Citizens Climate Education Corp

Citizens’ Climate Education (CCE) is a nonpartisan grassroots advocacy organization that empowers people from diverse backgrounds to educate key stakeholders, policymakers, and the general public about effective solutions to climate change. This powerful corps of over 210,000 climate advocates builds political will for long-lasting climate solutions at the federal and state level.

Citizens’ Climate Education exists to create a healthy, livable climate for this generation and gene

Goal One: Recruit, train, and mobilize climate-conscious constituents from diverse backgrounds to exercise their personal and political power.

Goal Two: Educate Congress on impactful climate solutions.

Goal Three: Increase widespread support for climate solutions from community leaders, businesses, academic institutions, local governments, nonprofit organizations, and other important stakeholders.

Citizens’ Climate Education invests in staff leadership development within each department based on individual goals and team needs. Examples of ongoing investments across departments include: Bimonthly meetings for managers through which participants are able to strengthen leadership skills. Meetings include presentations, training, tools, and facilitated discussions that cover an array of topics. They are led by the Executive Director, our Human Resources department, and guest speakers. Weekly all-staff meetings periodically include leadership skill-building discussion prompts. Semiannual staff retreats, which include leadership development, team building, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion training. CCE also provides numerous free online trainings and workshops to the general public; many of which support leadership development. CCE also provides monthly meetings to support Group Leaders, State Coordinators, and Congressional Liaisons in their volunteer leadership positions.

With the continuation of the pandemic, most activities remained virtual in 2021. This presented unique opportunities, as well as challenges. Volunteer recruitment has historically been largely through in-person activities. Now that we have transitioned to mostly virtual outreach, we rely more heavily on digital outreach campaigns, online communities, and search engine optimization. This shift has required us to refine our techniques for connecting with, onboarding, and engaging new volunteers. Virtual programming has helped improve diversity and inclusion amongst our supporters, increasing access for many. This has especially been true for: People of Color, people in rural communities, people with limited economic resources (recognizing that access to a phone and/or computer is still needed), persons with disabilities, caretakers, students, and youth. However, keeping people engaged without in-person relationships has proven challenging. “Zoom fatigue” has become increasingly prevalent as virtual activities persist. As a result, some chapters have transitioned to a hybrid model: maintaining a digital presence, while also hosting in-person, COVID-safe events for member retention. In addition, we are also working to improve our educational content by: 1) Making shorter, more timely, and relevant trainings; 2) Reassessing the frequency of content so as not to over-saturate volunteers; and 3) Transitioning to more interactive trainings and events.