Tomorrow the Cultural Arts Coalition along with the Mayor's Office will be hosting the third annual Gainesville and Alachua County Environmental Youth Summit.
Nkwanda Jah, director for the Cultural Arts Coalition and event organizer, says students will be able to learn about natural resources from organizations such as GRU, the county Environmental Protection Department and Santa Fe College. She says she hopes the event will spark interest among the younger generation.
"We believe if we get them while they are young, they will grow to be better stewards of our natural resources.
They also are making an effort to bring communities of color into being active, Jah said.
Jah says many of the students have been honored within their communities for environmental projects they completed through the Youth Summit.
"Our students have been recognized by the City of Gainesville and proclamation fo the mayor. Been recognized in their own organizations, Upward bound.
Jah says the event grows every year in order to give the students more opportunities for leadership roles.
"The first year we did it, the adults were the organizers and the presenters, "Last year students were the presenters and the speaker. We hoping that next year we'll step it up to the students being organizers as well as presenters."
Jah says the Youth Summit will be held at the new environmentally conscious GRU Eastside Operations Center.
"We will be the first community organization to use GRU's new facility on North Main and we are really excited about that," Jay said. "It has the garden on the roof, which shows you GRU's consciousness on the environment."
Currently 128 students are signed up to attend the four-hour event