Children helping with ground clearance at Westhay Nature Reserve - Paul Harris/2020VISION
Green Influencers
What is The Green Influencers Scheme?
The Green Influencers Scheme is a national movement created by The Ernest Cook Trust (an educational charity) and has 40 Green Mentors working with groups of young people aged 10 to 14 years old in developing their own environmental youth- led social action projects. This project aims to empower young people and nurture a lifelong passion for connecting with nature through environmental action and emphasises how young people can positively contribute to change within their local communities.
The Green Influencers Scheme is nationally funded by The Ernest Cook Trust match funded with the #iwill Fund. The National Lottery Community Fund and the Department of Culture Media & Sport (DCMS) are each investing £25 million seed funding to create the #iwill Fund and The Ernest Cook Trust is acting as a match funder and awarding grants on behalf of the #iwill Fund. Somerset Wildlife Trust and The Ninesquare Trust are also funding the scheme across Somerset.
More Information About The Green Influencers Scheme
Who is it for?
Four out of ten young people aged between 10 and 20 years old are already taking part in youth social action – activities that make a positive difference to others or the environment. But we know that almost twice as many young people want to take part but just need the chance, especially in disadvantaged communities.
Our Green Mentor Sophie is working closely with local schools and youth organisations to empower young people through learning and building skills to help them contribute and lead their local community through environmental action, creating deep, lasting and meaningful connections with the natural environment.
Each group invites 10 young people (aged mostly between 10 and 14 years old) to create and lead their own exciting projects. So far these have included litter campaigns and improving community spaces for wildlife and wellbeing.
We have groups already taking part in Taunton, Bridgwater, Bruton, Cheddar, Street and Glastonbury, but we’d love to hear from interested schools and youth organisations for projects running from September 2022!
So please contact our Green Mentor Sophie Cooper for more information.
Email: sophie.cooper@somersetwildlife.org
Green Influencers Scheme Grants
A £360 grant is available for each Green Influencers Scheme group to initiate their environmental social action project with the opportunity to apply for a further grant of up to £5,000.
Somerset Wildlife Trust's Green Mentor
We are delighted to welcome Sophie Cooper as our Green Mentor. Sophie is deeply passionate about wildlife and the environment and loves nothing better than generating her own enthusiasm in others! She has worked with young people all of her life and have extensive experience as a youth worker and former primary school teacher.
More information and contact details
For more information on The Ernest Cook Trust and The Green Influencers Scheme, visit: Green Influencers Scheme – The Ernest Cook Trust
For information about Green Influencers Scheme in Somerset email our Green Mentor Sophie: sophie.cooper@somersetwildlife.org
Our Somerset Wildlife Trust Green Influencers
Young people from Bridgwater, Taunton, Cheddar, Glastonbury and Street have been busy creating inspiring environmental social action projects in their communities. We'd like to share some of their amazing achievements!
Bridgwater College Academy
Bridgwater College Academy Green Influencers had great success in being awarded a £5000 grant from the Green Influencers Scheme. With this funding, they focused upon improving their school grounds for wellbeing and wildlife. They bought a polytunnel and began to grow their own fruit and vegetables. They also built bird houses, created hanging baskets and planted hundreds of tree saplings!
Bridgwater College Academy Green Influencers planted over 100 tree saplings to improve the school grounds for wildlife.
Bridgwater College Academy sowed a variety of edible seeds in their polytunnel and shared the produce they grew.
Avalon School
Avalon School Green Influencers focused their £360 grant on making space for wildlife in their community so they installed bird feeders, bird boxes, bee boxes and they assembled packets of pollinator-friendly flower seeds so that every person in the school could take a packet home and encourage wildlife into their gardens. They also bought a trail cam to see which species of wildlife visited their school grounds.
Avalon School Green Influencer filling up bird feeder with different food sources that will attract different species of bird.
Avalon School Green Influencers and their site team put up bird boxes around the school grounds to attract nesting birds.
