat waves, wildfire smoke and snowpack. You'll learn the big ideas: cutting emissions, adapting to what's coming, and who gets hit hardest.
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Design it
November – DecemberIn IdeaLabs, your team finds a real problem and figures out what's causing it. Then you write a plan with a timeline, partners and a line-item budget. Climate professionals stress-test it before you start.
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Build it
January – AprilIt's your project, so you're in charge. You buy the materials, line up partners, build it and track the results. Your fellow checks in every week. Then you present what you did to school leaders, city officials and your community.
What teams have built: Students went door to door to certify eco-homes and earned city signs for the houses that qualified. Teams mixed biochar into school gardens to pull carbon into the soil. Benson's SEED Club is turning an empty balcony into green space with $10,000 a year from the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF).
Where it runs now: Roosevelt, Jefferson, Benson, Ida B. Wells, Grant, Cleveland, Parkrose and Riverdale. It can run as a class, a lunch club or an after-school club, and it's free for your school.
Your green team shouldn't have to go it alone.
Right now, most Portland eco-clubs work alone. Each one runs the same cleanup, solves the same problems from scratch and stays small. NGI fixes that.
- Go bigger together. Pool your people and ideas so school projects become citywide projects that decision-makers can't ignore.
- Skip the guesswork. Use playbooks other teams have already tested, and share event resources.
- Find your people. This work is hard. Having a crew that keeps showing up makes it easier to stay in it.
Who can join: any middle school, high school or youth environmental group in the Portland area. You can join with your whole club or on your own.
Ready to lead? Five months. One stage.
The Leadership Academy is part of NGI. It's for members who want to run bigger things. Each month you learn one skill from people who use it in their work:
- Month 1StorytellingTell a story that gets people to act.
- Month 2OrganizingRecruit people, plan a campaign and build a team that lasts.
- Month 3Systems thinkingFind the root cause and the place where a push changes the most.
- Month 4NegotiationDeal with pushback from schools, cities and anyone else who says no.
- Month 5ResilienceLead without burning out.
You asked. Here's the real answer.
"Will I actually get to decide things?"
Yes. You pick the problem, write the budget and run the build. Adults coach. They don't take over.
"I'm not really a climate person."
You don't have to be. These are science, design, policy and communication projects. If there's one thing you'd change about your school or neighborhood, that's enough to start.
"Does any of this make a difference?"
We only take on projects with results you can point to, like a sign in a yard, carbon in the soil or a plan in front of city officials. Doing something real is the best answer we know to feeling stuck.
"What does it cost? How do I get there?"
The Student Impact Program is free for your school. Have questions about NGI or getting to events? Email us and we'll help you figure it out.
Not ready to commit? Just show up.
NGI events are casual and come with food. Meet teens from other schools and see what they're building.