Join us at the North American Association for Environmental Education 2009 Conference! There is still time to submit a proposal! Share your inspiring work with students, youth, volunteers, teachers, landowners and other community members.

Submission Deadline: February 1, 2009

Do you want to improve your communication skills? If you’re involved in a non-profit, most likely you will have opportunities to speak to groups of people, communicate your vision to donors, and share your experiences with the community. Toastmasters—the internationally renowned speaking club—provides an opportunity for you to practice and learn how to be a more effective communicator, listener, and leader.

Want to learn more? Then come to a special meeting called “How Can Toastmasters Benefit You?” to be held at the Columbia Center Toastmasters Club in Northeast Portland. There will be an opportunity to mingle afterwards, and refreshments will be provided. Be sure to mark your calendar and come! You won't be disappointed!

Portland YouthBuilders (PYB) is recruiting for a full-time Construction Trainer/Site Supervisor. Please help us get the word out!  

Introducing the 2009 Arts and Environmental Education Grants   The main purpose of these Arts and Environmental Education grants is to help the North American Association for Environmentl Education's (NAAEE's) commissions train educators to deliver an increased level and quality of environmental education using an artistic component or components.

  NAAEE will use a competitive process to select four Commissions to participate in this activity at the 2009 NAAEE conference in Portland, Oregon. Each commission selected must present a workshop on Wednesday, October 7, or a series of at least 2 sessions to be delivered on Thursday-Saturday, October 8-10, 2009.

The Bureau of Environmental Services has $96,000 available in grants to support watershed health projects in the City of Portland. Friday, April 3, 2009 at 4 pm is the deadline to apply for grants of up to $10,000 per project.

Get application materials and information at:

Environmental Services will hold public workshops in February to help interested parties with the grant application process.

Are you concerned about school traffic safety? Interested in getting more students walking or biking to school? Committed to reducing carbon emissions? If you answered YES to any of these questions, then please attend a FREE training provided by Safer Routes to School. Food will be provided and childcare is available on request.

Training topics:

* Walking School Bus / Bike Trains (Feb 10th, Feb 25th)

* Stop + Walk (Jan 30th [this Friday!], Feb 5th)

Walking School Bus / Bike Trains

The 2009 Oregon Academic Decathlon state competition will be held at the end of February at Western Oregon University in Monmouth.

Volunteers are needed to serve as judges for the speech or interview events on Friday, February 27th in the university's Education Building. The time commitment is from 3:00 to 6:00 PM.

No prior experience or expertise is required as training (and snacks!) will be provided.

This is a great opportunity to help Oregon's high school students participate in a prestigious, nationwide academic program. The winner of the competition will represent Oregon at the USAD National Finals in Memphis, TN in April.

Please come help students realize their potentials and make Oregon proud.