Help define your state’s best approach to using service to address climate change
The first question to consider when narrowing the focus of your design is: How do you approach climate change? As described in previous sections, there are a multitude of ways climate change will impact people, communities, and ecosystems, and those impacts are changing rapidly. As you define a strategy, you want to evaluate what climate risks and responses you will address through service.
Such considerations should generally take into account the following:
- The degree of focus on mitigation (greenhouse gas reductions) versus adaptation or resilience
- Whether to emphasize community or climate impacts
- How to coordinate or align with any state or national programs, resources, and goals
- How to capture service outcomes across diverse activities (i.e., attribution of impact from service to outcome)
This last point is important because the topic of climate change is so complex that the macro impacts can be elusive to service programs but focusing too narrowly on very discrete activities might overlook important community benefit opportunities.
Once you have defined the approach to climate, the next step is to examine how to operationalize this approach through service and determine the appropriate roles for members to advance it. As seen in the program examples, there are many ways to address climate change through service. This examination is likely to surface a range of service strategies from direct service to capacity building. Additionally, since climate change is often not well understood in communities, programs may want to consider mixed service models that allow AmeriCorps members to support engagement and education alongside their service activities. Some service activity choices may be defined by local environmental conditions (i.e., flooding versus wildfire), while others might be influenced by resources and state priorities (i.e., community engagement versus implementation). Notably, it may be important to consider how to align service with existing climate action stakeholders and networks who may not be familiar with national service. For example, local governments have significant responsibilities for climate program implementation but are less often partners in AmeriCorps.
This stage can be the time to draft an initial theory of change or logic model to begin to articulate a description of what members will do and what impact this will have on the community. Outlining program elements (from training to activities to outputs/outcomes) can help move from the abstract to the concrete and can surface key design questions that were not as visible before putting down specific roles, activities, and desired outcomes.
Central to any program design is the AmeriCorps member experience and how a service program builds leadership for participants. With climate change increasingly relevant to so many fields and communities, it’s important to ground the AmeriCorps member’s experience in an understanding of both the issues and the impacts. For many young people, climate change is a particularly pressing issue, so we have found climate focused service programs to be strong from a recruitment perspective. At the same time, it can be valuable to consider the potentially overwhelming nature of climate change for service members, so it’s important to have a strong community and member support structure. Finally, related to equity considerations, it is essential to assess how recruitment and member support will advance inclusive participation.
Climate change is affecting everyone, but not equally. The impacts of climate change are being felt more acutely, and the risks can be more significant to the same communities who have often faced disinvestment and marginalization historically. A fairly common principle in climate work is to consider how investments and programming will address disproportionate climate vulnerabilities. This consideration can influence a strategy in various ways such as program design (Who are the beneficiaries? What metrics are used to determine need?), selection of sites (Who can host AmeriCorps members, where, and for what?), definition of member roles (Is addressing inequity central or peripheral to service activities?), and support for members (outreach to diverse networks for recruitment, support for members from diverse backgrounds).
Explore Further
Three states, three different ways to focus
As different states take up climate corps initiatives, each defines focus differently depending on a variety of factors.
The California Climate Action Corps has chosen to focus on service members as community organizers working to “empower all Californians to take meaningful action to safeguard the climate” through service efforts focused on just a few key state priorities. In practice, this means requiring service placements with “significant community engagement and volunteerism components” and prioritizing projects that focus on “urban greening, organic waste and edible food recovery, and wildfire resiliency.”
The Colorado Climate Corps has taken a different approach, embedding broader goals to “address climate change and advance the Governor’s bold goal of moving Colorado’s electric grid to 100% renewable sources by 2040 and protecting the environment for future generations.” Additionally, Colorado’s Climate Corps defines general focus principles that guide program support, but have less defined boundaries including “providing critical capacity and support to local governments,” “building upon and expanding existing conservation and youth corps to do hands-on projects,” and “implementing additional environment and energy projects […] that accelerate the adoption of clean, renewable resources and energy efficiency, advancing electrification efforts in our transportation sector, mitigate against droughts, floods, and wildfires, and ensuring the conservation of our public lands and wildlife.”
Volunteer Florida is an example of a state with a varying framing approach. Florida has significant risks from increased flooding and hurricanes, but climate change is not the frame they use to approach this issue. Rather, the state has a robust resilient coastlines program. In approaching this topic, Volunteer Florida chose the resilience framing in recent AmeriCorps solicitations:
“Whether protecting coastlines from flooding, reducing heat exposure inland, or helping communities to save money through energy efficiency and waste reduction, there are abundant opportunities to engage Floridians in community ‘resilience’ activities that preserve our natural resources and protect our communities. AmeriCorps has a long history of supporting environmental stewardship activities through service. From trail maintenance to energy conservation, AmeriCorps members have been at the forefront of helping communities respond to environmental challenges. Volunteer Florida is working to identify and support organizations who want to leverage the power of National Service as a part of their community resilience response strategies.”
Action Steps
- Draft a preliminary theory of change or logic model to describe the activities, outputs, outcomes, and impacts. Circulate these among key stakeholders to identify alignment with goals and/or gaps to address.
- Develop a climate corps interest survey targeting potential grantees and host organizations to understand the focus areas or activities service members might be effective in supporting and the roles service members might play in those activities.
- Consider as a commission your approach to measuring impact and any guidance you want to frontload for grantees about the kinds of activities and outcomes you anticipate supporting.
- Talk with colleges and universities who have climate programs to identify what skills and roles they are providing introductions to and what their potential level of support for future programs is.
- Talk internally about any service activities that might be cross-functional such as education, economic development, capacity-building, and volunteer engagement.
- Explore diverse and inclusive recruitment strategies in coordination with local universities and community-based organizations, especially those with climate related programming.
- Identify career pathways for a variety of service roles and talk with organizations in these fields about what they look for in candidates, such as skills and experiences.
- Identify relevant training resources for your grantees and service members and facilitate their accessibility through sharing or providing collaborative training opportunities to foster a shared understanding among participants.
- Talk with environmental organizations, grantees, and state partners to define any priorities for AmeriCorps member roles and host organization responsibilities.
- Talk with curriculum providers about ways to provide a holistic climate training that incorporates topics such as personal resilience and equity alongside climate change science and practice.
- Use climate mapping and impact tools to identify areas of greatest need or climate vulnerability.
- Solicit program design input from key community-based organizations (CBOs) working to elevate equity issues in addressing climate change in the state.
- Talk with existing grantees and other community stakeholders to identify effective and inclusive service member support strategies.
- Consider asking grantees to outline the role of equity in their climate service strategy, including site selection and member support.