Youth Scholarship Information

Scholarship Application Overview

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until August 29th, 2008. Space is limited, so you are encouraged to get your completed application in early!

Scholarships are offered to bring a diverse youth contingent to the Bioneers Conference, who would otherwise not be able to attend. Scholarships can cover registration, and some lodging, meals and travel costs.

The scholarship program is a unique opportunity to enter into a dynamic network of youth, educators, and organizations that care about the state of our Earth and people. By receiving and accepting a scholarship to the Bioneers Conference you are also becoming an informal advisor to the Bioneers Youth Program. Not only do you get to experience the Bioneers Conference, but you will gain exposure to many resources and opportunities to continue engagement throughout the year.

We strongly encourage you to apply for a full scholarship to attend all three days of the Conference, including the full-day orientation on Thursday, October 16th. The Thursday orientation will serve as a grounding place for all youth, educators, and will be an exciting learning experience for all! It will also give you the opportunity to participate in specific TRACKS on various topics of interest that will only be available to sign up for during the orientation! The Bioneers Conference is designed as a three-day event and we believe the experience is far richer for people who attend in its entirety. However, we understand and respect that in some cases this is impossible.

If you can cover the conference costs on your own, or pay the half scholarship rate of $60 per day, please fill out the Half Scholarship Application. Please contact youth@bioneers.org or call 415.287.4213 for more information.

There are four types of scholarships available through the Bioneers Youth Program:

• Half Scholarship: For youth, student, young educators and groups that would like to apply for HALF off the regular conference registration. The rate is $60 per day or $180 for the weekend. What a deal!
• Youth Scholarship: Individuals 14 - 23 years old at the time of the Bioneers Conference in October 2008 are eligible to apply.
• Young Educator Scholarship: Young educators under 30 who are employed at a K-12 or university at the time of the Bioneers Conference in October 2008 are eligible to apply.
• Group Scholarship: Groups consisting of four youth 14 - 23 years old at the time of the Bioneers Conference in October 2008 and one group leader are eligible to apply.

CONFERENCE
In addition to the many opportunities at Bioneers to learn, network, share information and energize your activism, there are workshops and events planned to integrate the younger and older generations attending Bioneers. We encourage scholarship recipients to participate in the conference as much as possible to explore youth and educator related issues and connect with peers and mentors. For more information about workshops that are geared specifically towards youth and workshops that were designed to be intergenerational, check out the 2008 Conference Youth Program on the web for suggestions of workshops that may be of interest. Details will be available in the youth section of the website in July.

THURSDAY (Full-Day) ORIENTATION – Included with conference scholarship
Join the movement! In this full day orientation to Bioneers, we will convene for a day of grounding, insight, team-building, and to prepare for the 3-day conference ahead. It will also give you the opportunity to participate in specific TRACKS on various topics of interest that will only be available to sign up for during the orientation! These tracks are in Non-Violent Direct Action, Council Practice, Art & Movement, Food & Farming, & Digital Storytelling. SEE BELOW!

ACTION TRACK INFORMATION
In order to enhance your overall Bioneers Conference experience, we are hosting a series of tracks that will allow you to participate in group experience led by experts in particular topics. The information below will give you insight on what each track is about. On the Scholarship Requests form, you’ll be asked to choose your top interest so that we can plan accordingly!

• Non-Violent Direct Action (NVDA)
  -A skill based and information training using the conference as a framework for investigation, adventure, and direct action skill training. Facilitated by local leaders from Global Exchange, Rainforest Action Network, the Ruckus Society, and Greenpeace.

• Council Practice
  -Join council leaders Shay Sloan and Will Scott as they facilitate and open dialogue throughout the weekend in a respectful, joyous, and fun way! Learn to listen, and speak with clear intentions and an open heart and mind.

• Art & Movement
  -Interest in art, theater, spoken word, dance, and movement? This track is for you!

• No particular action track
  -If none of the tracks interest you, don’t feel like you have to pick one. We’ll have a group that just wants to go with the flow of the event.

