The Community Climate Leaders Program helps individuals learn how to take climate action in their community, and connects them with others who want to build resilient communities together. Program participants will learn how to see themselves as leaders, develop their climate stories, and begin to build community around climate action. If you’re looking to do something about climate change and you’re not sure where to start, then you’re in the right place!
The Community Climate Leaders Program
This 8-week program includes:
- Five online modules, where you will learn what climate change is and what it looks like in Minnesota, how to amplify your climate action impact by working in community, what climate actions you can take, how to integrate climate justice, and how to be a community leader
- Four in-person sessions, where you will learn how to build community through facilitated conversations, how to tell your climate story for communicating about climate change and climate action, build an understanding of community climate action already taking place, and sharing of climate actions you and your co-participants are going to take.
- A stepping stone project to make plans for taking climate action in your life
- A copy of The Climate Action Handbook by Dr. Heidi Roop, a climate action notebook, and other activity materials
- A group of people to build community with together to begin your climate action as fellow participants in the program
Once you’ve completed the program, you’ll be able to connect with fellow Community Climate Leaders across the state through a shared listserv and exclusive events. You’ll also gain access to additional learning opportunities as the program grows so that you can continue along your climate action journey.
Join Us!
Are you ready to join the Community Climate Leaders program? You can join a group of like-minded individuals to build community, or we can work with you and your group, community, or organization!
- Apply to participate in the Spring 2025 Cohort in St. Louis Park. This program will start on May 5th, with in-person sessions on May 13, May 27, June 10 and June 24 from 6-8:30pm at the Westwood Hills Nature Center in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Applications are due April 14th! Due to capacity, we may not be able to accept everyone who applies for this program. Preference will be given to those who live in St. Louis Park and the surrounding communities, and to those who can attend the in-person sessions.
- If those dates and times don’t work for you, sign up with the Community Climate Leaders Interest Form. We’ll be building opportunities to complete the program around the state based on demand and location. As new opportunities arise, we’ll let you know so that you can apply to join the latest cohort!
If you would like to bring this program to your community, we have two options:
- We bring the program to you! Work with an MCAP team member to organize a cohort in your community. You'll be responsible for recruiting program participants and helping to coordinate in-person sessions, which includes finding a location for hosting and determining dates and times of in-person sessions. MCAP will take care of registration, materials, and both online and in-person content delivery.
- You bring the program to your community! This is a great option if you’ve gone through the program yourself, and want to host the program for others as a part of your own climate journey. Trained instructors can offer the program over time, build a cohort of leaders, and share resources with other trainers. To make this happen, you will work with MCAP to learn how to deliver in-person sessions. You'll be trained how to lead the in-person sessions for the program, and will be responsible for not only recruiting program participants and coordinating in-person sessions, but leading them as well. MCAP will take care of registration, materials, and online content delivery.
Program Costs
Cost Per Person
The cost for the program is $200 per person. The program fee includes The Climate Action Handbook by Dr. Heidi Roop, a Community Climate Leaders notebook, activity materials, location rental fee, snacks, and travel for instructors. If the program fee is a barrier to your participation in the program, then refer to the Individual Program Discount in the FAQ for options to make it accessible for you.
Individual Program Discount
We don’t want cost to be a barrier to the program. If the program fees are a barrier to your ability to participate in the program as an individual, please select a discount code from the list below that will enable your participation. You can enter this code during the registration process to reduce your registration fees.
- $50 discount (pay $150): use code CCL50
- $100 discount (pay $100): use code CCL100
- $125 discount (pay $75): use code CCL125
- $150 discount (pay $50): use code CCL150
FAQs
What is the maximum number of people per workshop?
Workshops can accommodate registration for up to 30 participants, though 25 is an ideal number.
How much will it cost to bring the program to my community?
If you would like this option, we will work with you and your group to determine the appropriate cost.
How does this program differ from other climate training programs?
The Community Climate Leaders Program focuses on helping you learn how to build community where you live so that you can amplify the impact of your climate action! We take a community-leadership, place-based approach to help you figure out the best way to take climate action in your community. And, we lean towards including adaptation so that not only can we reduce our contributions to climate change, but work towards being ready for the changes we’re already seeing, and will continue to see.
What is the time commitment?
The online portion contains five self-paced modules, with core content as well as optional learning opportunities for digging in deeper. Past participants have spent an average of 30 hours exploring online content, with a median time of 20 hours. The four in-person sessions are 2.5-3 hours long each, for no more than 12 hours of in-person instruction. In total, we suggest planning to spend 3-5 hours a week on this program.