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The challenges of climate change and learning to live sustainably will permeate all aspects of our lives

COOLER-CLImates is a pilot program aimed at bringing together University of Northern Colorado (UNCO) students and faculty, and local community organizations to build climate change resilience.

Do you want to improve your organization’s capacity to help build climate change resilience?
Would you like opportunities to connect with UNCO students, faculty, and other community organizations on projects and ideas that support your work?

Apply to participate the COOLER-CLImates Community Organization Cohort. The cohort will run from September 2025 through April 2025. Our first workshop is in-person on Saturday, September 14th in Greeley, CO. At this workshop you'll get to interact with representatives from other community organizations, and UNCO students and faculty. We'll explore:

What is climate and community resilience?
What are our shared values and needs regarding climate resilience?
How can we work together to make progress within our community toward climate resilience?

After this workshop, meetings will continue through April in a virtual format until the final in-person meeting (April 21st).

COOLER-CLImates cohort participants from community organizations MAY receive an honorarium of UP TO $800 for their participation. The honorariums will be provided on a need basis, which should be indicated in the application.

Apply here to join the COOLER-CLImates Community Organization Cohort!

COOLER-CLImates

The COOLER CLImates (Climate Leadership Institute) is a pilot program that brings together students, faculty, and community organizations in the Greeley, CO region on topics that align with disciplinary interests and climate change resilience. The goal of the program is to provide support for these groups so that they may work together and collaborate on projects that both fit their interests/needs and help address climate change resilience in the region.

COOLER-CLImates is designed to:

Prepare UNCO undergraduate students from all disciplines to work with community organizations on climate-related events, projects, or challenges;
Prepare UNCO faculty to employ their discipline-specific expertise in local climate-related challenges; and
Build the capacity of community organizations that work with or want to work with climate readiness and resilience issues by increasing their access to academic and public resources, and strengthening their connection with other regional practitioners.

COOLER-CLImates first program will begin in September 2024. In addition to hosting current UNCO undergraduate students and faculty as program participants, we seek to include participants who represent community-serving organizations working in or near Greeley, CO. We anticipate inviting up to 9 representatives from community organizations to be included in this cohort program.

What will you do as a COOLER-CLImates participant?

Professional Development & COOLER Community events

Engage in facilitated networking, learning, and professional development with other regional organizational representatives, and UNC faculty and students (future leaders!) who have a passion for climate readiness and climate change resilience actions in the Greeley, CO region.
Gain access to content, specialists, opportunities, and networking within the broader landscape of climate resilience.

In addition to the core sessions of the Cohort Meetings, there will be opportunities for CLImates participants to engage in events that are open to the broader COOLER community, such as:

Attend the Energy and Environment Leadership Symposium in Oct 2024
Tour local farms and/or facilities
Meet with and hear from other community groups to discuss concerns and challenges related to climate change.

Cohort Meetings

This cohort program will include:

Monthly facilitated meetings between the entire cohort to help support you in learning how to collaborate/work together, develop your project, and share overall learnings/needs while working in the climate resilience space (total of 7 online meetings).
Professional development opportunities with experts, based on what the cohort identifies as a need. Topics may include: Funding and grants, proposal writing, team collaboration, community organizing, and facilitation.
Online infrastructure for community interaction (Discussion forum, meeting platform, collaborative documents) to support COOLER-CLImate teams as they meet during and outside of scheduled meetings.
Communication for and coordination of the overall group, including promotion of projects: We will share what project teams are doing and spotlight features of projects and individuals in the COOLER newsletter and on our social media.

Team Projects

Representatives of community organizations will have the option to work with student and faculty teams on collaborative projects related to climate change resilience, and climate justice and or sustainability.

Some example projects:

Alignment between your organization's mission and community climate resilience
A strategic plan for better supporting the needs of people who are disproportionately affected by climate change.
Communicating scientific information to broader audiences
Creating infographics and other informative content about water or energy usage.
Developing a social media campaign to promote educational content about climate change.
Developing online learning material
Planning and implementing a public workshop
Writing a technical, white paper, or one-pager on a climate resilience topic
Writing and submitting a grant proposal

Completion Requirements

Participate in two in-person meetings (September 14, 2024 and April 21, 2025) in Greeley, CO and 6 one-hour online meetings with the cohort.
Collaborate with other COOLER-CLImates participant(s) on a climate resilience project that supports your organization for ~6 months
Complete one focus group interview (1-2 hours) with COOLER’s external evaluator and self-guided evaluation surveys during participation in the program and at the end of the program.

Expected time commitment and compensation

The expected time commitment is about 15-30 total hours (2-4 hours/month) to attend meetings and complete work for the program. A total stipend of $800 is offered ($400 paid out in December and another $400 in April) to help support the participant's time investment in the program and their ongoing climate resilience efforts. Participants will receive a certificate acknowledging completion of the COOLER-CLImates cohort program.

COOLER CLImates Community Organization Cohort Meeting Schedule

Fall Semester 2024

Mondays 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Sep 14 (Saturday 10am-2pm) – IN PERSON: COOLER CLImates all-cohort kick-off in Greeley, CO
Oct 7 - (Virtual Meeting) Theme: Leadership in Climate Resilience - What kind of leader do you want to be?
Oct 21 - (Virtual Meeting) Meet with the Student and Faculty CLImates cohorts
Nov 25 - (Virtual Meeting) Theme: TBD by participants
Dec 9 - (Virtual Meeting) Participant discussion and focus group meeting with COOLER program evaluator

Spring Semester 2025

Mondays 4:00 - 5:00 pm

Jan 27 - (Virtual Meeting) Theme: TBD by participants
Feb 24 - (Virtual Meeting) Opportunity to interact with the Student CLImates cohort
Mar 24 - (Virtual Meeting) Theme: TBD by participants
Apr 21 (Monday 4:00-6:00pm) IN PERSON: COOLER CLImates finale in Greeley, CO

Eligibility

Applicant represents a mission-driven community organization in Northern Colorado that is involved or interested in climate change and climate change resilience activities.

We use the term "organization" loosely to consist of:

501(c)3 nonprofit organizations
Projects that are fiscally sponsored by a 501(c)3 organization
Public agencies or local jurisdictions
Collaborative, coalitions, and other community-based entities

We define climate readiness as activities and processes that help people and places become prepared and ready for future climate change. Similarly, climate change resilience is about developing the capacity within people and places to withstand climate change and develop strategies to thrive. Examples of activities that organizations may be working with include providing support for displaced people, monitoring local environmental change, and planning development of urban areas.

Anyone with a passion for working collaboratively with the broader community, faculty, and students on climate change issues.

If you feel that your project is a good fit for this cohort program, but it does not fit neatly into one of the noted administrative categories, please reach out to us to ask about your eligibility.

Apply here for the COOLER-CLImates Community Organization Cohort!

About Us

COOLER (Community Collaboration and Learning for Climate Resilience) is an NSF-funded project (Award #2228170) aimed at building a learning ecosystem around climate change resilience in Northern Colorado. This planning grant supports the development of trans-disciplinary climate change curricula, as well as connections between UNCO students and faculty with community groups on projects that build local climate change resilience.

Questions?

Please contact us with questions!
Dr. Cindy Shellito, Prof. of Meteorology and COOLER Project Lead: lucinda.shellito(a)unco.edu

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