Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions

The City of Kingston is seeking local neighbourhood leaders to engage with residents on local environmental issues and inspire climate action. The Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions will inspire, motivate, and encourage other residents to undertake community-focused actions to support the City’s Climate Leadership Plan and reach the City’s target of carbon neutral by 2040.

Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions

Participants will receive training (in-person or virtual) through a series of webinars on climate change science, climate change communications, and climate action in Kingston. After the training, participants will receive a Neighborhood Climate Action Toolkit to help them engage their neighbours in discussions about climate change and develop innovative neighbourhood-focused climate action projects. The aim of the Toolkit is to identify specific Kingston Climate Leadership Plan goals the neighbourhood should target and develop a plan to reach these goals.

Climate Action Champions are required to commit at least 50 hours per year (4-5 hours per month) toward climate outreach, project development and execution.

The City of Kingston’s program will require participants to present their project’s deliverables, needed materials, their project evaluation plan, and a budget before receiving funding and entering into a funding agreement with the City. Participants will be eligible to receive a maximum of $2,000 per project.

Participants will meet with City staff monthly to discuss their neighbourhood projects and receive feedback and support.

As a Neighbourhood Climate Action Champion, you will:

• Communicate and educate residents about environmental and climate-related topics and issues. Lead constructive and interesting conversations about the challenges of climate change and potential solutions.
• Collaborate with residents to develop neighbourhood-focused climate action projects that account for the diverse values and needs of the community.
• Connect and inspire a broader group of neighbourhood residents to participate in climate action to reduce their carbon footprint.
• Contribute to advancing the City’s Climate Leadership Plan and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our city.

Program Eligibility

• 18 years of age or older
• Live in Kingston
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills
• Able to commit at least 4 to 5 hours per month to climate outreach and attend monthly meetings with City staff
• Able to work as part of a team and have a strong leadership capacity
• Currently engaged in climate action work; or
• Engaged in neighbourhood or local community work; or
• a recent graduate interested in climate action
• Existing connections with neighbourhood networks/groups are an asset
• Fluency in a non-English language is an asset

Applications from community leaders and residents from communities experiencing social, economic and other barriers, including people of colour, newcomers, LGBTQ2S+ persons, women, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities / disabled, will be given priority.