JAN ROBERTS, President

A thread of unconventionality weaves consistently throughout Jan’s life. However, it rests on a solid foundation of creative social change, beginning with Jan’s Boy Scout Troop for Girls that she started at the age of 10, using her father’s manual from Great Britain, because it offered girls a more exciting time than did the Brownies.

Creating and building social change agencies was reflected in Jan’s work as the director of the Women’s Resource Center for women offenders, and as co-founder of the Women’s Survival Center in the late ’70s with its innovative programs for women, which were featured on the Today Show and Charles Kuralt’s On the Road. Today it is the Centre for Women in Tampa.

In the ’80s, Jan co-founded Behavioral Medicine Consultants, which offered holistic treatment to people who were being legally addicted to prescription drugs like Valium.

In the ’90s, Jan was a partner in a private psychological practice, during which time she was voted “Best in Tampa Bay” as a couple’s counselor. In the late ’90s, Jan founded the grassroots community building organization, the Institute for Ethics & Meaning, which launched the Community Spirit of Caring Movement in Tampa, Florida, based on the principles of caring, connection and community.

Jan's dream of Earth Charter Community Summits satellite linked across the country was recognized at the International Launch of the Earth Charter at The Hague in June 2000 as the major grassroots effort in the United States. On September 29, 2001 Jan headed up the national launch of the Earth Charter in 12 cities around the country linked by satellite, to inspire people at the grassroots level to make its principles a reality in their lives and communities. The annual Summits have since been held in over 50 cities.

In December 2002, Jan invited Summit organizers from around the country to Tampa to strategize about building the Earth Charter grassroots initiative. In an atmosphere of reverence, ribaldry and renewal the Earth Charter Community Alliance (ECCA) was born. The Alliance is composed of and open to people who are working with the Earth Charter and dedicated to bringing their communities into alignment with the Earth Charter's principles and values. The annual retreats still go one with a national training conference for Earth Charter Organizers being planned for 2009.

In 2005 Jan founded Earth Charter U.S. with the mission to inspire, educate and engage people in making the Earth Charter’s vision and principles for a just, sustainable and peaceful society a reality through policy initiatives, community actions, and personal behavior changes. That same year, Jan launched Earth Scouts, a scouting program for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years of age, with a slogan developed by the youth, “Changing the World One Fun Badge At A Time”.

Jan also serves as NGO delegate to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, Advisor to Earth Charter International based in Costa Rica and on the International Earth Action Network Board of Directors.

Jan is author of "Relational Globalization", a chapter in An Anthology on Women & Globalization being published by Cambridge Press in 2008. She is also author of "A Community Spirit of Caring Begins With You", published by IUniverse in 2000, and has been an international speaker on topics such as “Rediscover Your Sense of Fun”, team-building and diversity. She has been a freelance writer for local and national magazines, and a sailing instructor and host for sunset dinners on the water aboard her 34-foot Tartan sailboat.

Recommend this article...