Contact: Sharon Donovan
Communications Director, Earth Island Institute
sharondonovan@earthisland.org, 510-859-9161
Berkeley, CA (July 21, 2021) — The New Leaders Initiative of Earth Island Institute is excited to announce the dates for its virtual Brower Youth Awards, one of the leading environmental youth leadership awards in the country.
The first event, the Brower Youth Awards ceremony, will take place on October 14, 2021. The second event, a Q&A with the winners, will take place on October 19, 2021. Registration information will be available shortly, and the six winners will be announced later this summer.
“The Brower Youth Awards is always an inspiring and uplifting event, a great opportunity for young environmental leaders and supporters to come together and look toward a bright future,” said Mona Shomali, director of the New Leaders Initiative (NLI).
“The theme for this year’s event is ‘Our Power,’ referring to the unique power of this generation of winners. This year’s winners are all leaders that all have the strength to mobilize environmental activist movements. Through their activism, they are pushing the culture forward. Their unique power is their ability to effectively produce an impact, a paradigm shift in a time of environmental peril,” she added.
Earth Island Institute, an environmental nonprofit based in Berkeley, California, has been hosting the awards program for the past twenty-two years, through its New Leaders Initiative program, and in honor of the organization’s founder, legendary environmentalist David Brower.
The New Leaders Initiative provides cutting-edge, innovative programming to help build the capacity of young, emerging environmental activists. Every year, six young people based in North America are each awarded a cash prize of $3,000.
In addition to the award, NLI produces a leadership week for the winners that consists of training sessions by top leaders in their respective fields. This year’s training, with coaching on fundraising, leadership, and marketing, will provide the winners with skills they’ll need to succeed in building their programs and projects.
Past awardees have gone on to lead significant environmental programs and projects, including Chloe Maxmin, who won in 2013 for Divest Harvard and went on to become the Maine State Senator for District 13 in the 2020 election; May Boeve, who won in 2006 for the Clean Car Pledge and went on to become executive director of 350.org, a global grassroots movement working to build a future without fossil fuels; Billy Parish, who won in 2004 for the Climate Campaign and went on to become co-founder and CEO of Mosaic, the largest residential solar lending company in the U.S.; and Deland Chan, who won in 2001 for Roots and Shoots, NYC, and went on to become the director of Community Engaged Learning in the Program on Urban Studies and the co-founder of the Human Cities Initiative, both at Stanford University.
Images of this year’s winners, their bios, and video clips will be made available to the media upon request once they are announced. Winners will also be available for interview.