At ACE, we’re meeting humanity’s greatest challenge – climate change – with the world’s greatest asset – the energy, creativity and potential of today’s youth. Young people own the future, and the urgency, pressure and opportunity of this global challenge, will bring forth their skills, talents and innovation in meeting it head on. Nutrition in cafeterias. Classroom energy use. Resiliency and support in the face of Superstorm Sandy. Inspired by ACE, youth invent and implement solutions that align with their interests, their community’s needs and their desire to have a positive impact on the planet.

That potential for breakthrough is why we’ve developed our strategy for change: the road map that lays out why our work matters; how we will have a bold impact; and what change will come when we succeed. ACE exists to build the awareness, capability and influence of the young people we work with. We are driven by what’s possible when a large-scale community of youth meets the challenge of climate change with solutions and actions for a thriving future.

Having a clear strategy allows us to focus our efforts on where we can have the most impact. It gives us guiding principles on how to measure our impact at every step along the way. It keeps us making progress towards our vision of a future where people thrive in equitable and sustainable communities.

Why ACE Matters

Climate change is happening right now – in flooding coastal cities, in drought-cracked farmlands, in wildfire-ravaged mountain towns. And it’s the most vulnerable communities that are being hit the hardest.

We have the power to act, but not the will to make change happen. The general public is largely uninformed about the severe risks of – and possible solutions to – climate change and lack a basic awareness of known climate science. And yet, as climate disruption occurs, more and more Americans are making the connection between our changing climate and their quality of life. Understanding the science of potential solutions will overcome fear, apathy and inaction.

We need strong community networks now more than ever. Organizations that have been working for decades on making a difference – the core of the environmental movement – are on the defensive, disconnected, and aging. Most importantly, as a whole, the movement does not authentically reflect or effectively relate to the diverse people and communities feeling the effects of climate change right now.

ACE is poised to meet these challenges by reaching, inspiring and involving the audiences we work with: diverse urban teenagers and young people ready to take action.

The drive, influence and potential of Gen Y and Gen Z can energize action, within the movement and in society at large. Our diverse audience of teens sees the impacts of climate change in their own communities and they speak directly to the issue with relevant and undeniable voices of experience. They are inspired by, and looking for, political, cultural and entrepreneurial breakthroughs – and they have the potential to invent, drive and demand those kinds of shifts.

How ACE works

We educate and inspire young people to meet the challenge of climate change with action grounded in the science and focused on solutions.

• With staff and networks on the ground, we bring a multimedia presentation to thousands of high schools and community groups around the country and provide educational resources to teachers around climate and sustainability. And it’s been proven effective.

• We connect with young people that haven’t traditionally been a part of the environmental movement: youth in urban, lower income areas from diverse cultural backgrounds.

• We’re revising the current presentation and teacher resources to meet new federal educational standards and to be more flexible to meet the specific needs of the schools and the students, and to include the climate impacts that are most locally relevant to the audience.

We measure results in attitude and behavior shifts by seeing how much students learn from the program, what they understand about climate change and how they intend to change their behaviors and influence others.

We train, connect and organize youth leaders.

• Thousands of young people have already attended ACE leadership trainings where they learn about issues, develop skills and work creatively and collaboratively with students from the surrounding region to identify solutions to climate change. We will use this foundation to go further in partnership with emerging leaders poised for personal growth and collective impact.

• We’re connecting this digitally savvy, highly networked generation beyond their school or city with stronger and increased social online engagement with our programs and each other.

• The movement needs leaders from the widest variety of backgrounds and experience to reach their fullest potential, if it is to be successful in confronting climate change. ACE develops pathways, programs and approaches that are broad and inclusive. Youth leaders shape the programs, campaigns and areas of climate action that are most relevant to who they are, within a framework of choices and opportunities offering limitless possibilities for growth.

We measure the number of informed and transformational leaders by looking at the students who take action, who voluntarily attend additional training, and who lead projects in their school or community, as well as student satisfaction and the length of time that students remain active with ACE and our partners.

We develop these leaders into influencers.

• We give them knowledge, tools, skills, connections and experience to make the most of their potential influence – not just with their peers in school, but also in their local community and the national ACE virtual community

• We connect them to partners, mentors and opportunities that allow them to reach their personal goals while working towards a sustainable future. We also provide opportunities to influence the direction of ACE programs as Youth Reps (while they’re in high school) or on ACE’s Youth Advisory Board (as ACE alumni).

• They remain connected to their families, friends and social networks, so as their influence grows within ACE, their peers and the larger climate movement, they are also influencing knowledge, choices and actions at home and in their community in ways that are relevant to who they are where they come from

We measure their influence and interconnectedness by measuring their intent to influence peers, parents and community; the number of students that take action through ACE or through connected partner ;and the number of young people who become ACE members through a friend’s invitation.

What we can achieve together

Breakthrough solutions and market innovation

• Whether it’s a breakthrough in technology, health, financing, social consciousness or communication, the inventiveness of a young, diverse and connected constituency brings new and bold solutions to the table.

• The economic, technological and cultural influence of this generation, coupled with their desire for newness, creates a market for breakthroughs that curb greenhouse gas production to be more widely adopted and generates public pressure to get communities ready to adapt today.

A community of readiness and public will

• An energetic, connected and diverse movement concerned about climate change will rally behind business, government and social answers to greenhouse gas reduction and work to ensure community resiliency in the face of climate change.

• Individual world-view and behavior shifts that start with simple things like reusable bottles will turn in to household, workplace and whole community shifts to zero waste.

Government leadership and accountability

• This generation is concerned with fairness and the future – and has little patience for delay, politicking or excuses.

• Young people are uniquely positioned to influence local issues through their energy and influential voices.

• Every year, 25% of new students we’ve reached become eligible to vote in an era when the influence of young, diverse voters is undeniable – after all, 19% of voters in the last election were millenials.

We’re ready. Are you?

There are a million possible ways to address climate change. The urgency and the enormity of the problem requires that all of them come to the table. We believe that bringing together creative, diverse, and informed young people that are ready to make a difference can impact culture, public policy and the discourse around the issue – and we’ve seen it happen.

It’s happened in Torrance, California where the energy and inventiveness of high school students gave them real experience in organizing and civic engagement, and brought green waste bins to every household in the city. It happened again in California where fossil-friendly Proposition 23 was defeated, not through the expected green lobbying groups, but through a diverse, young coalition working together for their community. And it’s happening right now in Colorado, where high school students are joining together to lobby the state for a single-use plastic bag ban.

ACE is ready to increase awareness, inspire action, develop the skills, spark the creativity and empower the collective energy of this amazing generation to tackle the biggest challenge facing our planet, making themselves, their communities and our future stronger in the process.