WE’RE AT THE NEXUS OF ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ORGANIZING & CLIMATE EDUCATION.
Start:Empowerment (S:E) is a rapidly growing 501c3 nonprofit working in NYC and Austin established in 2019 by Kier Blake and Alexia Leclercq.
We work to infuse environmental justice histories, organizing skills, urban-agro training, and political education frameworks into learning spaces. This introduces more diverse content, drives learner growth and generates community impact while also contributing to the building, strengthening, and connecting of various movements in NYC and beyond to the current climate crisis.
The success of our work has been our robust relationship building in the community and collaboration with other (hyper)local organizations, collectives, coalitions, and groups in New York and Texas. Thus, we are indebted to these critical partners in creating accessible and radical community courses, excursions, and webinars on a wide range of topics for the general public.
Our Timeline
Since 2019, we have been listening to teachers, students, education advocates, environmental practitioners, organizers, and activists interested in promoting climate awareness to create a blended learning experience for classroom needs.
As a result, we generated traditional curricula tailored to New York State and Next Generation Science Standards for easy integration. We continued exploring action and justice-oriented education through non-traditional contexts via fostering intergenerational community hubs that center the experiences of frontline communities and grassroots organizers.
By 2022, we continued exploring action and justice-oriented education through non-traditional contexts via fostering intergenerational community hubs that center the experiences of frontline communities and grassroots organizers.
As a result, we created publicly accessible, politically conscious, organizer-centric learning spaces that continue to promote local, community-driven climate action and advocacy.
What's Ahead?
A series of photos of Alexia and Kier, co-founders of Start:Empowerment, from various events between 2019 and 2022.
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Meet our entire team here.