Causes: Education, Educational Services, Elementary & Secondary Schools, Environment, Environmental Education, Literacy, Natural Resources Conservation & Protection

Mission: The organization's mission is to bring about enduring institutional change to education by promoting sustainablitiy as a core k-12 learning framework. Through early education we can equip students with the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will lead to a sustainable future for everyone.

Results: CELF has reached more than 1 million students by training more than 13,000 teachers in over 4,000 schools. This is just the beginning of our work to bring systemic change to K-12 education that is based on engaging students in authentic, place-based learning using the environment as a context for learning.

Target demographics: Prepare students to understand the dynamic interconnected systems of the natural and human built world and become actively engaged citizens who contribute to a sustainable future for all.

Direct beneficiaries per year: 350 teachers in 25 school communities and 100,000 K-12 students

Geographic areas served: U. S. : California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Tennessee, Texas; UAE: Sharjah; Brazil

Programs: The CELF Summer Institute: a professional development curriculum intensive designed to advance educational goals together with locally identified social, economic and environmental objectives. The Institute builds practical curriculum integration of stewardship perspectives, skills and action and the restoration, rebuilding, and reconnecting of human communities and community stewardship and civic life. CELF Professional Learning Programs: the concepts of sustainability are universal, but every district and school starts from a different place in implementing sustainability education. CELF customized professional development helps schools infuse curriculum and school culture with education for a sustainable future. PD services include: gap analyses; on-site education for sustainability training and resources (specific to grade level and school or district needs and interests); and review of facilities "green" improvements to help infuse projects into curriculum. We provide a framework for integrating sustainability concepts into existing curricula, and review curriculum exemplars and case studies on implementation of sustainability education at other schools, often leading to the National Green Ribbon Award. CELF Citizen Science: Connecting Classroom to Community: this program engages educators and students in project-based STEAM learning outside the classroom. As environmental health researchers, middle and high school students collect and analyze air quality data in their communities using AirBeam technology. Using this data, students identify sources of air pollution, understand connections to human behaviors, develop prevention and remediation plans for their communities and share their findings with peers and policy makers. The year-long program combines the development of 21st century skills with the motivation and creativity generated by solving a problem in one's own community.