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(intense music) - Good afternoon and welcome to the City Club of Cleveland, where we are devoted to conversations of consequence that help democracy thrive.

I'm Dan Moulthrop, chief executive here, and a proud member.

And I've got to say it is great to be back here in person.

And it's great to see all of you.

Thank you so much for being here.

I know that the variant and the cases are on the rise, but, and we thank you for being here and for masking when you need to.

It's really good to be here to introduce our forum today, climate conversation and community power.

It's part of our changing climate series.

Environmental activism and environmental racism are not new to black communities, indigenous communities, and other communities of poverty and communities of color.

Over the last decade, high profile examples of environmental damage to poor communities of color have been well-documented.

Just think of the lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan, or the oil pipeline rerouted through the water supply of the Standing Rock Indian reservation, or, closer to home the dump operated by Arco Recycling in East Cleveland.

The consequences of climate change also disproportionately harm poverty-stricken communities and communities of color.

Heat islands and severe air pollution are more likely to be found in historically redlined neighborhoods throughout American cities, for instance.

Despite this, however, efforts to advance clean energy have often excluded diverse voices, but what if there was an opportunity to invest in efforts across Ohio that sit at the intersection of racial equity, democracy, and climate?

Is there a better way to center underrepresented voices through intentional and authentic community listening?

This very idea's blossomed into the Ohio Climate Justice Fund, which is a new and exciting initiative launched last month.

Guiding our conversation today is Margaret Bernstein.

She's a journalist at WKYC TV who serves as their director of advocacy and community initiatives.

Margaret, my good friend, I'm going to turn it over to you to introduce our panel.

- All right.

Thank you so much, Dan.

I am here today with three incredible individuals.

All of whom are involved with the Ohio Climate Justice Fund.

We have next to me, Rachel Belz, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action.

Rachel is the executive director of Ohio Citizen Action and Ohio Consumer Power Alliance, where she has been a leader in working with communities who are affected by toxic chemical pollution.

She's also a member of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund founding advisory board.

Next to her is Leah Hudnall, the director of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund that we're here today to discuss.

In 2020, Leah founded the Legacy Perspective, a civic consulting firm that promotes community centered strategies to champion the voices of those who are most dependent on, and affected by, the decisions of local government, philanthropy, and nonprofit organizations.

And then we have Tanner Yess.

And his last name is Yess, Y E S S. He's the executive director of Groundwork Ohio River Valley.

Tanner was raised by scientists and grew up pedaling and planting trees.

After earning a degree in ecology, he worked on a fishing vessel in the Bering sea.

His Peace Corps service involved resource management and ecotourism.

During graduate school, Tanner helped form Greater Cincinnati's Tri-state's Trails Coalition.

His passion is creating new pathways for urban youth to access green careers.

So thank you all.

It's themed panel for joining us here at the City Club today.

Leah, we'll start with you.

You now had the newly established Ohio Climate Justice Fund.

Congratulations.

- [Leah] Thank you.

- It's been a long time coming, has it not?

Give us a sense of the history behind the fund, how it came into being, and what is its purpose.

- Thank you, Margaret.

I'll start with just recalling all of our memories to the summer of 2020.

There were a lot of things going on all at once, but many of them centered on a racial uprising that I think we all experienced no matter where we call home.

And with that came an urgency from corporations and institutions to act on that uprising.

So what many national philanthropic partners did was commit to spending above their 5% IRS requirement.

And one of those institutions was the George Gund Foundation.

And part of those resources that came from that decision resulted in the first dollars and for the Ohio Climate Justice Fund.

So we're very excited that the fund is something that blossomed as an act of action in an urgent and consistent need that we see here in America.

- Great.

I just want to take a minute and acknowledge John Mitterholzer, who's here today from the George Gund Foundation.

He's taught me very much the sum of what I know about the entire issue of climate justice and absolutely has been an advocate for the work that you do.

Rachel Belz, you are an environmental leader in your own right.

And you're serving as an advisory board member for the Climate Justice Fund.

Talk about what it's like to serve with your peers on this board and what you think the fund is accomplishing.

- Absolutely, thank you.

Well, one of my fund member advisory board member, Symia Bray, who gave the intro, thank you for being here today, Symia.

And I, you know, I've been in environmental work for about 30 years and I have never worked with such an amazing group of people.

Partly it's the most inclusive group I've ever been in.

It's also folks who have been in different parts of this movement and the ability to learn from each other, but I can say for me, especially to learn from folks like Symia and all the other people on the fund has been really just immense.

Coming from Ohio Citizen Action, a very, very grassroots group, but with a long history, one of the things I noticed is that we needed to make sure to get the funds to some of these groups as quickly as possible.

