Chapters of the Northwest Earth Institute around the Puget Sound are volunteer groups that offer reading
and discussion courses in the greater Puget Sound region.
There are three primary ways that people work with us.
- The most common is when someone (like you, perhaps) is interested in starting a discussion circle (i.e., class) at their workplace, church or neighborhood. We then send a presenter to an introductory meeting where you've gathered all the interested people together. The presenter explains what the NW Earth Institute is and what the class will be like. People can then sign up for the class at the meeting. We send a mentor to the first meeting of the class to help kick it off, and explain and model how facilitation works. After that, the class is run by the participants. The mentor usually returns for the last class to hear how things have gone.
- The second model is where you don't have a group and don't want to pull one together, but you're interested in taking a class. In that case, we take your information (contact info and class preferences) and add you to our list. When it looks like we have enough people in your neck of the woods, we contact you and all the others and arrange an introductory meeting, as described above.
- The third model is where you are part of an environmental group and want to use our courses as a way to bring people together. In that case, we can either provide our mentors for your classes, or we can train some of your people to take that role.