Climate Equity Collaborative’s Inaugural Youth Advisory Council

The Climate Equity Collaborative™ (CEC) is a public-private partnership that engages nontraditional partners, with an emphasis on youth and underserved communities, in climate innovation and climate action. CEC engages at the system level through initiatives in climate education, children’s environmental health, and environmental justice. Additionally, one of CEC’s key goals is to construct more on-ramps to the global climate conversation for youth and underserved communities.

The National Wildlife Federation is a founding member of the CEC and is currently seeking applications from youth climate leaders to participate in the CEC’s first advisory body: the 2024 Youth Advisory Council (YAC).

What is CEC’s 2024 Youth Advisory Council?

As CEC finalizes our governance structure in the new year, we seek to collect feedback and input from global youth climate leaders to ensure the Collaborative is youth-informed, youth-centered, and youth-inspired.

Accordingly, CEC is launching our 2024 Youth Advisory Council (YAC) to contribute to an internal review and revision process. The YAC will include seven to eleven individuals representing various backgrounds and climate networks. YAC members will participate remotely to contribute to the formation of CEC’s future initiatives and opportunities, such as a global youth network. The 2024 YAC key priorities include:

• Reviewing and providing feedback on CEC’s governance and strategy.
• Envisioning how to achieve the goals and needs of participants of a planned Climate Equity Youth Network (CEYN).
• Contributing to the long-term vision of the CEC and CEC’s Youth Advisory Council.
• Serving as a liaison with peers and/or colleagues on CEC activities and initiatives.

Timeline

We are accepting applications for our 2024 Youth Advisory Council until March 8, 2024. The approximate start date for members will be March 15, 2024, and the 2024 membership will run until August 1, 2024.

During this period, we ask members to commit to attending five monthly meetings. Meetings will be held remotely via Zoom and will be 2 hours long, with 1.5 hrs dedicated to collaborative work and an optional 0.5 hrs at the end for networking. At the end of the 2024 service period, we will ask all members to complete a survey.

Benefits and Compensation

During their tenure on the 2024 Youth Advisory Council, members will have the opportunity to participate in at least four external engagements arranged by the CEC team. These engagements may include:

• Opportunities to speak on panels with your peers.
• Networking with your YAC cohort or other advisors.
• Meet & greet with CEC and NWF partners or employees.
• Opportunities to contribute to CEC and NWF social media, blogs, podcasts, etc.
• Professional development & skill set development workshops.

Additionally, YAC members will receive a $500 stipend. Half of this stipend will be given at the start of the service period, and half will be disbursed at the end. Members are expected to attend the five required meetings and will have the option to attend additional engagement activities. However, we recognize that there may be circumstances outside a member’s control that prevent them from attending all five meetings. In that case, we will work with the member to identify an alternative form of engagement.

To Learn More

We will be holding two office hours sessions over Zoom to answer questions from prospective applicants and provide more information. These information sessions are optional and scheduled for the following times:

• Monday, February 26th @ 7:30 pm Eastern U.S.
• Wednesday, February 28th @ 8:00 am Eastern U.S.

If you are interested in attending one of these sessions, please indicate which one in your application. If you are unable to attend one of these sessions, feel free to download the slides or reach out to us with questions.

To Apply

Interested applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 28 upon applying, and the deadline to apply has been extended to March 8, 2024.

Part of the application requirements include submitting four short paragraphs (no more than 1,000 characters each, approximately 200-300 words). Optionally, applicants may submit a resume as well.

Application Questions:

1. Please share your experience (either through lived or learned experience) with any or all of the following: climate equity/inequity, youth climate action, community engagement, and/or public-private partnerships. 
2. Why are you interested in joining CEC’s Youth Advisory Council?
3. Please provide an example of when you had to rely on communication skills to develop partnerships or further collaboration for success. Please also explain what communication approaches you took to accomplish this. 
4. What professional skill sets or knowledge do you hope to develop through this position? And what existing skill sets do you plan to bring in support of YAC collaboration?

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Marley Hauser (hauserm@nwf.org)!