Causes

Environment Diversity & inclusion Gender equity & justice

Posted by

Vicki O.

Innovation and Advancement Director

Our mission

The Alliance was created by visionary leaders nearly 40 years ago with a mission to co-create sustainability on a personal, organizational and planetary level. We developed one of the first definitions of sustainability: Ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just and humane, embodying our highest values in terms of how we treat people, animals and the planet.

We welcome you on our journey to co-create a diverse, inclusive alliance of more than one million people and organizations working together for personal and organizational transformation, impactful campaigns and public policies bringing about fundamental systems change and a world of SHE Kindness (Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness).

What we do

The Alliance has always had a focus on equity, diversity, inclusion and sustainability. Yet, it has been deeply affected by the ongoing, horrific murders of people of color, global pandemic, climate crisis and the anti-democracy movement. These caused the Alliance to re-evaluate our work in the summer of 2020 to ensure that everything the Alliance does actually addresses such fundamental challenges.

The Alliance now centers equity, health, sustainability and kindness in all our work. We developed a collaborative, impactful response, our comprehensive SHE Kindness Campaign (Sustainability, Health, Equity and Kindness).

The Campaign is collaborating with a wide variety of groups to co-create a diverse, inclusive alliance of more than one million people and organizations working together for personal and organizational transformation and public policy shifts to generate strategic tipping points to achieve fundamental systems change.

The Alliance is powered by diverse, dynamic college students and graduates from Minnesota and across the country who share their passion, commitment and expertise. They are leading our efforts to expand our communities and handling our social media, weekly e-Newsletter, campaigns, public policy and all other efforts.

Following the launch of the Alliance's December 2020 Declaration of Co-Creation and Interdependence, our bold commitment and call to action, the Alliance's SHE Kindness Campaign has focused on three target groups:

1. Policymakers, through high-impact campaigns and public policy with weekly Take Action with our partners
2. Business leaders, through our SHE Kindness Business Program starting with a Target Corporation 2021 Earth Month presentation for several hundred staff
3. Students and Educators, through our SHE Kindness School Program launching in the Fall of 2022

SHE Kindness School Program

The Alliance is launching its groundbreaking SHE Kindness School Program, a youth leadership development, education and action effort informing, inspiring and engaging students, educators, staff, administrators and parents to bring about sustainability, health, equity and kindness in their school, home and community. We seek to:

* Empower students to overcome "climate anxiety" and hopelessness to engage and take action for SHE Kindness, affecting everything from their homes and school operations to school district and city policy
* Develop cutting-edge, artistic, informative and inspiring SHE Kindness eBooks and website with interactive challenges, videos, games, and other resources, as well as our SHE Kindness Creativity Prize encouraging students to fully express themselves through art, poetry, rap, music, TikTok videos, essays and other creations
* Develop a new generation of sustainability leaders by training and paying the Alliance's dedicated college students from across the country to present and facilitate SHE Kindness in grades 6-12, while also guiding SHE Kindness efforts in their colleges, hometowns and future workplaces

In 2022 the Alliance will present virtually or in-person to students in 20 middle and high schools nationally, 10 of which will be in under-served communities. Our focus will be on schools that have not had access to these badly-needed resources in order to increase the impact.

The Program will provide valuable SHE Kindness resources and students will take on one or more challenges in each area of sustainability, health, equity and kindness, in addition to entering to win the SHE Kindness Creativity Prize. The students will track their progress on a weekly basis with the teacher and receive e-Awards upon completion after a month. Our team will compile this information to measure the impact and share it with the teacher and students. A thorough evaluation regarding engagement and impact will then be conducted.

Based on the results, the Alliance will modify the program and expand it to include more schools and support the creation of a student-run group in each school, Students for Sustainability, to undertake projects like reducing energy, water and waste, tree planting, school gardens and even shifting school district and city policies. In addition, the Alliance will help form a School Sustainability Team, composed of the administration, teachers, staff, students and parents, to address the school's operations and create opportunities for service learning and mentorship with business, government and nonprofits.