Three Roots & Shoots Essentials
Every day, around the world, young people are making a difference in their communities through their participation in Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots. Through their creative and inspired projects Roots & Shoots members tackle problems facing people, animals and environment. Each group project is unique to their own community, but there are a few things that all successful groups have in common. Here are three essentials for completing an impactful Roots & Shoots project!
An Idea
It all starts with an idea. Many successful Roots & Shoots projects were started because attentive young people saw a problem in their community and came up with a solution. Look around, be curious, ask questions and you will find plenty of powerful projects with the potential to make a difference.
Roots & Shoots offers plenty of tools to help you come up with a project idea. Community mapping can help identify human, animal and environmental problems in your area. Roots & Shoots’ digital mapping tools allow you to identify both one-time service projects and longer campaigns. When deciding what you want your project to be, remember, the most successful projects are the ones that tackle issues you are passionate about.
Once you’ve identified a problem, you and your friends can use your creativity to start generating possible solutions and decide on the idea that you think will work best.
A Good Plan
Once you have an idea, you will need to make a plan to guide you on your way to reach that goal. Good plans consider all the important factors: how long will it take? How many people will be involved? What are the necessary resources?
When you’ve figured out your plan, you can share it with the global Roots & Shoots community by creating a project report on the Roots & Shoots website. This video shows how you can create and update your project online.
Lots of Spirit!
Of course the most essential item for any Roots & Shoots member is spirit! Roots & Shoots members show their spirit everyday through their exemplary leadership and dedication. Now, they have the opportunity to show that same spirit to the world with what they wear.
“Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.”
JGI is currently hosting a t-shirt fundraiser for Roots & Shoots to help even more classrooms create the next generation of curious, innovative thinkers who do good. What better way to tell the world that you care about people, animals and the environment than to wear your care proudly? The shirts come in a variety of styles, from unisex to long-sleeve, to sweatshirt, and feature a quote from Dr. Jane Goodall about the power we each have to make a difference. Not only will these shirts represent your Roots & Shoots spirit, but all proceeds will go directly towards funding the next generation of Jane Goodalls. You can order yours today on bonfirefunds.com!
However you decide to show it, make sure you’ve always got your Roots & Shoots spirit.
P.S. There’s still time to sign up for the Roots & Shoots online course; an innovative, online, professional development course that is free and open to everyone! For more information, click here.
