Welcome to the Work

Photo courtesy Julie Noble, Kingston NY

The Local Champions program brings together a cohort of ten individuals who are leading their municipality’s work on NY State’s Climate Smart Communities program (CSC). 

In reviewing applications, we look for municipalities that are new or fairly new to the CSC program and could most benefit from the opportunity we’ve designed. Each municipality puts forward their CSC Task Force Coordinator—the “Local Champion.” Eight of our Local Champions will work closely with their elected officials and stakeholders from their municipality in an assessment process led by a partner from Cornell Cooperative Extension. Two of our Local Champions will be partnering with Capital District Regional Planning Commission to file for bronze certification in January 2023. In addition to the Certification Assessments and bronze filing support, the Local Champions come together as a cohort for additional programming, outlined below.

We’re asking our Local Champions to commit to 10 hours a week. Partners for Climate Action supports equity in climate change work. If money is a barrier to the participation of selected applicants in this program, they can request an $8000 fellowship.

Programming

We’ve organized our work together into three modules. Each module has specific deliverables that build on each other sequentially. Your ultimate goal is to develop your municipality’s climate roadmap. Our program focuses on CSC actions, many of which also garner points for the Clean Energy Communities program.

Orientation

Tuesday August 2, 2022, 10:30am - 12pm

We will gather (ideally in person!) for orientation to the Local Champions program. We will explain the ins and outs of the program and spend some time getting to know one another as a cohort.

For Module 1, we work with the Climate Resilience Partnership, a collaboration between the Hudson River Estuary Program and Cornell Cooperative Extensions. Staff from Cornell Cooperative Extensions of Dutchess, Ulster and Columbia-Greene are assigned to Local Champions from their counties.

Tuesday August 9, 2022, 10:30am - 12pm

Our partners at CCE will give an introduction to the Certification Assessment process, the focus of Module 1. A Certification Assessment entails each of our eight Local Champions forming a stakeholder group with their municipal official, CSC Task Force member, municipal staff, and a point person from CCE. These stakeholder groups do a review of which actions the town or village has completed and which potential actions could be considered on your quest for bronze certification. Two of our cohort members will not being doing Certification Assessments but rather will be filing for bronze with help from Capital District Regional Planning Commission. CDRPC point people will also be there to introduce themselves at this session.

Stakeholder groups should meet independently with their CCE or CDRPC point person at least once before August 19th.

Break until after Labor Day.

Module 1

September 2022 through December 2022

CCE, eight Local Champions, and accompanying stakeholders continue to develop their Certification Assessments, meeting independently every two weeks. CCE will deliver a finalized Certification Assessment report to each town by the end of February, if not earlier. CDRPC and two Local Champions will follow a similar meeting cadence, and will file for bronze by January 2023.

Additional Module 1 programming, one session per week of the following:

  • Local Champions co-director, Vanessa Bertozzi, will present Civics 101 (on Zoom)

  • Presentation on grants with a guest speaker (on Zoom)

  • Case study with a bronze-certified town (on Zoom)

  • Presentation on the CLCPA with a guest speaker (on Zoom)

  • Cohort check-ins for questions and discussion (on Zoom)

  • Quarterly mixer with the larger Partners for Climate Action network (in person)

  • Cohort dinner (in person)

  • Cohort fieldtrip (in person)

Zooming with the pilot cohort.

Module 2

January 2023 through February 2023

Work to create a Climate Smart Task Force and vision for how you’ll engage your community. Eight Local Champions will use the recommendations from their Certification Assessments to inspire participation and recruitment to their task forces. Two Local Champions will work with their task forces on which actions will pave the way for silver certification.

Additional Module 2 programming:

  • Local Champions co-director, Vanessa Bertozzi, will present Engaging your Task Force (on Zoom)

  • Local Champions co-director, Paige Ruane, will present Dealing with Difficult Personalities (on Zoom)

  • EJ and equity round table with special guests (on Zoom)

  • Community organization round table with special guests (on Zoom)

  • Cohort check-ins for questions and discussion (on Zoom)

  • Quarterly mixer with the larger Partners for Climate Action network (in person)

  • Cohort dinner (in person)

  • Cohort fieldtrip (in person)

North East community activity for Earth Day, photo courtesy of Kathy Chow

Module 3

March 2023 through April 2023 

Eight Local Champions will decide which recommendations from your Certification Assessment you will focus on, and two Local Champions will choose which actions to focus on as they turn towards silver certification. Put together your plan. Final presentations can double as a pitch to your town board, community—and to PCA for continued support.

Tighe & Bond, an engineering and planning firm, provides three 1 hour consultations with each Local Champion and their municipal partners. These sessions provide expert feedback on which potential projects to pursue for CSC points.

PCA will connect a grant writer to our Local Champions, to give you coaching on how to think about grants at this stage. If you’re putting together a grant application, they can look it over and give advice.

Additional Module 3 programming:

  • Quarterly mixer with the larger Partners for Climate Action network (in person)

  • Presentation introducing feasibility studies and how to work with engineers and planners with guest speaker Brandee Nelson (on Zoom)

  • Partners from Hudson Valley Regional Council and Capital District Regional Planning Commission introduce the free support and technical services they offer, including Clean Energy Communities outreach (on Zoom)

  • Cohort check-ins for questions and discussion (on Zoom)

  • Cohort members may also buddy up for working sessions

Local Champions pilot members after completing the program and their final presentations

More on Catalyst Grants and Other PCA Support

PCA has launched Ecological Restoration grants, and will provide internship matchmaking and grant writing support. 

These opportunities are open to PCA’s entire network of contacts. Our Local Champions program has been designed to help graduates leverage their work to apply for further PCA support.

Want more?

During our pilot, we compiled useful worksheets and resources, and we recorded our Zoom sessions for anyone to watch.

 

Some of our pilot Local Champions, flanked by co-directors Vanessa and Paige