Go Green Initiative

Go Green Initiative The Go Green Initiative provides continuing education for districts, schools, and communities across the United States and around the world.

The Go Green Initiative works to advance environmental justice by partnering with district leadership, school staff, and students to improve environmental factors at school, protect human health, and conserve natural resources. Through our five free programs, we work in partnership with district leaders, school staff, teachers, and students to integrate environmental education into existing curriculum and implement high-impact conservation measures. Learn more at gogreeninitiative.org

The graphic above shows the five ways school districts can earn points toward the 2027 NSBA Magna Awards. But how does i...
09/04/2026

The graphic above shows the five ways school districts can earn points toward the 2027 NSBA Magna Awards. But how does it all come together into a winning application?

That's exactly what this free webinar is designed to answer.

On Tuesday, September 8, from 2:00–3:00 p.m. ET, NSBA and GGI are hosting "Be Recognized as a National Leader in Healthy Schools: How to Earn a 2027 NSBA Magna Award" — a step-by-step walkthrough of the entire application process, opening with remarks from Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, Executive Director and CEO of The National School Boards Association.

You'll learn how points are earned across all five categories, what documentation is required, and what free GGI resources — training, templates, and one-on-one technical assistance — are available to support your district.

Every point counts. The more your district earns, the more competitive your application becomes.

Application deadline: October 31, 2026.
👉 Register now: bit.ly/Sept2026GGI

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures.
👉 Learn more at: GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

(We are proud to support the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Tools for Schools framework as districts build out their own IAQ management plans.)

Before your team logs off for the long weekend, one thing worth adding to the calendar: a free webinar on earning a 2027...
09/03/2026

Before your team logs off for the long weekend, one thing worth adding to the calendar: a free webinar on earning a 2027 NSBA Magna Award.

Be Recognized as a National Leader in Healthy Schools: How to Earn a 2027 NSBA Magna Award
📅 Tuesday, September 8, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
🔗 Register: https://bit.ly/Sept2026GGI

Your district may already have points on the board and not know it. The 2027 application awards up to 500 points across five areas, including credit for GGI webinars you've attended or courses your team has completed.

Join NSBA and Go Green Initiative for a free webinar on the application, opening with remarks from Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, Executive Director & CEO of The National School Boards Association. GGI recommends starting with your Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Management Plan, worth up to 100 points on its own, and our team offers free, hands-on help.

Questions? Ask any time at: [email protected].

The webinar lands the day after Labor Day, so register now before the long weekend.

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures.
Learn more at: GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

(This webinar is part of GGI's ongoing work under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's IAQ Tools for Schools initiative: EPA.gov/IAQ-Schools)

Go Green Initiative has partnered with the City of Camden Government to create a handy recycling magnet that makes it ea...
09/03/2026

Go Green Initiative has partnered with the City of Camden Government to create a handy recycling magnet that makes it easier to know what to recycle and how to recycle it properly!

Our magnets provide simple steps and helpful reminders you can keep anywhere! Recycling right starts with knowing what belongs in the bin. ♻️

📍 Where can you get yours?
You can pick up your FREE magnet at the Camden Strong Clean Up events and other environmentally focused community events where you see the Go Green Initiative table!

Stop by, say hello, grab your magnet, and take one more step toward a cleaner, greener Camden. 💚

Have you gotten yours yet? 👀♻️

Every school district watches its energy costs closely. But there's another number hiding in that same data that matters...
09/02/2026

Every school district watches its energy costs closely. But there's another number hiding in that same data that matters just as much: your school's carbon footprint.

A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) training, "Tracking Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Portfolio Manager," breaks down how districts can use a tool they may already have, EPA's STAR® Portfolio Manager, to calculate exactly how much greenhouse gas their buildings produce. No extra data collection needed.

We've turned that training into a full, school-focused breakdown on our blog, and if your team wants to put it into practice, GGI's free course walks you through applying it to your own buildings step by step.

This matters most for districts working with tight budgets: it's a free, standardized way to turn utility data you already have into credible, board-ready reporting.

