Students across the nation have learned how to be environmentally conscious through the work of Earth Force, a nonprofit focused on educating teachers on how to build environmental community projects with their students.

“We target fifth to 10^th grade students because that’s the age people start to develop their personality, belief systems, value systems, and where environmental work needs to happen to build environmentally educated people,” says Justin Zakoren, Earth Force program manager for the Denver, Colo., area.

Earth Force works with teachers to give them a framework for their classroom work, which guides students to ask questions, identify issues and create solutions.

“Service learning is the best way to learn because you learn by doing,” says Earth Force President and CEO Vince Meldrum. “We’re encouraging students to do things in their community and they come away with a base knowledge of how to influence their community. They create a skillset inside and outside the classroom.”

“We’re creating environmental citizens, but also creating students who can independently research issues and understand the distinction between policy and practice,” Justin adds.

One class of sixth graders from Rooney Ranch Elementary School put the Earth Force curriculum to work. Students took an inventory of their school grounds and surrounding community and found the storm water outlet behind their school was littered with garbage and graffiti. The students focused their energy on how to clean up the area and keep it clean.

“They wrote to the city to help cover up the graffiti and secured a trash can for the litter. In that process, they spoke to the mayor, invited the city’s public works department to the storm water outlet and made an agreement that they’d let the city know when the trash can needed to be emptied,” Justin says.

The following school year, the students came back and noticed the trash can was being used, but the graffiti was back, so they created another task force and decided to cover up the graffiti with a mural that would be covered with a clear coat of special paint that is graffiti-resistant.

“I liked this because a lot of times you come into situations where you have the issue, but the solutions are simplistic, and here they’ve thought it through with a solution that will stop it,” Justin adds. “The students have also reached out to the fourth-graders to ensure the work is continued next year.”

“We work with educators who are under so much pressure to train them on our model and help them translate that to middle school kids,” Vince says. “I have teachers who tell me learning the Earth Force model has kept them in teaching. It makes education what teachers hope it will be – fun. We evaluate our programs and find teachers do more projects and we see kids as assets to the community.”

State Farm^® has supported Earth Force programs since 2008, allowing youth to complete tangible environmental programs and supporting teachers with education and project support.

“State Farm has been a big partner of ours. The grants we’ve received have allowed us to innovate and add another angle to the program and our State Farm partners have helped us identify community resources, volunteers and where we need to expand next,” Vince says. “There’s a credibility having an ongoing relationship with a company like State Farm.”

Michael Howard had one mission when he began painting murals twenty years ago; combat the graffiti that had sprung up around his neighborhood near Los Angeles,California. Almost 1,000 murals later, Michael’s mission has evolved into much more than simply painting over unwelcomed graffiti. Today, his mission is to use art as a way to empower youth to improve their communities by creating powerful and impactful murals with a message.

Founded by Michael in 1993, Operation Clean Slate (OCS) works throughout Southern California to provide students with a platform to artistically express themselves while enhancing their community. These messages are thoughtfully designed and are part of vibrantly colored murals placed in schools, community centers and many other locations. OCS’s murals promote topics like safe driving, healthy eating, water conservation and encouraging activity and exercise.

With the support of State Farm, OCS recently completed two new murals encouraging students and their communities to drive safely. The murals are located at Valley High School in Santa Ana, CA and at the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA.

OCS continues to transform blank walls, creating beautiful murals with powerful messages. They are also expanding their work to broaden the number of people and communities impacted by the murals.

Valley High School, Santa Ana, CA

Valley High School alumni and a current UC Berkeley student, Dulce Lopez designed a recently completed mural at her alma mater, Valley High School in Santa Ana, CA. The design includes the message, “Texting…It Can Wait. Don’t text your life away.”

As students and volunteers painted the mural, a number of people walked by and wondered what was being created. One student even stopped and asked, “Don’t text your life away? What does that mean?” That’s the power of these murals. They have the ability to get people thinking about choices that could positively impact their life.

Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA

At the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park, CA, students carefully painted a mural at their community center. Inside, the students were being taught about road safety. OCS partnered with Impact Teen Drivers to educate students about making positive choices as they become new drivers. Their mural reads, “It’s not worth the hype to drive and type.”

The mural’s impact extends beyond the education happening inside the center, but rather to the community at large. “Operation Clean Slate’s artwork not only enhances the visual appeal of the structure, but carries a powerful and impactful message.” said California State Senator, Tony Mendoza. “The mural at the Boys and Girls Club of Buena Park will serve as a daily reminder to practice safe driving habits, and will hopefully drive meaningful conversations in the community and among young people that will help improve road safety.”