Summertime is a chance for young changemakers to continue improving organizing and advocacy skills, building public support for important causes, and winning results – all while having a ton of fun in the process. I’d love to share some recent updates from our student-led, student-run clubs nationwide, as we pass the summer’s halfway point.
Summer Organizer Leadership Training Program
Our Organizer Leadership Training Program returns once more to support student activism over summer break. Our top student leaders are running trainings on foundational skills that, so far, have equipped over 250 of their peers with the tools needed to make an impact in their communities, from hosting educational events to advocating to local elected officials.
Below are just some of the campaigns that our participating students are working to make a difference on:
- Our Save the Bees campaign aims to protect millions of bees, butterflies and other pollinators by building public support for banning the usage of neonicotinoid insecticides (or “neonics”) by seed companies.
- Plastic Free July is a global movement, started by the Plastic Free Foundation, that encouraged the public to go the entire month of July without using single-use plastics.
- As part of our Beyond Plastics campaign, PIRG students are leading “nurdle hunts,” where community members patrol their local waterways and coastlines for nurdles — small plastic pellets used in manufacturing plastic products — in order to help clean up our environment and encourage participants to take political action on the issue.
Not only do participating students get to contribute to efforts that are making a real difference this summer, but also they learn what it takes to run a successful grassroots organizing and advocacy campaign – knowledge they’ll take with them throughout college and beyond.
Many of our summer training program’s graduates go on to start PIRG clubs and run their own campaigns on their campuses this fall. Some PIRG student leaders are creating curricula for high school students, helping guide the next generation to increase their civic engagement in constructive and effective ways. Others are enlisting student government leaders from their campuses to participate in our leadership trainings and campaigns, thus deepening our impact. Among the efforts taking shape: A new campaign to push for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles to commit to no single-use plastics in their event venues and athlete housing.
Going door-to-door makes a difference:
In addition to improving their leadership skills, our students are running their own grassroots outreach and education campaigns, on issues such as Right to Repair, protecting our state parks, and saving the bees! So far students have held more than 4,000 conversations with people at the door – a vital skill that will serve them well on campuses this fall and beyond.
In Madison, WI, students have been canvassing to educate the public on improving long-neglected infrastructure at Wisconsin state parks. In New Brunswick, NJ, students are building a groundswell of public support encouraging New Jersey to pass a law empowering consumers to repair and fix their own products, as part of the national Right to Repair movement. And in cities across California, students have been hard at work educating the public on the dangers that neonic-coated seeds pose to bee populations.
We’re thrilled that PIRG students are hungry to grow and improve their skills as leaders and organizers, no matter whether school’s in session or not.
Dan Xie
Political Director
Student PIRGs
@DanLikeDawn