🎥 Watch the training: https://Youtube.com/watch?v=Ggcd3jku5hs
📖 Read the blog: https://gogreeninitiative.org/blog/school-carbon-footprint-energy-star-portfolio-manager
🎓 Take the free course: https://gogreeninitiative.org/courses-iaq/documenting-ghg-emissions-using-energy-star-portfolio-manager

When a school district has to cut its budget, whose job goes first?Ken Wertz has seen the pattern play out again and aga...
09/01/2026

When a school district has to cut its budget, whose job goes first?

Ken Wertz has seen the pattern play out again and again: facilities staff, HVAC technicians, and health staff, cut before anything touches a classroom directly. Then the building starts to show it.

Ken is the Executive Director of the National School Plant Management Association, and on the newest episode of the Go Green Initiative podcast, he joins our Founder & CEO Jill Buck to talk about what Facilities Directors actually need to keep the air in our schools healthy: real budget, enough staff, ongoing training, and policies that outlast whoever's in charge that year.

You'll hear why fewer than half of U.S. school districts have a written IAQ plan, what happens when a district negotiates away its HVAC technician to fund something else, and why "doing more with less" isn't a strategy, it's a setup for failure.

👉 Watch here: https://youtu.be/aWL4nizSAbY?si=V6katFCq7yYKUTrq

Ready to build your own district's plan? This podcast and our course, Creating an Energy Efficient IAQ Management Plan, are both part of GGI's free resource library for districts.

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures.
👉 Learn more at GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

The air in a school building shapes more than comfort. It shapes attendance, focus, and how well students learn.Be Recog...
08/31/2026

The air in a school building shapes more than comfort. It shapes attendance, focus, and how well students learn.

Be Recognized as a National Leader in Healthy Schools:
How to Earn a 2027 NSBA Magna Award
📅 Tuesday, September 8, 2:00-3:00 p.m. ET
🔗 Register: https://bit.ly/Sept2026GGI

One week from tomorrow (the day after Labor Day), NSBA and Go Green Initiative (GGI) are hosting a free webinar on how to earn a 2027 Magna Award, which recognizes districts that are getting it right, and it might be more within reach than your district realizes. The webinar opens with remarks from Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, Executive Director & CEO of The National School Boards Association, followed by a conversation on why healthy school buildings matter and what it takes to compete for an award.

You don't need a finished application to benefit from this session. GGI recommends starting with your Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Management Plan, the strongest single activity a district can submit, and the one area where GGI offers free, hands-on support. Questions anytime at [email protected]. (This is part of GGI's ongoing work under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's IAQ Tools for Schools initiative.)

Add it to your calendar today. A lot can fill up a week, and this is one thing you won't want to miss.

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures.
Learn more at GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

Congratulations to Jennifer Burdette, a high school social studies teacher at Spoon River Valley CUSD #4 in London Mill...
08/28/2026

Congratulations to Jennifer Burdette, a high school social studies teacher at Spoon River Valley CUSD #4 in London Mills, Illinois, on being named the National Rural Education Association's 2026 National Rural Teacher of the Year!

Jennifer has spent over a decade teaching, mentoring, and inspiring students in her rural community. In her own words: "I want all of my students to understand that geography does not have to be limiting, and people in small communities do have a national impact."

This fall, Jennifer will be honored in Illinois, then celebrated again at NREA's National Forum to Advance Rural Education (NFARE) in San Antonio, where she'll give a keynote address.

GGI is proud to partner with NREA in supporting rural districts nationwide. Rural schools often serve their communities with far fewer resources than their suburban and urban counterparts, which is exactly why we offer free tools like our IAQ course library, including step-by-step guidance on building an IAQ Management Plan, at no cost to any district.

Read Jennifer's full story from NREA: https://nrea.net/jennifer-burdette-toy-2026

Join us in celebrating Jennifer and the rural educators who make such a difference every day!

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures.
Learn more at GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

Healthier Schools Don't Happen by Accident. Here's Proof.Two districts figured it out. At CUBE 2026, GGI is bringing the...
08/27/2026

Healthier Schools Don't Happen by Accident. Here's Proof.

