Focus the Nation

Focus the Nation

Type	501(c)3 nonprofit
Location	Portland, OR
Area served	United States of America
Focus	Youth leadership development
Motto	Empowering a generation to power a nation.
Website	www.focusthenation.org

Focus the Nation is a 501(c)(3) non profit organization started in 2006 dedicated to accelerating the transition to a clean energy economy through youth empowerment. Focus the Nation’s (FTN) leadership development programming supports young leaders in every state between the ages of 18 -28 and provides opportunities to interface with current elected and business leaders on solutions to energy issues. FTN’s Clean Energy Leadership Model contains three programs, Forums-to-Action, ReCharge! Youth Retreat, and Focus Roots Fellowships. Since 2008, Focus the Nation has engaged over 300,000 young leaders in direct dialogue with thousands of business and elected leaders.

Clean Energy Leadership Program

Focus the Nation approaches leadership development through the lens of an urgent and historic challenge: climate and clean energy. FTN believes intensely committed young clean energy leaders with robust civic, imaginative and systems-thinking capabilities are the key motivators of a clean energy future. FTN brings together students from four overarching categories; Innovators, Technicians, Storytellers, and Politicos. The Clean Energy Leadership Quadrant is incorporated into all aspects of Focus the Nation’s programming.

Innovators: Innovators need opportunities to create and demonstrate the power of new ideas.
Technicians: Technicians need opportunities to build and maintain the infrastructure of solutions.
Storytellers: Storytellers need opportunities and content to shape the narrative of their generation’s engagement with the clean energy transition.
Politicos: Politicos need opportunities to craft and advocate for policies that drive a transformative public agenda.

Forums-to-Action

Forums-to-Action engages hundreds of millennials on strategically selected campuses across the nation each year, developing their clean energy leadership skills and preparing them to moderate high-level, multi-sector education and panel discussions that develop and implement dynamic solutions. As part of the Forums-to-Action program, student teams host Clean Energy Forums every February, with the goal of identifying the obstacles to clean energy in their community and generating a clean energy solution for the student leaders to implement in their communities.

ReCharge! Youth Retreat

Each summer following the nationwide Clean Energy Forums, FTN holds and intensive Youth Leadership Retreat on Mt.Hood in Oregon for a select group of 20 young people who are interested in incorporating clean energy into their future careers. The ReCharge! Retreat broadens students’ range of skills such as identifying and leveraging community power structures; knowledge of a region’s historical and current energy transition and multi-industry collaboration. The underlying goal of the retreat is for the participants to return to their communities to launch new Forums-to-Action teams for the coming academic year.

Focus Roots Fellowships

Focus the Nation works closely with a small number of young leaders each year who are demonstrating high levels of creativity and innovation. As a Focus Roots Fellow, young social entrepreneurs implement projects in their communities that set examples of building hands-on, sustained support for tangible climate and clean energy solutions. Awarded on the basis of a competitive and juried selection process, the Focus Roots fellowships support stand-out students and young adults each year with $10,000 grants and strategic consultation.

History

Focus the Nation was founded in 2006 by Eban Goodstein, Professor of Economics at Lewis & Clark College. In 2008, Focus the Nation made headlines with its unprecedented nationwide teach-in. On January 31, 2008, more than 1,500 educational institutions across the United States participated in a day of education and nonpartisan discussion about climate change. In 2009, Focus the Nation hosted the Nationwide Townhall on America’s Clean Energy Future to explore local, regional, and national solutions to America’s energy challenges. In 2010, 20 schools were selected to pilot Focus the Nation’s new leadership development model.

Following the 2008 teach-in, Focus the Nation launched “Project Slingshot” with support from Clif Bar and 1% for the Planet. Three young people were each awarded $10,000 each to launch climate solutions into action. Project Slingshot has since evolved into the Focus Roots Fellowships, which provides opportunities for young leaders to build intergenerational mentor relationships with clean energy professionals, and achieve tangible, replicable results in their communities.

Focus the Nation is headquartered in Portland, Oregon at the Leftbank Project, a unique community-oriented workspace composed of three historic buildings. Garett Brenann, formerly Focus the Nation's Director of Media Relations and Strategic Adviser, is now the Executive Director, after working for Metropolitan Group, the nation’s leading social change agency.

Mission

Focus the Nation accelerates our transformation to a clean energy future by fostering connections between generations, and empowering young people through education, civic engagement, and action.

Vision

A just and prosperous clean energy future

Supporters

Focus the Nation's Board of Directors includes

• Tony Dennis, Owner, Delaris Consulting
• Anna Richter, Program Coordinator, The Nonprofit Technology Network
• William Barnes, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics University of Portland's Pamplin School of Business
• Laura Goble, Director of the Moreau Center for Service & Leadership, University of Portland
• Jesse Jenkins, Director of Energy and Climate Policy, The Breakthrough Institute
• Alexander de Roode, Sustainability Manager, Portland Community College
• Sarah Severn, Global Director of Corporate Responsibility Horizons, Nike, Inc
• Edward Wolf, Free-lance Writer, Portland,OR

Focus the Nation’s Advisory Board includes

• Rachel Barge, Executive Director of CleantechU
• Charles Baron, lead of Climate and Energy at google.org
• May Boeve, Co-coordinator for 350.org
• The Honorable Bill Bradbury, Former Secretary of State of Oregon
• Minna Brown, Former National Organizer with Focus the Nation
• Ross Chambless, Communication Intern, University of Utah
• Jared Duval, Author and Demos Fellow
• John Isham, Ph.D., Luce Professor of International Environmental Economics Middlebury College
• Bill McKibben, Writer/Founder 350.org
• William Moomaw, Ph.D., Founding Chairman of the Munsignhe Institute for Development
• Teryn Norris, Director of Americans for Energy Leadership, Senior Advisor at Breakthrough Institute
• Billy Parish, Director, Energy Action Coalition
• Terryl Ross, Ph.D., Director of Community and Diversity Oregon State University
• Alex Steffen, Co-Founder/Executive Editor Worldchanging
• Alex Tinker, Legislative Assistant to Oregon Representative Jefferson Smith
• Dr. Lisa Weasel, Portland State University Professor

External links

• Official Focus the Nation site
• Leftbank Project