Designed and led by Youth Allies Organizers, Community Improvement Projects are created based on community needs and community assets assessments that are conducted every fall at the onset of the Organizing Program. However, these projects and campaigns are guided by an understanding that sustainability is only achieved when a community operates within the limits of its ecosystem and practices environmental stewardship, economic equity, social justice, and cultural democracy. From this understanding we believe “organizing for sustainability” must:

• Work to address root causes rather than superficial symptoms • Be inspiring not just critical • Promote solutions and alternatives to the status quo • Be designed to address more than one issue at a time • Strive toward holism by making connections between environmental sustainability and social justice • Develop the leadership capacity of marginalized communities and support leadership from those most directly impacted