Greetings Community!

It seems in the blink of an eye, spring has arrived! As warmer weather moves in and there is more daylight to enjoy, I hope it means you are spending more time in nature and appreciating its beauty. While this last quarter has been chock-full of travel, presentations,  fun announcements, and deepening community connections, the Climate Innovation team has certainly found time to bask in the sunlight and the joys of outdoors to appreciate all the abundance of our ecosystems. Take a look below for some highlights from us over the last quarter: 

1. The Funders’ Network Annual Conference: Our Director of Programs Jaime Love and I presented at Ignite Action, TFN’s annual conference. Our presentation focused on our Community Climate Shift (CCS) initiative, in partnership with the Institute for Market Transformation. CCS seeks to transform how communities and local governments work together to ensure that equitable emissions reduction strategies that include new building performance standards, or other decarbonization policies, implemented by cities and states reflect community priorities and solutions that contribute to advancing a Just Transition. This presentation was an opportunity to share the groundbreaking approach to policymaking that centers the priorities of communities while demonstrating the importance and need for community-driven processes. At the time this newsletter publishes we’ll be finishing up our 2023 Sounding the Call: Community Climate Shift gathering in Philadelphia, PA, so keep an eye out for a recap and updates on what came out of that connection as we continue advancing this initiative forward. 

2. Powershift Convergence 2023: We had the pleasure of serving as one of the sponsors for the Powershift Convergence, a national convening of youth leaders who are on the frontlines of the environmental justice and climate justice movements. It was a great opportunity for in-person connection and community-building, along with relevant trainings, workshops and panels. Read more about our time there below! 

3. CCHE Annual Convening: The Kresge Foundation’s Climate Change, Health and Equity (CCHE) Initiative Spring convening, Centering Racial Justice and Health Equity: The Power of Communities to Drive Climate Policy was a huge success! In our role as peer-learning coordinator for CCHE, we manage peer-learning activities and in-person convenings for the cohort through June 2024. See photos and more details about the convening in our recap below! 

4. Fund for Frontline Power: In our role as facilitator providing coordination and capacity-building support to the Fund’s 13-member grassroots Governance Body (GB), last month we gathered together in Atlanta (with a few of us zooming in) for the final review of 172 finalists (totaling $29 million in funding requests) out of 400+ applicants requesting a total of over $60 million. With an overwhelming interest to fund everyone, the GB decided to award $5 million in general operating grants to 47 amazing grassroots organizations across the U.S. advancing community-led climate solutions. Stay tuned for the public announcement of the Fund for Frontline Power grantees in June along with the call to action inviting philanthropy to support the underinvestment in our communities by moving more money to the grassroots.
 
5. Presentations and panels: To commemorate Earth Month, we had the pleasure of participating in several panels and presentations at Duke University and the University of California at Berkeley! Radiah Shabazz, our Director of Communications, presented on storytelling for strategic movement building and justice-based language and framing during Duke University’s half-day Environmental Justice Storytelling for Impact program. The Earth Month event focused on effective communications strategies and techniques to strengthen environmental justice and climate justice initiatives and advance substantive change. In addition, our Youth Program Coordinator, Kalina Browne was a featured panelist on two panels for earth month. The session How do we teach sustainability in the 21st century at UC Berkeley highlighted the importance of incorporating community engagement into the academic curriculum to better prepare students to collaborate with the community when they graduate. The theme of community was also a part of the Conservation Career Panel for Students of Color organized by the Endangered Species Coalition. During this discussion, Kalina and the other panelists shared their experiences navigating the environmental field and how building connections with other people of color helped them feel a sense of belonging. I am so proud of the recognition our work and expertise receives and am excited about future opportunities for staff to share, engage, and connect with climate advocates nationwide! The Climate Innovation team rocks!
 
6. Climate Innovation team expansion: And speaking of how awesome this team is…as an abundance of aligned opportunities continue to find us, our team continues to grow to accommodate them and ensure the right capacity for success. We continue to expand! Since our last update, Chantal Madray joined our team as Coordinator for the National Association of Climate Resilience Planners. Learn more about Chantal’s background and experience below! In addition, I’m thrilled to announce two additional hires; Victoria Martinez will join us as Director of Operations on May 22 and Amber Washington will join the team June 1 as Events & Operations Manager! You can learn more about them in our next newsletter. With these new hires, I also want to share that our beloved Tamira Jones Machado’s role has shifted from Director of Operations to Capacity Building Director! In this new role, Tamira will continue to operationalize program strategy and internal systems for Climate Innovation programs and partnerships including the NACRP, Justice40 Accelerator and Fund for Frontline Power through peer learning and community-led design. Did I mention the Climate Innovation team rocks?

We are beyond grateful to participate in so many critical workstreams over the last several months and look forward to sharing more about the additional exciting things we have brewing! I can’t wait to share more updates when the time is right. For now, we hope you enjoy the highlights from the last quarter and stay tuned for future updates!

In solidarity,
Corrine and the Climate Innovation Team