A year-long virtual program for youth, adults, and schools
Offered in partnership with UP for Learning
Empower youth to make real change in their schools and communities with Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability.
Over the course of a year, youth-adult teams develop and implement community action projects to address the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Adopted by the UN in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals offer a blueprint for building a socially, economically, and ecologically just society. The goals address global challenges including poverty, inequality, climate change, and peace and justice. Cultivating Pathways pairs the goals of Vermont’s personalized learning initiative, Act 77, with the SDGs.
Registration Is Open for 2025–26
The program kicks off with a professional learning retreat for educators on August 14 and continues throughout the school year. Program cost is $950 with scholarships available.
What to Expect
Kickoff Educator Retreat
August 14, 2025, 9am–4pm at Shelburne Farms
15 professional learning certificate hours
Explore a powerful framework for integrating the goals into your classroom and community. Learn, connect, see examples of project-based and service learning, and network with potential community partners. You’ll leave inspired, full of love and hope for your teaching and our collective work to actualize the SDGs.
Throughout the Year
Form a team with your students and fellow educators. You'll receive continued support throughout the year as you explore the SDGs; connect with and assess your place; and plan and implement a project to advance the global goals.
- Fall: Attend an in-person kickoff with your students and other Cultivating Pathways teams
- Spring: Join a virtual closing and celebration event
- Monthly: Receive coaching from Cultivating Pathways advisors
Cost: $950 with scholarships available
Georgia, Vermont Middle School's Cultivating Pathways Project: A Day of Service
Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability started as a collaboration among Shelburne Farms, Vermont educators Kate Toland and Lindsey Halman, the Rubenstein School of the University of Vermont, the Greater Burlington Sustainability Education Network, and Vermont Learning for the Future. Now, Cultivating Pathways has grown to include other community partners, hundreds of youth, and their teachers.
CPS was recognized by United Nations University as an exemplary project in education for sustainable development (2018). Read about this and other projects in, RCE Contributions to a More Sustainable World: Celebrating Five Years of Innovative Projects on Education for Sustainable Development (2015–2019). (Cultivating Pathways starts on p. 12.)
