Crossposted from WeArePowerShift.org
On April 5-7, the Virginia Alliance for a Cleaner Environment (VACE) and CCAN hosted a leadership summit in Richmond for students from around the state to gather and develop a long-term vision for what a unified climate movement across our campuses looks like in Virginia.
VACE, a student network of environmentalists, formed out of National Power Shift in 2011 as a way to connect students from across the state to one centralized movement for clean energy and sustainbility. They formed under the basic idea, why not bring all of the Virginia students in this room together to share their power? After organizing a highly successful Virginia Power Shift at Virginia Tech in 2012, the core leadership in VACE began transitioning to new faces. This weekend’s leadership summit was aimed at bridging those transitions and creating a plan to continuously expand and strengthen the VACE’s network and mission.
Over the course of the weekend, students participated in leadership development and team-building trainings, shared campus campaign efforts and best practices, and committed to a path of climate justice within the coalition. Students left the summit with a re-energized VACE core team and the foundations in place to build an effective and tight knit network of student activists.
So, what is VACE’s plan from here? We are going back to our roots, with Power Shift 2013. As a National weekend of activist trainings, workshops, presentations, and more, VACE is spending the next six months making sure any and all students who are interested in Power Shift are ready and able to join this 10,000 person youth convergence. If you are interested in finding out more about how you can attend Power Shift with VACE, fill out our interest form here.
If you are a student in Virginia, have friends in the state, or remembered you have an uncle’s step-cousin who loves camping and goes to a Virginia school, help us spread the word! Join this team of passionate student leaders in their crusade to build an unstoppable, unified environmental movement in Virginia. If you sign our interest form here, a VACE member will be in contact to let you know how you can get involved individually, with your campus group, or in your community.
PS- Stay in tune with what VACE is up to this summer by checking out their Facebook page here!