• Digital Storytelling/Media (must be local to Bay Area) & (may include off-sight activities)
  -Hosted by Art in Action, this training will be focused on Digital Storytelling and will educate, catalyze, and empower the next generation of media makers to help tell their story as it relates to topics within Bioneers. For more information and updates, email Liz at liz@bioneers.org. (space limited)

• Food & Farming (off- sight)
  -This group will go on a tour of Star Organic Farm, a trip to the Marin Farmers Market, and a GRUB party with chef and author Bryant Terry. For more information AND to be considered, email Liz at liz@bioneers.org. (space limited)

LODGING

• Camping: We reserve camping spots at the China Camp State Park. It is a beautiful and large camp site about five miles from the Conference Grounds and takes five to ten minutes with a car. Carpool and rides are usually available, though sometimes challenging to arrange. If you own a bike, it’s an excellent alternative to get to and from the conference! For more information, http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=466

• Marin Headlands: Located at the scenic Marin Headlands, which is part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, we havea great option for housing in the area. This option is ideal for groups or individuals with transportation as it is located about 25 minutes from the Marin Center. We are exploring shared transportation options! A sliding scale donation of $5-$100 for 3 nights of accommodations is suggested, but not required.
  • Headlands Institute: We’ve reserved a limited number of beds that will be available in shared gender-separated dorms. Shower facilities will be available, and breakfast will be available in the morning before the conference.

• Marin Homes: Marin County community members host scholarship recipients in their homes during the Conference weekend. This is ideal for a group or an individual from out of town and is a great way to get to know the locals.

MEALS
We have a limited number of lunch and dinner meal tickets for scholarship recipients. The pre-paid lunch is $12 and dinner is $18. Meals are organic with vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. Food vendors are also available onsite, with the option of vegan food. Please request meal ticket support only if you are unable to cover them otherwise.

FUNDRAISING
There are a lot of ways to fundraise to cover your expenses for the Bioneers Conference. Consider asking for support from individual donors in your community or hosting an event to raise money. Be creative. Also, stay tuned for ideas up on our website at youth.bioneer.org.

• **CHICO BAG PARTNERSHIP: This year, we’ve partnered with Chico Bag, a company that has produced a reusable grocery bag. We’ll be setting up a way for groups and individuals to earn money to support their fundraising efforts by selling the bags at $5 a bag! For more information and updates, visit: youth.bioneers.org/chicobag

MENTORING & the BIONEERS YOUTH ADVISORY COUNCIL
We’ve partnered with DreamNow to ensure that each youth program participant will have the opportunity to have a peer mentor that will be chosen at the conference. These mentor groups will continue after the conference and you will have opportunities to check-in and follow-up on ideas that may have been generated while at the conference. The mentors will be members of the Bioneers Youth Advisory Council who will be informed and trained on how to lead a group of peers. If you are interested in becoming a Bioneers Youth Advisory Council member, please visit www.bioneers.org/youth/byac.

NOTIFICATION
Scholarship applicants will be notified if they have a received a scholarship by September 5th, 2008 and will receive a confirmation package in the mail shortly after with additional information and registration materials.

REGISTRATION
The scholarship application is not a registration form for the Bioneers Conference. Upon being confirmed we will send you registration materials. We ask that scholarship recipients immediately send the completed registration form to the San Francisco office, with any necessary payments. The registration form will be sent to you with your scholarship confirmation.

EVALUATION or PAY IT FORWARD
If you receive a scholarship, we ask that you complete an evaluation form or participate in our new PAY IT FORWARD option. We consider Bioneers and the Youth Program to be an educational experience and view the evaluation as another opportunity to deepen the experience and extend the vision, inspiration and knowledge at Bioneers beyond the Conference weekend.

You can either complete the regular conference evaluation form or PAY IT FORWARD! What does that mean? It means that you recognize the value of a scholarship, and instead of paying us back for the cost, you pay it forward. This can be volunteering with a local organization, creating a video or photo project from your experience and sending it to Bioneers, going to a local school or organization and telling them what you learned, or doing something else that sparks creativity, fun, and helps inspire positive social change!

Submit completed applications NO LATER THAN August 29th, 2008 to:
Bioneers Youth Program
1370 Mission Street, 4th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94110
Email: youth@bioneers.org
Fax: 415.983.2518
Phone: 415.287.4213

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