Miljøplakaten Sletten: Connecting A Community AND SECURING REAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH
For the very first time, multiple sports disciplines, grass roots initiatives, members of the municipality including Mayor Marit Warncke, the police, and key community leaders of Slettebakken came together. United under one shared space of social responsibility with a clear and urgent purpose: to strengthen community, prevent youth crime, boost public health, encourage digital detox, and counter drug abuse using sports as a tool for inclusion, integration, and a sense of belonging for everyone, regardless of background, financial situation, or parents involvement.
Miljøplakaten Sletten
On September 17th, at Gimlehallen initiated by Gimle Basket, Bergensdalen IL, LIM, and NTG Bergen, the NextGen Neighbor Network launched their Miljøplakaten concept (“The Community Environment Pledge”). With Frederik Gnatt being the pioneering force behind the collaboration, he plays a vital role in the positive investments within the area.
Miljøplakaten can be described as mobilizing responsible adults from school, sports, culture, and local community to validate children who take responsibilities for others and the community, while creating a safer and more inclusive environment for children and young people.
Miljøplakaten is based on the idea that children and young people thrive best when adults across different areas of their lives see and acknowledge them.
To date, NextGen Neighbor Network’s Miljøplakaten have been launched in Sandslihallen, Gneist Arena, and more are planned around NTG schools across Norway in 2027.
Grass Root Collaboration + Elite Schooling Unites
Two of the event’s main collaborators were Arild Hovland, representing the grassroots through the LIM project (Lekser Idrett Mat), and Norges Toppidrettsgymnas (NTG).
Both have entered into a strategic partnership with NextGen Neighbor Network (NNN) and its signature “I care.” campaign.
Together, they aim to identify young people who demonstrate strong social capital, contribute positively to their local communities, and show a genuine capacity to care for others. These young people can then be nominated for the NTG I care. Scholarship.
The scholarship is designed to recognize and reward young people for their contribution, values, and positive choices — regardless of their background, level of parental involvement, or personal challenges. It reflects a broader ambition to ensure that character, care, and contribution are seen and valued alongside traditional measures of achievement.
This event was particularly special with the launch of Sletten Academy inspired by Toyenakademiet and Omar Mekki. The Sletten Academy is funded by Louise Mohn and her non-profit company, Meteva Sport og Helse, which created the brand and launched the NextGen Neighbor Network.
Gratitude To Trond Mohn
The Sletten Academy launch along with Miljøplakaten Sletten comes at an extraordinary moment for sport and community development in Sletten, as Norway’s most generous philanthropist, Trond Mohn contributed between 600 and 700 million NOK toward the development of new sports facilities. Working alongside Bergen Municipality, the ambitious Slettebakken Arena (a large Sports Complex) is set to transform an area many Bergen residents may remember as a former landfill into a major new hub for sport, activity, nature, and community life. The plans include multi-purpose halls for basketball, handball, gymnastics, and climbing, together with outdoor football fields and further sporting facilities. At the heart of the development will be a new Gimlehallen, with capacity for approximately 2,300 spectators.
Trond Mohn’s extraordinary contribution represents an investment of opportunities and environments for children and young people which is crucial for their development. It is about identity, mastery, belonging, hope for the future, and the experience of mattering to others. For some children, opportunities like these can quite literally help save their lives.
Miljøplakaten Sletten and the Sletten Academy brings this all together creating a promise, and a sense of gratitude to the significant impact of what Trond Mohn has done.
Sletten Academy
Sletten Academy is a development program for young leaders in Gimle Basketball Club and other sports clubs in Sletten, aimed at young leadership talents aged 15–20. Its overall objective is to develop young community builders and leaders into visible, positive role models who take social responsibility as an active service.
Sletten Academy is for young people who want to become confident and skilled youth leaders. The Academy consists of 12 sessions, where participants gain knowledge and practical skills in cooperation, group dynamics, goal setting, leadership, conflict management, first aid, event planning, local democracy, substance-use prevention, nutrition, stress management, and creating positive and inclusive sporting environments.
Participants will also be offered the opportunity to attend coaching courses organized by the Norwegian Basketball Federation or other sports organizations. Through both training and practical experience, Sletten Academy aims to give young people the confidence and skills to take on greater responsibility within their sports clubs and their local community. The Academy also connects directly with the work of NextGen Neighbor Network’s Miljøplakaten.
Other Highlights from Miljøplakaten Sletten
Later in the evening, Louise Mohn was awarded the Unity Honorary Award by Unity Spark, presented by its Founder, Francine Mbanza Jensen. The organization is dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion and open to anyone who wants to learn, grow, and contribute, regardless of background.
Louise was selected for the Honorary Award in recognition of these qualities and, in particular, for her long-standing commitment to diversity and equal opportunity, including her dedication to advancing opportunities for girls and women in sport through the NextGen Neighbor Network initiative.
What Comes Next
Miljøplakaten Sletten and Sletten Academy mark the beginning of a new era for the community and the next generation, especially with the opening of Slettebakken Arena on the horizon. Perhaps the legacy will be found in what becomes possible when sports clubs, schools, the municipality, cultural organizations, grassroots initiatives, volunteers, and local leaders unite. This is the kind of community legacy that can carry forward from one generation to the next creating a sustainable ecosystem where social responsibility is rooted in its foundation.