Two districts figured it out. At CUBE 2026, GGI is bringing them together so yours can too.

Boston Public Schools built a nationally recognized IAQ monitoring program that puts student health data at the center of facilities decisions. The Bibb County School District turned energy management into a districtwide strategy that reduced costs and improved learning outcomes.

On Friday, October 2, GGI is bringing both districts to CUBE 2026 for a hands-on session that turns their experience into your action plan.

And here's a bonus worth knowing: attending earns your district 100 points toward The National School Boards Association's 2027 Magna Awards application, which GGI co-administers with NSBA. That's the largest single-session point opportunity in the program. Applications are open now.

When the air is cleaner, students show up more, focus longer, and learn better. Healthy schools aren't a nice-to-have. They're the foundation everything else is built on.

🗓 Oct. 1–3, 2026 | Marriott Marquis Chicago
📌 Better Attendance, Stronger Outcomes, Smarter Investments: The School Board's Role in Healthy Schools & Indoor Air Quality
📅 Friday, Oct. 2 | 11:15 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
📋 Register by Sept. 24 to avoid onsite pricing
🏆 2027 Magna Awards open now

Register → NSBA.org/CUBE2026
2027 Magna Awards → NSBA.org/Resources/Magna-Awards

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures. Learn more at GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

Ever wonder what's really happening inside your child's school when it comes to air quality? What's going on in the boil...
08/26/2026

Ever wonder what's really happening inside your child's school when it comes to air quality? What's going on in the boiler room, the science lab, or the bus loop?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just launched a fun new tool that answers that room by room! The Interactive School Indoor Air Quality Tour is a free, clickable graphic of a whole school building. Click on the roof, gym, classrooms, cafeteria, science lab, and more to see common air quality issues in each space, plus simple fixes. A text-based version is available too, so everyone can use it.

👉 Take the tour: https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/interactive-school-indoor-air-quality-tour

Every school is different, which is why EPA encourages districts to build an air quality plan tailored to their own buildings. Our free course, Unit 1, Course 1: Creating an Energy Efficient IAQ Management Plan, can help turn what you find on the tour into a real plan.

👉 Start our free course: https://www.gogreeninitiative.org/Courses-IAQ

Want to learn more? EPA also offers free on-demand webinars with experts and real school districts sharing what works.

👉 Watch the webinars: https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/ondemand-training-webinars

Every student deserves to breathe clean air at school. This is where districts can start.

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures. Learn more at:
👉 GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

This summer heat has been brutal. And our kids are feeling it too. 🌡️Across the country, 2026 is on pace to be the hotte...
08/25/2026

This summer heat has been brutal. And our kids are feeling it too. 🌡️

Across the country, 2026 is on pace to be the hottest year in U.S. history — and for millions of students returning to school right now, that heat doesn't stop at the classroom door.

If you missed our June webinar on extreme heat in schools, it's not too late. The recording is available free, on demand, right now.

🎞️ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs_Quffp4oA

In one hour, Grace Wickerson of the Federation of American Scientists walks through what the heat crisis means for our kids' health and learning — and what schools and communities can actually do about it. It's practical, accessible, and built for anyone who cares about the students in their lives.

And as part of GGI's free on-demand resource library, it's there whenever you need it — watch it yourself, share it with a teacher, or pass it along to your school board.

Grace also shared resources you can put to work right now:

📌 2026 State & Local Heat Policy Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15gJpL7D4OVP8tWAuTNpY6JC6MHPPFVXIKzxffSuxnbo/edit?tab=t.0

📌 HeatReady Schools Framework: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212096322000444

⭐ Educators: a Certificate of Completion is available — and counts as great supporting documentation for Magna Award applicants: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdEs42UxWxNwQ5YyZ3roC5IDawsqKrkeTMxt8rThyDZEgHbDw/viewform

The school year is already underway. The heat isn't going anywhere. Share this with someone who needs it. 💚

Healthier air. Healthier schools. Healthier futures. Learn more at:
👉 GoGreenInitiative.org/IAQ

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