National Award for Environmental Sustainability, 1998
Category: Institutional Education
Kids as Planners, Kids Consortium, Inc.
South Portland, ME

By treating kids as problem solvers, KIDS as Planners, a program of KIDS (Kids Involved Doing Service) Consortium, has demonstrated that children can make substantial contributions to their communities, even at a very young age. KIDS as Planners brings together kindergarten through high-school aged students to help communities solve real world environmental problems. The program shows teachers how they and their students can team up with local agencies and businesses to help monitor rivers, reduce non-point source pollution, develop land-use management plans, transform abandoned land into community gardens and nature trails, and promote the use of alternative transportation. Water quality analysis performed by students at Wells High School in Wells, Maine, for instance, helped convince city officials that it was safe to re-open a local swimming area and clam flat that had been closed for years. Over the past four years, more than 5,000 students, 350 teachers, and 50 schools nationwide have implemented the KIDS model.


American Planning Association Public Education Award, 1996
Kids Involved Doing Service as Planners
South Portland, Maine

The Maine planners who developed the KIDS Consortium (Kids Involved in Doing Service) really understand the term "put your money where your mouth is." KIDS -- a nonprofit organization based in South Portland -- raises money and brokers deals with public and private agencies to provide opportunities for students to plan. It has won this year's award for pubic education. Under the guidance of teachers, planners, and scientists, more than 5,000 students in five states have participated in a KIDS program since 1991.

In Maine, they have created a management plan and pollution prevention program for a pond in Lewiston, revitalized a snake trail in Auburn, and planned the future of a river in Bath. "What is unique and exciting about this program from a planning perspective," says juror Beverly Johnson, "is that the kids are actually involved in planning and developing real life planning projects. They aren't just going through an academic exercise on paper."

KIDS Consortium