Greetings Community!
I know we’re well into 2024, but I’d still like to wish you a Happy New Year and Happy Lunar New Year (year of the Dragon!), as it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. I hope you all are finding ease and balance this year, especially as we continue to navigate challenging realities. We continue to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine facing genocidal warfare since October, and we demand an immediate ceasefire. #FreePalestine and free all people subjected to colonization!
Over here at People’s Climate Innovation Center, we’re proudly celebrating Black History Month (enjoy your commemorations, by the way!) and amplifying the award winning Black Climate Week with our friends The Solution Project and the launch of our 2024 Young Black Climate Leaders (YBCL) Youth Futures Fund application! More details on Black Climate Week and opportunities to amplify and support can be found further down in this newsletter.
In addition to basking in the beauty and brilliance of diasporic Blackness, we are continuing to manifest abundance as we ride high from the release of our 2023 impact report last year. If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out the report Manifesting Abundance: A Year of Amplifying and Supporting Community-Led Climate Solutions and our accompanying montage video! This report is a glimpse into the work we have done since launching our brand in June 2022 to support community leadership and build capacity for community-driven solutions to the oppressive systems that have led to climate change. I hope you’re inspired by all we have accomplished and feel nourished because we couldn’t have done it without you! Thank you for supporting our vision and work. Stay tuned for what’s coming; we’re excited to share more about what we have in store.
Embracing abundance, one of our organization’s goals for 2023 was to access more opportunities to share our framework and theory of change–grounded in the Community-Driven Climate Resilience Planning (CDCRP) Framework and applied in the evolving design and growing infrastructure of our core programs: National Association of Climate Resilience Planners (NACRP), Young Black Climate Leaders (YBCL), and Young Climate Leaders of Color (YCLC). With this framework in mind, our amazing Capacity Building Director, Tamira Jones, who’s also a public funding specialist, helped us to end our year on a high note with the publication of her piece Local Solutions to Federal Problems: Moving Climate Dollars to Communities in The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ). Written alongside Brittny-Jade Saunders, this piece highlights the ways that communities can and should lead on public funding from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Justice 40 commitments and other federal funding. We know that access to resources, particular for frontline communities, is often the difference between climate resilience and climate catastrophe. This is why Tamira’s piece is both timely and necessary. We look forward to sharing more from us in NPQ and other places as we manifest additional opportunities to share our vision and theory of change.
One more thing: before you get into the nitty gritty of this newsletter with more of the latest updates on our core programs and upcoming offerings, I want to share a personal update: I AM GOING ON SABBATICAL!!!! Yes, the capital letters are me screaming with excitement for the blessing of this incredible gift that has been a long time coming. In the spirit of self-care, wellness, rest, and respite, I will be taking time away beginning this June to give myself the spaciousness to hone my joy, tap into my creativity, and be fully present with my loved ones while loving up on them immensely so that I can continue to be the best version of me - Corrine. I’m deeply grateful that Jaime Love, our Director of Programs, will serve as interim director in my absence–but don’t worry! I will be back! :) As the time for my sabbatical nears, expect more updates from me with details on who from our incredible team to reach out to in addition to Jaime, my return dates, etc.
I hope you enjoy our first newsletter of 2024, which includes highlights from our YCLC and NACRP convenings, new offerings (tap in!), and opportunities to contribute to the continued growth of our programs. Enjoy, and we don’t stop (you’ll get it if you keep reading)!
In Solidarity,
Corrine
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