Want to help lead local solutions to climate change?
Offered by the Upper Valley Adaptation Workgroup and Vital Communities, 2CLA trains Upper Valley residents on how to take meaningful action on climate change in their communities. 2CLA features six biweekly live sessions with expert presentations, group discussions, and collaborative work sessions that explore climate change science, climate justice, mitigation and adaptation strategies, opportunities for local action, project design, and leadership development.
Applications are not yet open for the next 2CLA cohort. Please check back!
Climate action toolkit
Learn background on climate change and ways for engaging your community in positive steps through the 2CLA Toolkit, developed by the 2022 2CLA cohort.
What 2CLA Offers
- Peer Support | 2CLA participants meet, learn alongside, and collaborate with a cohort of ~25 engaged citizens from across the Upper Valley who are concerned about climate change and ready to do something about it. The connections you make with your 2CLA cohort and 2CLA alumni from previous cohorts will be a source of mutual support and connectedness for years to come.
- Networking | 2CLA introduces you to organizations and leaders who are already working to address climate change in the Upper Valley. These are people and groups you can connect with and seek help from now and in the future.
- Leadership Training | 2CLA provides resources and opportunities to hone your skills in designing and running impactful projects, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, leading equitable community engagement, implementing successful public outreach, and more.
- Learning | 2CLA brings in climate scientists and environmental justice experts to deepen your understanding of the warming, extreme weather, increased precipitation, and drought we are seeing in the Upper Valley; how those changes are affecting our communities; and who is most affected by and most resilient to those changes.
- Action | Each 2CLA participant identifies a climate-related project within the participant’s own community to launch, join, or build upon during and after their 2CLA experience. Identifying, planning, and beginning to dig into your project will be your focus this fall, supported by the many partners and resources offered through 2CLA.
Ways You’ll Participate
- Live Cohort Workshops | The entire 2CLA 2022 cohort met 5-6 times altogether between September and December. Some of these meetings were in-person (in Lebanon, with food provided) and some were virtual, out of respect for current public health guidance and a desire to avoid unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions in traveling to events. Whether in person or via Zoom, cohort workshops were highly interactive, offering opportunities for group discussion and peer support throughout the 2CLA process. Participants were expected to attend as many of these workshops as possible.
- Pre-Recorded Talks | 2CLA introduces you to organizations and leaders who are already working to address climate change in the Upper Valley. These are people and groups you can connect with and seek help from now and in the future.
- Office Hours | 2CLA provides resources and opportunities to hone your skills in designing and running impactful projects, recruiting and coordinating volunteers, leading equitable community engagement, implementing successful public outreach, and more.
- On Your Own Time | 2CLA brings in climate scientists and environmental justice experts to deepen your understanding of the warming, extreme weather, increased precipitation, and drought we are seeing in the Upper Valley; how those changes are affecting our communities; and who is most affected by and most resilient to those changes.
How 2CLA Participants are Chosen
The 2CLA Design Team (including 2CLA alumni, Upper Valley Adaptation Workgroup members, and Vital Communities staff) reviews applications submitted by interested individuals and selects up to 25 participants for 2CLA. Applicants will be selected based on the following criteria:
- In what ways each candidate adds to the diversity of the cohort through their lived experience, identity, perspectives on climate change, age, geography, etc.
- Ability to participate
- Eagerness to use 2CLA as a starting point for deepening their personal engagement in community-based efforts to address the causes, effects, and inequities of climate change in their own community
We are seeking to build a cohort that is diverse in terms of lived experience, identity, age, location in the Upper Valley (as defined here), and perspectives on climate change. We also seek those with the ability to fully participate in the live sessions, complete homework, and dedicate time each week to their project. In addition, we will look for responses that indicate an eagerness to use 2CLA as a starting point for deepening their personal engagement in community-based efforts to address the causes, effects, and inequities of climate change in their own community.