The Town of The Blue Mountains has announced that it is one of 100 municipalities world-wide to receive a special youth climate action grant.
The town made the announcement this week that it has received $50,000 to distribute as microgrants to fund youth-led climate initiatives. The grant comes from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Youth Climate Action Fund.
“We are super excited about this, because we are one out of 100 municipalities in the world that have received this,” Mayor Andrea Matrosovs said in an interview with CollingwoodToday. “There are only six municipalities in Canada and only 29 in all of North America who are going to be using this fund.”
The funding is a result of the mayor’s recent attendance of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, where Matrosovs attended the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Innovation Studio. Other Canadian municipalities receiving funding include: New Westminster, Halifax, Guelph, Oakville and Kitchener.
The town will soon have an application process set up, and, over the next several months, will be allocated micro-grants to youth initiatives with a climate mitigation of adaptation focus.
From mobilizing tree-planting or public education campaigns to launching recycling or waste reduction initiatives to participating in mitigation planning or preparedness programs, efforts stemming from the new Youth Climate Action Fund will advance critical community goals such as meeting decarbonization commitments or reducing consumption-based emissions.
Ideas for projects may include:
- Youth-led awareness, education, research, and development initiatives, including: youth-led climate education programs; youth climate hackathons; youth-developed climate surveys and research; youth-informed clubs or curriculum; and youth-designed public art and awareness campaigns.
- Youth-driven climate mitigation and adaptation projects, including: youth-led community gardening, tree planting, reforestation, and urban farming campaigns; youth-managed recycling and waste reduction programs; and youth-produced climate resilience workshops and disaster preparedness programs.
- Co-governed youth climate action plans, including: partnerships between city leaders and youth groups to inform climate-related policy ideas, decisions, or actions or the formation of youth climate ambassadors or advisory boards.
Matrosovs said because The Blue Mountains is a smaller community, as compared to the other Canadian municipalities receiving funding, the projects eligible for funding can be regional in nature.
“One of the things I made sure they understood at Bloomberg Philanthropies is that we work on a regional basis here,” she said. “We work very much within the South Georgian Bay region as well as an active member of Grey County.”
Matrosovs said she will be reaching out to the Chiefs of the local First Nations to ensure the invitation is shared with their local youth. The town will also be working with Grey County on advancing awareness of the opportunity.
The funding will be focused on youths from the age of 15 - 24 years old. Matrosovs said Georgian Bay Community School students are welcome to apply, as well as students from Georgian College. She said there are educational and arts and cultural components of the program.
“If there is a group that comes up with a program they would like to bring into the elementary schools, that would be great. That’s always so inspirational for younger children to be able to look at leaders who are not that much older than them who are creating an impact,” she said.
Nicholas Cloet, the town’s sustainability coordinator, said the town will be working to set up an application process and will be sharing updates at the town’s website as the project moves forward.
“We certainly have a lot of work ahead of us to engage with partners across the region to figure out how we can engage with youth to make these projects a reality,” said Cloet. “We have a lot of ideas.”
Additional information regarding submission guidelines, eligibility criteria and funding details will be on the town’s website for the project when available.
Matrosovs said if the initial $50,000 program is successful the town will be eligible for another $100,000 in funding.
