Our programs
Green Corps trains organizers, provides field support for today’s critical environmental campaigns, and graduates activists who have demonstrated the skills, temperament and commitment to fight and win tomorrow’s environmental battles.
Organizer Program
Our yearlong Organizer Program prepares individuals for careers in environmental action. Participants receive seven weeks of classroom training, then lead three campaigns across the country for hands-on experience in organizing, advocacy and grassroots fundraising.
Campaigner Program
Green Corps also offers the Campaigner Program. This four-month introduction to environmental organizing combines classroom instruction with real-world campaign work. The Campaigner Program is designed to both equip participants with foundational skills and open pathways to further opportunities in environmental advocacy. Select participants may be invited to enroll in our full-year Organizer Program.
Is Green Corps right for you?
History
Green Corps has been the nation’s most respected training program for environmental organizers for over 30 years.
Mission
We’re Green Corps (not equality corps, not health care corps, or some other corps) because the environment is the most important challenge facing our world today. We are laser-focused on the environment.
Organizing
We’re organizers. We understand the power of public support to transform good ideas into reality. That’s why we’re not here to train you to be an environmental lawyer, scientist or engineer. We’re here to train you to organize long-term support for the environment.
Training
To make an impact, you need training. We provide top-notch training in organizing and advocacy skills that have stood the test of time. Part of this training happens in a classroom setting with experienced organizers and advocates. Most of the training happens through hands-on experience, as you learn by doing. You’ll run three to four campaigns yourself, in different locations and on different issues. You’ll do things for the first time, make mistakes and learn how to adapt and persevere to make the biggest impact you can for the environment. This will help you build your skills and launch a lifetime career of impact.
Impact first
Green Corps packs a ton of experience into one short year. You learn organizing basics, including best practices that have stood the test of time. You also learn how to organize different constituencies in different contexts, including on a college campus, in a community and/or by running a campaign office.
Crash course
Green Corps packs a ton of experience into one short year. You will learn how to organize on a range of issues in multiple locations across the United States. You could be in Raleigh, North Carolina, working on a campaign to reduce single-use plastic pollution in the fall; then move to Pueblo, Colorado, to work on a campaign to advance clean energy in the spring; and then move to Chicago to run a fundraising office, building support for wetlands protection. You could also organize in different contexts — on a college campus, in a community, and knocking on doors in neighborhoods to fundraise and build support for a campaign.
Issues
In Green Corps, you work on the most pressing environmental issues of the day — from saving our last wild places, to protecting our oceans, to reducing climate change pollution.
Paid learning
Many people would pay for this kind of training. It’s like graduate school for organizing. But we’ve worked hard to fund the program so that we can offer it to anyone. We hire individuals at the start of their careers and are able to offer pay and benefits. Your “job” with this program is to learn the skills of organizing and to make a real difference on your campaigns.
Challenge
We challenge you. In Green Corps, we give you a ton of responsibility, the kind that pushes you outside of your comfort zone. You’ll be in the “learning zone” for most of the program — likely doing things you’ve never done before. You’ll be reaching out to new people every day, asking them to take action or volunteer with you. You’ll be meeting with community leaders, reporters and elected officials, all to build support for your campaign. That’s what it takes to learn the craft of organizing and make an impact.
Rewarding
This is important work and it’s hard work. It’s also rewarding and fun. In Green Corps, you meet amazing people among your classmates, your trainers and directors and your campaign volunteers. You’ll also make a lasting impact on the environment, having gained the skills to continue making positive changes for your career.