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The city of Rochester is accepting proposals for the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund, a grant program that will support environmental projects led by youth groups across the city.
The funding, totaling $50,000, will be distributed in increments of $1,000 to $5,000 to the chosen projects. While funding must be accepted by an organization capable of receiving and managing it (including nonprofits, schools, after-school programs, and recreational groups), projects must be led by at least two Rochester-based youth between the ages of 15 and 24.
The grant aligns with the ongoing update of Rochester’s municipal and communitywide climate action plans. Now, the city is looking to further target climate engagement at a local level.
“We were already thinking about ways to create (an) inclusive strategy so we hear the voices of all Rochesterians, and then thinking about how can we get out to the communities, how can we talk about climate in a way that’s very relevant to our community,” says Shalini Beath, energy and sustainability manager for the city’s Department of Environmental Services.
The grant aligned with these initiatives and was secured through the city’s involvement in the Bloomberg American Sustainable Cities Initiative. Rochester is one of 25 cities in BASC, which leverages federal funding to tackle issues including climate change and racial wealth equity.
For Beath and her team, applying to the Youth Climate Action Fund seemed like the natural next step.
The city will host co-design sessions for interested groups throughout the proposal period, which runs until Sept. 25. Beath hopes the workshops will create a space for collaboration between city government and community groups, where organizations can ask questions and brainstorm projects that may eventually become strategies in the city’s climate action plan.
Currently, the design is centered on four categories: neighborhood protection, thriving health and homes, urban connectability, and green jobs. Through community collaboration, Beath is eager to explore a range of strategies to address these pillars—not only traditional action items like gardening and tree planting, but also awareness campaigns that draw in disciplines such as writing and art.
After accepted awards are announced in early November, groups will have until April 15, 2027, to implement their projects. Following that, groups will report internally, but Beath doesn’t want the process to end there.
“How can we make these actions and strategies better integrated into what is already happening in the community? Climate action and these strategies are not standalone,” she says. “Each project is different, so they’ll require different levels or types of ongoing support, (but) we want to see it continuing over the long term entirely.”
Beath also sees a sense of hope in directly involving youth-led groups with Rochester’s climate policies—and a way to open dialogue on what they want to see in the city’s future.
“Climate can be a very daunting topic for many of us and we’re experiencing a lot of negative impacts,” she says. “Very hot summers, wildfire smoke, there’s been flooding, all of that is local … but I also think there’s a lot of opportunity to be hopeful about the future.
“I think having youth involved in this would create (a) brighter outlook for the future entirely.”
More information about the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund is available here.
Alex Holly is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer and member of the Oasis Project’s second cohort.
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