Co-Creating a Responsive, Innovative Climate Portfolio for the Upper Valley
Project Description
Vital Communities will execute a two-part, two-year strategy that combines deep community listening with the flexibility and resources to pursue innovative climate interventions as communities imagine them.
Investing in Deep Community Engagement
To follow the shifting priorities of community-led climate and energy projects, we will conduct a strategic assessment of Vital Communities’ past climate and energy (previously separated) work, to re-engage climate action and energy efficiency partners at a deeper level, and to seek out new voices and efforts to make sure our climate portfolio matches the interests and needs of the Upper Valley regions we serve. In this deep community engagement, we will map the needs and priorities identified by our local and regional partners as well as the existing landscape of climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation efforts and groups.
An intentional area of focus will be how the climate crisis affects Upper Valley residents differently, with those most strategically targeted or excluded from socioeconomic prosperity disproportionately feeling the effects of slow and fast natural disasters caused by a changing climate. We are lucky to have access to many local and regional data sources to inform our work and physically map climate work
The first year of deep listening and assessment is intended to preclude Vital Communities from determining our own priorities and force the prioritization of projects that address community needs and wants. With an informed mapping of the region’s climate and energy actors and their communities’ strengths and vulnerabilities, we can show up in the way that is most helpful: whether simply as a notetaker or as a consultant facilitator. We hope to help groups address gaps in capacity and funding and to leverage Vital Communities’ size and capacity to support community-led projects.
Surfacing Innovative Climate Projects
We will listen for areas where collective and collaborative actions can have the greatest impact and where working together across town or state lines will increase efficiency and assist volunteers with capacity challenges. We trust that these discussions, meetings, and shared work in Year One will bring forth innovative or trusted, reliable efforts where individual partners can receive mutual support and resource sharing, building a more climate-disaster resilient region through both the projects themselves, and the communication and coordination they might require.
We also plan to use any findings to inform and refine our work in Transportation, Housing, and Agriculture/Food Systems, making sure Connectedness, Respect and Reciprocity for Earth, and the Ability to Live and Thrive are front and center in our decision-making and project planning across all program areas. Our findings will inform the next iteration of our Climate Portfolio by identifying innovative project ideas and areas where individual partners might struggle but through collaboration can achieve greater impact.
Implementation
After the Year One listening and mapping, we will share all information gathered with all project partners, improving our data collection and sharing processes. Focusing on one or more pilot projects, we will identify partners, launch the pilots, and re-evaluate multiple times as we progress. VItal Communities’ connections across the region and organizations within it will enable us to encourage collaboration among our region’s wealth of climate and energy volunteer and professional networks and their enormous dedication, expertise, and creativity. That is why we will be listening instead of leading, and collaborating instead of re-creating.
Topics already voiced by our region’s partners include increased disaster preparedness, community climate resilience, flood mitigation, accessing funding like the Inflation Reduction Act, energy burden, environmental justice, expanding or replicating the Shared Energy Coordinator model, local and organization-specific Climate Action Plans, and more.
Project Funder: Jane’s Trust