This summer, a total of 45 youth members from six chapters across the west (Utah, Idaho, Puerto Rico, Rio Grande, Los Angeles, and Mother Lode) went to the Clair Tapaan Lodge in the Lake Tahoe area in California for the revival of the youth summer program, SPROG, for the first time since its discontinuation in 2023.
The SPROG program - short for Summer Program - is a legacy of the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC), which is the youth branch of the Sierra Club. It was founded by Adam Werbach in 1991 to network young people together to protect their future by training, organizing, campaigning, and developing as leaders in the service of environmental, racial, and economic justice. Each summer, students from across the country would gather to learn and join communities in preparation for mobilization in activism. SPROG helped build skills amongst the youth in nonviolent direct action, storytelling, campaign strategy, and artistic communications.
Despite its impact, the SSC was disbanded in 2023 due to shifting national priorities, and the coalition was defunded, regardless of popular opinion, to continue its operations. The decision to dissolve was without a formal vote, even though SSC was technically under Chapter Status. Since its dissolution, former members and youth organizers continued to advocate for its return.
After SPROG was dismantled, chapters continued to support youth organizing, allowing for young leaders to build local movements, advocate for their future, and attend trainings. Although chapters continued to prioritize this, there was still a need for a recognized chapter, such as the former SSC, that could unite young Sierra Club members across North America.
The planning to relaunch SPROG in 2025 was an arduous and intricate process that required collaboration across chapters rooted in the shared belief that investing in young leaders in the present helps to secure the future of the environmental movement.
The week focused on supporting participants in cultivating relationships, developing organizing skills and establishing a community. Participants took part in workshops on campaign strategy, direct action, and climate justice frameworks, while also learning about the history, culture, and land of the region from a Waši∙šiw (Washoe) educator - one of the indigenous tribes of the Lake Tahoe Basin. It became extremely apparent that the desire for a coalition amongst youth within the Sierra Club was strong.
SPROG is a place where young communities with the goal to solve our climate crisis can gather and connect. The tools and skills they are taught enable them to emerge as better organizers and mobilize campaigns. Young people are not only the future of our environment; they are the present. In the coming years, chapters and young leaders in the Sierra Club are committed to building SPROG into a nationally supported, regionally rooted program that encourages and supports the next generation of climate activists.