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Students Advocating For the Environment

Students Advocating For the Environment

The Service in Schools Students Advocating For the Environment program aims to engage students in grades 6-10 in weekly service-learning sessions in which they will research policy related to an environmental issue affecting NYC and their local community—NYC water, fabric waste, food waste, or NYC air—and then develop an advocacy campaign to raise awareness and promote action. As a culmination of their work, students will present their service-learning projects and advocacy campaigns at the Celebration of Service culminating showcase in the spring. Check out the student projects from past Students Advocating For the Environment.

Apply by Friday, October 31 to participate in the 2025–26 Students Advocating For the Environment!

Students Advocating For the Environment FAQs 2025–26

What is the Students Advocating For the Environment program? 

The Student Advocating For the Environment program (SAFE) is a weekly service-learning and advocacy program for students in grades 6-10. The program consists of 8 to 10 weekly sessions (highly recommended as part of a classroom curriculum) facilitated by the participating teacher to lead students through an investigation of policy related to an environmental issue affecting their community, or NYC as a whole, and creating an advocacy campaign and/or making policy recommendations to raise awareness and promote action on one of the following topics: NYC water, fabric waste, food waste, and NYC air. The program culminates with students presenting at the Celebration of Service culminating showcase in May 2026. 

Who is eligible to participate in SAFE?

The 2025–26 Students Advocating For the Environment program is open teachers who have not previously participated in the Students Taking Action Today, Kids Action Team, Service-Learning Institute, or Race Against Waste programs and who are teaching students in grades 6-10 during the 2025–26 school year.  

What is required for the program application?

Interested teachers must complete the program application by 11:59pm on Friday, October 31. To ensure your application will be considered for the program, rank the four program topics—NYC water, fabric waste, food waste, or NYC air—as your first through fourth choice of service topic.  

Finalists for the 2025–26 SAFE program will be notified by email in mid November and will be asked to confirm their principal's support of their participation with an email template provided by Service in Schools. The principal support email is required for acceptance into SAFE. 

What is expected of teachers participating in SAFE?

Participating teachers are expected to hold 8 to 10 weekly sessions with students (highly recommended as part of classroom curriculum) from December 2025 through May 2026. Additionally, teachers are expected to participate in three full-day in-person professional learning sessions that will highlight promising practices for service-learning, resources and opportunities for engaging with experts and local organizations, and strategies for students to take action in their community. Teachers will also schedule planning calls and a school visit with a member of the Service in Schools team to aid in the development of a service-learning student experience. Finally, participating teachers will be expected to guide students through the completion of a service-learning project advocacy campaign and arrange for students' participation in the Celebration of Service culminating showcase in May 2026. 

When are the professional learning sessions held? What will be covered?

  1. Thursday, December 18, 2025, 9:00am–3:00pm - Intro to Service Learning and Partners in Youth Service (in person, midtown Manhattan)
  2. Thursday, January 29, 2026, 9:00am–3:00pm - Text Sets and Media for Service Learning (in person, midtown Manhattan)
  3. Thursday, February 26, 2026, 9:00am–3:00pm - Service-Learning Advocacy/Action Phase and Preparing for the Student Showcase (in person, midtown Manhattan)

How can teachers implement SAFE?

The weekly SAFE sessions should be held on a consistent schedule and in as consistent a format as is possible. If you have questions about how SAFE could work with your school schedule, email ServiceinSchools@schools.nyc.gov with three times you are available for a call and a team member will connect with you. 

Can two teachers work together on SAFE? 

While we encourage teachers to collaborate with colleagues and other stakeholders to enhance students' service-learning experience, SAFE is designed for one teacher to lead weekly service-learning sessions for students and attend all program professional learning sessions.

What are the benefits of participating in the SAFE program? 

For students, SAFE offers the opportunity to help their community while gaining knowledge from a variety of media and expert sources about a NYC issue and specific policy that impacts how the issue is (or isn't) addressed. The structure and content of weekly sessions support social emotional learning and civic engagement. The Celebration of Service culminating showcase in the spring gives students the opportunity to showcase their learning, service efforts, and advocacy campaign, as well as connect with students from other schools. 

For teachers, SAFE offers a supportive learning community of service-minded educators, access to digital resources, expertise and additional resources from community-based organizations, and personalized support from Service in Schools. Participating teachers are eligible to earn up to 16.5 CTLE credit hours for participation in the professional learning sessions.