Plan Timeline: Phases One through Five

Phase One:
1999 to Present: Development of Albert Schweitzer College (ASC), Rhena Schweitzer Miller serving as Honorary Chair of the Board of Trustees.
Phase Two:
2004: The Schweitzer Earth Corps is incorporated into the ASC plan. An initial curriculum for an Earth Corps Training is developed.
2005 to Present: Detailed curricula for initial offerings are outlined. Conversations with several institutions of higher learning take place to explore possible partnerships for the academic aspect of the EC Training.
2006: The Earth Corps for Global Service is spun off as an independent venture.
Phase Three:
January, 2006—August, 2007
  • Carol Bellamy, President of World Learning and former Director of the Peace Corps (1993-95) and UNICEF (1995-2005), March, 2006, partners with Eric Utne to publicize the ECGS. OpEd articles about the urgent need for an ethic of "global service" and a "Peace Corps for the Whole Earth" are written and placed in a variety of publications.
  • Initial inventory of potential members of the Earth Corps Coalition completed.
  • Exploratory discussions with prospective academic partners for the EC Training continue.
  • Pilot EC Training program, "Personal and Social Transformation Through Gentle Action," offered at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN (Fall, 2006).
  • Elements of EC Training incorporated into second pilot, "Self-Identity, Values, and Personal Growth," offered through the Masters in Leadership program of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, MN (Summer, 2007).
  • ServeYourPlanet.org website registered, designed, and content gathered.
  • Founding members of ECGS Advisory Board selected.
  • ECGS and related initiatives established as projects of the Utne Institute, a 501(c)3 registered in Minneapolis, MN, with Eric Utne and John Miller as officers.
  • Conversations with various foundations with regard to helping fund a planning grant for further ECGS development.
Phase Four:
September, 2007—August, 2008
  • The ECGS core team ("roll-up your sleeves" types, approximately 12 people) to be established.
  • Earth Corps Coalition Founding Partners to be selected.
  • Funds for initial ECGS budget to be raised.
  • Continued development of the comprehensive plan for the full ECGS vision.
  • Ad agency to be enlisted to develop concepts for the "ServeYourPlanet.org" campaign.
  • Offices for ECGS to be found and moved into.
  • Develop WISER interface
  • First ECGS staff to be hired to complete all of above tasks and much more.
  • EC Training Design Intensive group to meet and brainstorm initial EC Training session(s).
  • Initial EC Training program(s) advertised, participants enrolled.
  • Initial EC Training program(s) to be offered (Winter, 2007-08).
  • Roll-out of the "ServeYourPlanet.org" global media campaign (Spring, 2008).

Phase Five:
September, 2008—Ongoing
  • First People's Peace Prize awards to be bestowed and first Peace Telethon broadcast (Fall, 2009).
  • First World Peace Forum to be held (Fall, 2008).
  • The EC Training programs will expand to multiple sites and institutions, en route to establishing a global presence. Colleges throughout the world will offer the EC Training.
  • Hundreds of thousands of volunteers will be working in service projects located in every country of the world.
  • Life on Earth becomes a little greener and a little kinder.

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