The 2025 summer Population Education (PopEd) Leadership Institute took place in Los Angeles on the UCLA campus. Thirty-three educators from across the United States and Canada attended the three-day Institute, preparing to become teacher-training workshop facilitators in their own regions.
To present more than 600 workshops a year, we rely on an extensive network of professional educators like these to present more than two-thirds of our teacher training workshops each year.
While most of the attendees were professors at colleges and universities, participants included current K-12 teachers, as well! The weekend offered a welcome respite of positive engagement from likeminded educators who understand how population growth affects so many of our world’s issues!
We received stellar reviews from participants, including Ardavan Eizadirad, Ph.D., Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University in Toronto, Ontario, who said on LinkedIn:
“It was an incredible weekend gathering […] to engage with a group of educators […] to be trained in delivering [the] Population Education curriculum. Their holistic curriculum is very hands-on!
We got to experience many of the activities as participants and trainees. It covers various timely and relevant social issues impacting countries globally as well as local communities.
The hospitality was on point and the cultivation of relationships with care, authenticity, and attention to detail was rewarding and spiritually nourishing!
Thanks to the entire team at Population Education for your kindness and leading with such humility […].For folks not familiar with Population Education, take a moment to check out their wonderful website which is full of activities and resources to teach multiple subjects through an interdisciplinary perspective. It is very applicable to K to 12 educators and preservice teachers.
One example is their world population video timeline (approx. 6 minutes) looking at population growth historically leading to more than 8 billion people now: www.worldof8billion.org. A great video to debrief with your class from so many angles.
Looking forward to sharing these activities with my network in Canada with various school boards, community organizations, and within our teacher education program Wilfrid Laurier University!”
Another attendee, Laura Wendling, Ph.D., of California State University – San Marcos, wrote:
“I feel so honored to have been a participant in this past weekend’s Top Notch, First Class, Super Organized, Very Informative, Most Awesome training! Thank you for all you did to make our days together a joyous, collegial, and highly educational event. Having the opportunity to learn meaningful content alongside other educators in such an inviting environment (spacious classroom, delicious food, comfy accommodations) made this experience truly exceptional. I am excited to share the excellent lessons and resources with my teacher candidates next spring!”
Truly, this is a testament to what YOU make possible. For more than 50 years, supporters like you have invested in Population Education’s work to ensure that young people grow to understand the impacts of global population growth on people and our environment. Through critical thinking, these young people draw their own conclusions that we can—and must!—reduce human impacts on the environment to foster a safer, healthier, more sustainable future. See some photos from the institute here!
In late March, members of our PopEd team traveled to Philadelphia to participate in the National Science Teaching Association’s annual convention—one of the country’s largest gatherings of science educators.
Over three action-packed days, we hosted a PopEd exhibit, led three interactive workshops, and connected with educators from across the country. We also had the opportunity to engage directly with elementary school teachers and informal educators at two special networking events. It was an inspiring few days of sharing ideas, resources, and strategies to bring population and sustainability topics into classrooms nationwide.
Learn more about our PopEd Trainer's Network
The winners of this season’s World of 8 Billion student video contest have been announced! This year, students in 6th through 12th grades were tasked with finding creative solutions for one of these population-related topics: Child Wellbeing, Rainforest Ecosystems, and Sanitation.
Our contest encourages students to find new ways to tackle modern problems, show off their filmmaking skills, and win prizes! We had over 4,600 students work on the submitted videos, with more than 2,600 videos submitted.
Explore the winning videos here!
Our staff member, Florence Blondel, attended all five days of the 58th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, which was hosted in New York this spring.
Florence made two official oral statements on behalf of Population Connection. Additionally, we submitted a written statement in partnership with Population Matters and Population Media Center.
Learn more about our participation with the UN
Our Population Connection June magazine is out and available to read online! Our Global Partner in Nepal, the Rural Women’s Development and Unity Center (RUWDUC), helps girls stay in school and avoid child marriage, empowers women to become community leaders, and provides family planning education and outreach.
Also featured is a summary of the results of the focus group and survey research we conducted about people’s fertility desires and outcomes, as well as their thoughts about low fertility and population growth.
Read the June issue here
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