WASHINGTON (June 20, 2007) – The Red, White & Green Youth Action Campaign, a joint project of the nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute and Youth Service America, announce the 2nd round grant winners for community service projects addressing climate change. Campaigns will begin today and go through October 31, 2007.

Winners will engage their community, policy-makers and candidates running for election in 2007 and 2008. Winners will share the outcomes and next steps of their service projects with each other and with climate change experts.  They will also present their recommendations to high-level policy-makers at the end of this year.

A selection of the 29 Red, White & Green Youth Action Campaign grant winners include:  

• ALBUQUERQUE, NM - Nearly 300 youth will remove plants that require excessive water and grass, and landscape the area with rocks, sand and desert plants in an effort to promote water conservation in a process called xeriscaping. Youth will invite state senators, representatives, governor, city council, and mayor to participate as volunteers. The youth will also draft a petition in collaboration with the NMPIRG to impose water use restrictions around the state and give incentives for residents to xeriscape their property and present this petition to elected officials at the Fall event.
• BROOKLYN, NY - Youth from Bedford Academy High School will meet for six hours per week for 15 weeks to design a video campaign to educate their community on climate change and suggest actions that citizens can take to reverse climate change. The artwork, such as sculptures and comic drawings, created by students during the design time will be showcased in a local gallery and be part of the SONYA Studio Stroll 2007. Youth will meet with local council members to report their findings. They will also invite their national and state representatives to visit the gallery exhibit. The video produced by the youth will be sent to presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Rudi Giuliani.
• CHICAGO, IL - Expanding a project funded by the 2006 Red, White & Green Climate Change Grants, 100 students in Environmental Science courses or clubs within the Chicago Public Schools Service-Learning initiative will design projects that educate citizens, peers and elected officials about climate change. Each grantee school will host or organize a meeting with elected officials or a public policy organization to conduct a dialogue with them about global warming. The students involved will present their work at the State of Illinois Service-Learning Conference or the Chicago Service-Learning Conference during the 2007-08 school year.
• CHICAGO, IL - One hundred youth will create cloth shopping bags to be used instead of paper or plastic bags. The youth will research how conventional shopping bags impact the environment and create a presentation for local public officials on the effects of deforestation on the environment. Youth will offer strategies that remove plastic bags from stores and reduce the use of paper bags.
• DURHAM, NH - Sixty students at the University of New Hampshire will present simple lifestyle changes to reduce energy and water use and greenhouse gas emissions with an Energy Waste Watch Challenge competition. Energy Teams will be recruited within residential facilities through presentations to classes and orientation sessions. Each building’s energy and water use will be tracked during the competition and the results of the challenge will be reported to the school. Their goal is to make students aware of the links between their voting and behavior and climate change.
• EUGENE, OR - Youth will work to reduce CO2 emissions through education for individual action and lobbying for city policy changes. The students will convert a car to run on used vegetable oil from restaurants. They will document their project by video and on a newly-created website. The youth will attend City Council meetings in the fall to present weekly entertaining proposals for reducing CO2 emissions from cars, drive the car in the Eugene Celebration Parade and screen their video at two local high schools.
• NILES, IL - Younger youth (ages 5-14) in inner-city Chicago will paint a mural based on climate change as well as assembling and painting a sculpture made from donated bicycle frames demonstrating the impact of individuals to reduce greenhouse gases. The sculpture will be displayed in various art-houses and venues to ensure visibility. Youth will inform Mayor Richard Daley of their project, invite him to the school to see their work in action, and request his personal support of environmental action and education.
• WASHINGTON, DC - Members of Eco-Sense, an environmental group at American University, used a 2006 Red, White and Green Climate Change Grant to resist the political influence of Big Oil and are now working on making the University carbon neutral. Students are planning an afternoon of anti-climate change games and promotion of Eco-Sense through the Campus Climate Challenge at the beginning of the fall semester. Students who join Eco-Sense and complete the intensive training process will be given a “freshman project fund” of $100 to fund their own project that will take place by the end of the semester.

For the full list of grant winners, go to: YSA.org. To learn more about the CSI Red, White and Green campaign go to: RedWhiteandGreen.org.

The nonprofit and nonpartisan Civil Society Institute is a think tank that serves as a catalyst for change by creating problem-solving interactions among people, and between communities, government and business that can help to improve society. For CSI on the Web, please go to: www.CivilSocietyInstitute.org.

Youth Service America is national resource center that partners with thousands of organizations committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people, ages 5-25, to serve locally, nationally, and globally. Founded in 1986, YSA’s mission is to expand the impact of the youth service movement with communities, schools, corporations, and governments. In addition to Global Youth Service Day, which takes place every April in more than 115 countries, YSA also hosts servenet (www.servenet.org), providing the largest database of volunteer opportunities in America. For more information, visit: www.YSA.org.