TO EDUCATE AND EMPOWER COMMUNITIES TO DEMAND CLIMATE ACTION ENSURING THE SAFE, JUST, AND HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL.

To live in a world in which all people, governments, and organizations are informed, engaged, and taking action on critical climate issues.

Source: Nonprofit submitted responses

Goal One: Make climate a top voting priority in Florida. In order for us to achieve our mission, we need to build an informed community that will demand climate action.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Goal Two: Broaden & scale youth participation in climate movement by allocating additional resources to educate & engage middle/high school & college-aged youth on climate change causes, impacts, & policies.

Goal Type: Grow, expand, scale or increase access to the existing programs and services.

Goal Three: Collaborate with regional partners with particular emphasis on institutions, utility companies, corporations, and governments to do more on climate policy.

Goal Type: This goal reflects our commitment to further our advocacy work for our organization and or cause area.

Describe an investment in leadership

Over the last 12-18 months, The CLEO Insitute (CLEO) has made investments in leadership development to foster a culture of continuous improvement, growth, and innovation among its staff. For example, CLEO has provided professional development for all staff on topics such as project management and DEI. CLEO also sends staff to various summits, symposiums, and conferences relevant to their programmatic areas throughout the year to allow for networking opportunities, as well as to stay current on climate issues and the latest climate science. Additionally, CLEO staff participate in job-specific training and courses for their personal and professional growth. Staff are given creative freedom when developing their programs to allow them to build upon the strengths and skills they bring to CLEO's mission.

This organization mobilizes for mission in the following ways:

• Strategic Partnerships

• Networks of Collective Impact Efforts

• Thought Leadership

• Raising Awareness

• Community Building

• Policy Advocacy

What are this organization’s external mobilizaton efforts?

Since 2010, CLEO has been a trusted community partner in building climate literacy across Florida, emphasizing the urgency of climate data & the seriousness of its impacts on vulnerable communities. CLEO is viewed by local governments, organizations, & academic institutions as the go-to for vetted climate science, community justice, & outreach expertise, allowing us to serve in an advisory capacity on cross-disciplinary initiatives like climate & health, education, energy justice, community resilience, & mitigation & adaptation strategies. We reach thousands annually via programming & partnerships & continues to increase the number of residents equipped with climate knowledge to drive action and advocacy for equitable, community-based climate solutions. Programs are accessible to residents & offered in English, Spanish, & Haitian Creole. We also diversify our reach, with an emphasis on faith-based groups, healthcare professionals, electeds, chambers of commerce, & students.

The CLEO Insitute demonstrates remarkable adaptability and resilience in the face of internal and external changes. Since 2020, CLEO has undergone substantial growth, expanding from a lean four-person team to a staff of nearly 20 professionals within the span of three years. As part of CLEO’s expansion, we also opened offices in Tampa, Orlando, and Tallahassee to expand and deepen our presence in South Florida. Given that this expansion occurred during a pandemic, we were deliberate in our efforts to onboard and retain new staff, and are happy to report that CLEO has maintained these staffing numbers since 2020. Amid the uncertainties of the pandemic, CLEO quickly pivoted operations to conduct and offer all programming online in order to meet the changing needs of our communities. In recognizing the barrier that the digital divide posed for our program participants, we were also able to leverage existing partnerships and fundraise for technology grants to support program participants who needed access to technology like laptops and internet access. Last but not least, CLEO’s adaptive capacity extends to recent revisions of our core program offerings to reflect urgent and high-priority issues across Florida’s ever-changing climate landscape. As swaths of South Florida experienced their hottest months on record (46 straight days of record-breaking heat in Miami in Summer 2023, for example), CLEO reevaluated and redefined its objectives to include additional community-wide heat trainings in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole to ensure that our outreach and education efforts remained in alignment with community concerns. CLEO’s demonstrated ability to adapt both proactively and in response to internal and external changes underscores our commitment and determination to successfully execute our mission to drive equitable and impactful climate action that contributes to a safe and healthy future for all.