2022 Education Hero
Inspire the next generation of environmental leaders.
We've got so many reasons to give thanks! In each of our program areas, we see ordinary people taking heroic action to protect our home from the pressures of a changing climate.
This year-end, we're highlighting stories that inspired us and sharing how we're planting seeds to create a climate-resilient future for all of us.
Luckily, we're not alone on this journey!
A group of anonymous donors has offered a $50,000 match on donations made before December 31.
Through Dec 31, every dollar you give does 2X more— thanks to a $50,000 match!
Nallah swims during her 2019 YELP summer.
Meet Nallah, a 2019 alum of our Youth Environmental Leadership Program (YELP) and our Education Hero for 2022.
“I always say GreenWorks and the YELP program were my ‘big break,’” Nallah said.
“YELP immersed me deeply into different aspects of environmental advocacy. We got to try so many different activities —from working with wildlife in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, to studying macroinvertebrates, to tree identification, to leading workshops for the public.”
“When I was growing up in Minneapolis, the environment wasn’t on my radar,” Nallah said. When her family moved to Asheville, connecting with local friends who hiked regularly helped her fall in love with the mountains. She attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and as a junior, Nallah applied to the Z. Smith Reynolds Nonprofit Internship Program, and came to YELP as one of our student mentors.
“In YELP, we got to talk about equity. We talked about how some people just don’t have the lifestyle, access, or resources to enable them to have casual environmental experiences. YELP turned my brain on to environmental justice, and all those lessons have stuck with me through the years.”
After she completed her YELP summer, Nallah went on to found Afro Agriculture, an environmental education organization.
“GreenWorks was the first to financially back Afro Agriculture, and one of our first programs was delivered to YELP,” Nallah said.
"...You learn so much more than what was put on paper for you to learn that day."
Alongside Afro Agriculture and a host of other environmentally focused projects and jobs, Nallah interned with a community garden in Warnersville, a historically black farming community in Greensboro, N.C. This year, she took over the land and founded Peaceful Seeds of Warnersville, a community garden project where she grows food bound for food desert communities and teaches youth and community groups about food, nutrition, and agriculture.
“I’m so proud I was able to hire our first intern for this growing season, a 15-year-old who lives in the neighborhood, and I get to pay him appropriately for the work he’s doing, ” Nallah said, adding that her ultimate goal is to create a community of volunteers and partners that will support and invest in the project on an ongoing basis.
“I still talk to my YELP classmates to this day. We still check in on each other. For students who may not otherwise have been able to access these experiences, you learn so much more than what was put on paper for you to learn that day. You cannot put a price on that community or that knowledge,” Nallah said.
Connect youth with our beloved green and blue spaces
Children who learn to love the outdoors become adults who take action to protect the environment.
However, not every young person gets the same opportunities to explore the outdoors or to learn from working scientists or environmental leaders who look like them.
That’s why we intentionally invest energy into inspiring and equipping young leaders to take action to protect the environment in their own communities, and to be mindful of the impact they have on the environment throughout their own lives.
Right now, even as we’re preparing the YELP application for next summer, we know we simply don’t have the resources to accept every student who, like Nallah, would be inspired by what they experience—or whose teachers reach out to us to say, “I have a student who would do amazing things with this opportunity.”
Next year, we hope to add more students to the YELP program, and invest in our activities to make this the best summer possible.
We want to show students what awes us—what we love and value about the natural world and the green spaces we call home— but we are limited by the reach of our dollars.
Plant Adventures with (part of) the 2019 Class of YELP
Will you give a gift to help a young leader access the environment and explore their own potential?
Your gift will:
Give interns a peek into the world of professional conservation and environmental advocacy careers.
Take students on fun-focused outdoor adventures, like kayaking the French Broad River, hiking Purchase Knob, and camping in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Give them a chance to connect with BIPOC environmental experts and community leaders doing amazing work in WNC.
Learn job and life skills, including personal resilience, non-violent conflict resolution, interview skills and resume writing, and more.
Pay for gas, materials, and stipends to get our next class of YELP interns up and running.
In short: Your gift today makes it possible for us to inspire more young environmental leaders.
Plus, your gift will be matched, up to $50,000, by a generous group of anonymous donors. That means, every dollar will go twice as far to make YELP available to as many students as possible — especially students who may have been excluded, for cultural, access, or resource-related reasons, from the opportunity to connect with our beloved green and blue spaces here in Asheville.
P.S. You can check out all the fun Nallah has going on at Peaceful Seeds of Warnersville on the Warnersville Community Garden Facebook page.