SAGE Legacy Fellow Kristen Grompone leading an ecological women's retreat
“If you want something done, ask a busy person to do it.”
~comedian Lucille Ball
Future generations will have to address many of the ecological, social and economic challenges facing our communities today. These generations cannot yet advocate for themselves, and need our help making choices to support their rights to enjoy learning, environmental beauty, health and economic opportunities.
That’s why SAGE (Senior Advocates for Generational Equity) engages adults of all ages to advocate and act on behalf of younger and future generations. We are one of the newest nonprofit partners of The Intertwine Alliance, and are pleased to join your community working to integrate nature more deeply into our region. Like you, we believe this is important for today’s generations and for generations to come.
One of the ways we inspire people to give forward is through our Legacy Fellowship. The Legacy Fellowship is a 9-month leadership development program to train and support individuals and teams to design and implement a community benefit project with nonprofit, government or business partners.
This fall, we’ll launch our fifth cohort of Legacy Fellows, and we’d love to engage more fellows to lead volunteer projects on your behalf. As a member of The Intertwine Alliance, you have the special benefit of requesting a project for your organization, and we can train a fellow to implement your project idea.
You advance your mission. We inspire more people to find solutions. The future gets a better chance. It’s a win-win-win.
During the program, we’ll coach a fellow, through a series of nine evening workshops, to achieve results and to either complete the project or to achieve a major milestone. Then we host a large event to promote the projects and celebrate the fellows and organizations involved.
There’s a huge range of projects that can be led by a Legacy Fellow. To date, our fellows have undertaken projects like these:
- Raised funds to protect an Oregon white oak savanna from development, and then helped to restore the land as a nature park
- Developed a curriculum and retreat to empower women to restore Earth’s ecosystems, and to promote environmental justice and well-being
- Helped build the membership of a nonprofit organization to engage engineers in climate change education and advocacy initiatives
- Spearheaded an innovative approach to organize climate campaigns at the neighborhood level.
Do you have an idea for a project that would advance your mission? SAGE can help you turn your best values into effective actions by training a volunteer to lead a community benefit project for your organization. Submit a project idea for our fellows to consider. Space is limited, so apply today.
You advance your mission. We inspire more people to find solutions. The future gets a better chance. It’s a win-win-win.
Spotlight on Legacy Fellow Sami Springs
Kids are healthier, smarter and more focused when they can go outside, play and experience their surroundings in a more natural way. As an AmeriCorps member and SAGE Legacy Fellow, Sami Springs is working closely with The Intertwine Alliance and Portland Public Schools to create more nature-based schoolyards that feature nature play, gardens and native habits for plants and animals.
She’s focused her work on schools with limited resources, so more students can experience the health and educational benefits from the outdoors.
Reflecting on her experience, she says, “Being out in nature has been and always will be one of my favorite things to do, so to be able to work with all these great groups and organizations to bring nature directly to the students is truly special! It’s amazing to watch these schoolyards transform right before our eyes.”