Going Places, Making Choices

A Good Idea

Description

The US National 4-H Council has designed the Going Places, Making Choices (GPMC) program to empower youth to participate in decisions critical to the future of their communities. In this curriculum, high school-aged youth learn how their personal transportation choices affect issues like land use planning, air and water quality, climate change, and natural resources and energy use.

Goal / Mission

The curriculum is designed to build upon a young person's capacity for critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making and other life skills essential for a systematic approach to addressing issues of community sustainability. More specifically, they chose transport as a lens through which a community's environment, culture, and value systems are examined.

Results / Accomplishments

The program design and implementation strategies are products of an ongoing collaboration among youth, educators, business and government. During the rigorous two-year pilot-testing phase leading to the program's May 1999 launch, GPMC was enthusiastically embraced by educators, state and metropolitan transportation and planning agencies, and youth organizations across the US. Many public and private organizations endorse this initiative and most pledge in-kind and/or financial support. Dozens of schools have adopted the program, and many more plan to or have made a commitment to do so in the near future.

About this Promising Practice

Organization(s)
The US National 4-H Council
Primary Contact
National 4-H Council
7100 Connecticut Avenue
Chevy Chase, Maryland 20815
(301) 961-2800
info@fourhcouncil.edu
http://www.fourhcouncil.edu
Topics
Community / Transportation
Environmental Health / Built Environment
Environmental Health / Air
Organization(s)
The US National 4-H Council
Source
UN Habitat
Date of publication
2000
Target Audience
Teens