SustainUS, Inc. (The United States Youth Network for Sustainable Development) is a national, United States registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible nonprofit charity whose mission is to improve youth participation in sustainable development. SustainUS works particularly with youth aged 13-26 and on United Nations' conferences related to youth and/or sustainable development.
Founded in 2001, SustainUS is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, nonpartisan youth-led organization advancing sustainable development and youth empowerment in the United States. Through proactive education and advocacy at the policy-making and grassroots levels, SustainUS members are attempting to build a future in which all people recognize the inherent equality, value, and interdependence of social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
What is Sustainable Development, anyway? The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development as “a form of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." In the SustainUS view, sustainable development requires economic, social, and environmental issues to progress together.
Since 2003, Agents of Change (AoC) has brought delegations of U.S.-based youth to conferences and summits related to international sustainability policy, primarily at the United Nations. The young people serving on the delegations work with government delegates, fellow civil society members, and other youth to promote cooperation, focusing on youth-friendly and future-oriented policies.
Thus far in 2007, AoC has been active at the International Forum on the Eradication of Poverty, the Commission for Social Development, and the Commission on Sustainable Development.