ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAM Overview

Programs: ELP is committed to creating a national community of environmental leaders through regional networks currently operating in New England, the Eastern region (New York, New Jersey, Delaware and eastern Pennsylvania), the Mid-Atlantic (Maryland, Virginia and DC) and the Southeast. Each region recruits 20-25 emerging environmental leaders a year for a year-long fellowship program that builds their capacity to lead across differences, effect change within their institutions, and build a more diverse constituency for their work within the environmental field. ELP strives to bring together a diverse cohort who can shape local and regional public agendas on environmental challenges and who can spur the development of innovative, equitable, and practical solutions. Recognizing that every sector plays a critical role in environmental progress, ELP recruits from across the field, including nonprofits, academia, government, and the private sector. ELP believes that future environmental leaders must reflect the increasingly diverse demographics of the American public, and that the environmental community must strengthen its ties with groups that have been historically underrepresented in the environmental field, including civil rights, faith, labor, community-based and public health organizations. ELP aims for roughly fifty percent people of color among its program participants.In addition to retreats and trainings, ELP Fellows impact their community through public events and supported projects. ELP Networking Events and Issue Forums convene environmental professionals, academics, activists, and other individuals to share ideas and resources and raise awareness about regional environmental issues. The ELP Activity Fund provides small grants that allow fellows to put their training into innovative projects that have tangible impact in the community.After completing the yearlong Fellowship, participants join ELP's national community of emerging environmental leaders. To date, ELP has created a dynamic network among approximately 350 of the country's top emerging environmental leaders. Through distance learning, online networking, continued training and national programming, such as our national conferences, ELP engages Senior Fellows on an ongoing basis, mobilizing the talented individuals in whom we have invested.