Vision & Purpose

Gen:Thrive is a collaborative initiative that provides shared data and technology tools to accelerate sustainability education and advance health, equity, and climate resilience in K-12 schools.

Joining forces across all states and sectors, Gen:Thrive builds our field’s capacity to share information, explore local community needs, identify partnership opportunities, and amplify resources that are focused on environmental literacy, climate justice, healthy school buildings, outdoor learning, and green workforce development.

Gen:Thrive provides the information and insights needed to foster the next generation of sustainability leaders by building meaningful and practical technology tools that achieve the following goals:

Increase Support

Use data visualization to create compelling value propositions, expand audiences, and drive new resources to the movement.

Understand the Movement

Map environmental literacy programs and correlate to data indicators for equity and climate vulnerability.

Build Strategic Alliances

Bolster connectivity among K-12 program providers and identify opportunities to partner and accelerate collective impact.

History of Gen:Thrive

Gen:Thrive is a collaborative initiative organized and led by EcoRise, a nonprofit organization working at the intersection of K-12 sustainability education, climate resilience, and environmental justice. EcoRise offers a range of curricula and programs for students, teachers, school districts, and partners that are designed to advance environmental literacy, promote sustainable schools, and provide equitable access to green career pathways.

In 2019, EcoRise launched Gen:Thrive as a pilot project in Texas with the vision of building tools that could expand to serve communities across the country. With participation and feedback from over 1,000 organizations, Gen:Thrive has now created dashboards, directories, and maps for 10 states and aims to serve the entire nation by the end of 2023.

The development and growth of this project would not be possible without technical support from the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Advanced Computing Center and from UT’s Planet Texas 2050 team and early philanthropic investments from the Pisces Foundation, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, and the Environmental Fund of Texas, and the Meadows Foundation.

Looking Ahead

As we expand upon Gen:Thrive’s national data collection efforts, collaborate with new state partners, and construct new maps and technology tools, 2023 is looking busy and bright. Our ambitious goals over the next two years include:

Developing a robust directory of sustainability education and green school resources across all 50 states
Collaborating with school partners to map and assess local climate risks and equity and sustainability resources across the district
Expanding partnerships and adding data collection that is focused on policy and funding in the field, as well as green workforce development, health, and environmental justice
Mapping all schools and districts that are championing healthy, green schools, environmental literacy, and climate action.

If you are interested in learning more or getting involved, we’d love to hear from you!

Leadership

Gina LaMotte

Founder, President & Chief Innovation Officer
Vision, Strategy, Partnerships

Gina LaMotte is a social entrepreneur and systems thinker who is most passionate about transforming our nation's K–12 schools into centers for climate resilience and environmental leadership. Gina founded EcoRise in 2008 and launched Gen:Thrive in 2019 in order to inspire a shared vision and scale the field’s impact through powerful collaborations and technology. Prior to EcoRise, Gina spent 10 years working with innovative educational programs serving youth. Throughout her career, Gina has anchored her work in and derived inspiration from the fields of systems change, biomimicry, social innovation, sustainable development, design thinking, social justice, and popular education.

Daniel Ramirez

Gen:Thrive Project Specialist

Daniel Ramirez is passionate about environmental stewardship and conservation with an educational background in Environmental Science & Policy. Daniel has a profound affinity for sustainable values such as improving the built environment, equitable nutrition, and cultural preservation. As a Gen:Thrive Project Specialist, Daniel strives to best accommodate the project's needs using his accumulated data analysis knowledge. His responsibilities include generating project engagement, managing partner data, and using visualization tools to tell the story of Gen:Thrive.

Celine Rendon

Gen:Thrive Youth Programs Manager
Community Engagement & Climate Justice

Celine Rendon is passionate about sustainability education and racial equity. In her current role at EcoRise, Celine is supporting Gen:Thrive’s mission to harness the power of GIS mapping and data visualization to build coalitions at local, state, and national levels and to identify strategies for effectively serving marginalized communities. Prior to joining EcoRise, Celine worked with PODER and the City of Austin with a focus on community engagement; research; policy; geography; and equity, diversity, and inclusion. She has a B.S. in Environmental Science and a Bridging Disciplines certificate in Public Policy from the University of Texas at Austin.