Listening Session V: How Can Career and Technical Education & Out-of-School Programs Address Climate Change?

Join us on March 18 at 1pm ET for Listening Session V: How Can Career and Technical Education and Out-of-School Programs Help Address Climate Change? Many children and youth attend out of school programming, which provide critical opportunities for experiential education. Similarly, nearly 9 million students take CTE courses which involve hands-on learning as preparation for job opportunities. This listening session will focus on how out-of-school and CTE programs are uniquely positioned to engage youth in learning about sustainability and green careers. Panelists will share their experiences developing and implementing both types of programs.

Register here.

Panelists

Amara Ifeji is a Grassroots Development Coordinator with the Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) and a freshman at Northeastern University pursuing a B.S in Politics, Philosophy, & Economics with a concentration in Environment and Energy Policy and a minor in Environmental Studies. In high school, her lack of environmental education prompted her to self-seek such learning opportunities through leading her school's student-driven water quality management team for BIPOC, female-identifying, and lower-income students, co-organizing school-wide climate education learning initiatives, and conducting internationally-awarded environmental research. At MEEA, Amara advocates for intersectional climate justice solutions, equitable access to the outdoors, and empowering youth to spark change in their local communities. She also works with the Nature-Based Education Consortium (NBEC) on local and state-level policy advocacy. For her work in promoting environmental education, she was awarded the Global North American Environmental Education 30 Under 30 International Award and the National Geographic Young Explorer Award.

Herb Lee, Jr. is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific American Foundation (PAF). Herb is a Native Hawaiian that has led multiple gifted and talented youth leadership programs, career planning and development, STEM education and culture-based curriculum projects including the award winning “Kahea Loko and the Aloha ‘Āina” projects. His programs have trained over 6,000 teachers statewide in over 150 schools and benefited over 100,000 students spanning grade levels P to 20. In 2011, Herb founded the Hawaii Institute of Knowledge and Innovation (HIKI) under PAF. Herb is one of the founders of the Waikalua Loko Fishpond Preservation Society in Kaneohe, O’ahu, a non-profit organization whose mission is education through the protection, preservation, restoration and perpetual stewardship of an ancient (400 year old) cultural resource. He serves on numerous boards and community groups and in 2011 was selected to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee Indigenous People Working Group and received the Historic Hawaii Foundation’s highest Preservation Award for the work at the Waikalua Loko Fishpond.

Diallo Shabazz is the Managing Director of Braven Solutions and Director of the New York PTECH Leadership Council. He is a global strategic advisor and sustainability education expert who specializes in educational models that prepare youth and adults for a sustainable future, and to work in industries accelerating their adoption of green technologies. Diallo previously served as Senior Director of Sustainability Education at the NYC Department of Education, where he supported the nation’s largest school district in modernizing its CTE portfolio and managed public/private partnerships with hundreds of employers to improve program design and access to STEM careers. He also served as advisor to the founding committees that launched the innovative PTECH High Schools with IBM, and the STEAM Center at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Previously, Diallo was appointed as a North American Civil Society Representative for the United Nations Environment Program and served as Director of Green Workforce Development for Solar One. Diallo is a co-founder and board member of Birthright AFRICA, a non-profit organization committed to providing a free educational trip to Africa for every Black student in the United States to discover their legacy of innovation.

Dr. K. Kevin Aten is the Superintendent of Schools in Bayfield School District. As a Colorado native, Dr. Aten take great pride in the fact his roots run deep in the Centennial State as he grew up on a farm between Durango and Bayfield. Dr. Aten began his educational career in 1990 serving Durango High School as an English, newspaper, yearbook, and video teacher for six years. He was then an assistant principal and Career and Technical Education Director at Rifle High School for six years. He was principal for 10 years at Mountain View High School in Loveland, Colorado, which was recognized as one of the top 10 high schools in the United States for Positive Behavior Instructional Support. He served a total of 6 years at the assistant superintendent level including Greeley-Evans School District 6 as the Chief Human Resources Officer and Estes Park School District Director of Innovation and Technology.