Community Earth Councils
Community Earth Councils are groups of elders (50+) and youth (16-28) working together to address global environmental and social challenges at the local level. They build community, helping young people find meaning and purpose, while providing elders with a way to give back, inspire, and impact the future.
Participants in a Community Earth Council explore together how to bring vision into action. Following the American Leadership Forum's model, they first spend time getting to know each other. Then, they explore possible projects on which they might work together to address a community need, possibly in partnership with other individuals and/or organizations. After a period of planning, they move to implementation, working together shoulder to shoulder. Through their mutual efforts, elders and youth build deeper relationships and opportunities for mentorship and eldering emerge. These need not be formalized, but neither are they merely an afterthought. For, in a very real sense, the group service project is just a means to an end. The more enduring fruits of the Community Earth Council process are the building of real community and the mutual fulfillment experienced by both youth and elders collaborating in this modern rite of passage.