And so by being able to serve on the advisory board, we've been able to get things going, but then also with thankfully Leah's help, we would be nowhere without Leah, really be able to launch it and get connected to the groups who needed the most.

We know what it's like to be a grassroots group that's not funded or underfunded.

And I don't want to see others have to take such a long path to that end.

- Now, Tanner, you are one of the first grant recipients, tell everybody what's going on down in Cincinnati.

Talk about the Groundwork Ohio River Valley, which is doing some groundbreaking grassroots work there and what it means to receive this grant.

- Yeah.

So shameless gratitude, first of all, again, because we're getting money, right?

And this, everything went down in 2020.

I was like, okay, they're going to come give us money.

We have to fight.

We're a BiPAP led organization.

I think the only one in Cincinnati, that's the environmental nonprofit, all levels of staff and board.

And we hustle.

I like to say, harness the hustle.

It's in your blood if you know what I mean, if you have to go through whatever levels of hustling throughout your life, because of the color of your skin or your circumstance or whatever.

So to have this opportunity, I was like, wait, it's finally, you know, it's finally coming.

The way we build our budget and our pie chart and all that stuff it's a fight.

It's a street fight.

We're young, we're diverse, and the systems were not set up for us.

So this is a big thank you to everybody here for providing this for not only our organization at Groundwork Ohio River Valley, but all the other cohort members who are here.

So thank you, thank you again, everyone.

And so what's going on in Cincinnati at Groundwork Ohio River Valley, we really take a lot of pride in addressing the issues, listening and looking forward to going farther with that, but then also acting.

So a lot of what we do is take advantage of the systems we have.

We're in capitalism, we make money.

We do youth workforce.

We run our own businesses.

We teach people how to do green jobs, everything from energy to green infrastructure, to community development, grant writing, kids to adults.

And that looks like one of the nation's largest youth green workforce programs, education, and so forth.

And then we'll get into this later, but a real localized focus on climate change.

And that's what I'm so excited to talk with you all about today.

- Great.

Okay.

Our proactive street fighter.

Let's provide some context now for this conversation.

Please explain in your mind, what is environmental racism and why is it important to focus on this topic?

Can you give us an example of what it looks like?

Tanner, let's start with you.

- Right.

I think we've heard a lot, a few examples, whether it's Standing Rock or every city has a dump and a factory and so forth that is largely affecting those communities of color, lower income communities.

The thing that I want to focus on and go into is that there is no more single climate change issue.

If we look at the racist or traditional systems, which are planning or zoning, or the way you set up our cities or legal system or whatever it is, we're crossing so many boundaries, we're so intersectional that we have to have the nuanced solutions to combat these things, right?

So how do we do this?

Again, step one is listening.

But the real point I want to make about environmental racism is that we can no longer think, okay, we got lead out of the water, we're good.

We got solar panels in this forest, we're good.

We have to have solutions that put them in the places of greatest need.

So you're looking at a neighborhood downtown in city X, if that's a great place for solar, do that.

If that's a great place for green infrastructure, do that, but it has to be tailored to and fit to the place.

And that means talking and listening first of all.

- Okay.

Let's talk more about examples though.

- Right?

It's abound.

So Rachel and I from Cincinnati, somewhat equivalent to the Cuyahoga River up here, we have the Mill Creek in Cincinnati.

It's the industrial backbone.

It's our historical backbone.

It's kind of why and where the city is today.

It releases about 7 billion gallons of untreated sewage in the Ohio river every day, excuse me, every year.

So what impact does that have?

It's a public health hazard, obviously, but it goes far beyond that.

Maybe you as a young person or a resident, your connection to nature is that of a health or unsafety or whatever.

And then we have impacting, compounding effects of climate change.

So it's getting hotter.

Your basement's getting more flooded.

Your sewers are backing up.

This is widespread throughout many parts of any, especially Rustbelt city in the Midwest.

And so again, what do we do is a proactive response to that.

It's development, it's enhancements, it's job creation, it's income that not only provide income or whatever it is, but respond to environmental quality of life issues.

- Okay.

Rachel, your thoughts?

- There's so many examples and like Tanner said, it's ubiquitous.

But another example that we can all, I think connect to, sadly, really, is our air pollution as well.

So when the interstates were built, they, you know, eroded oftentimes black communities, first of all.

And when you think about the communities that are left and the closeness they have to the particulates and all the air pollution, just from the interstate and the transportation, all the truck traffic and everything, you automatically have a worse situation and worst quality of life.

And people may or may not know what they're experiencing, you know, in how many pounds a day or whatever, you know, in their lungs, but they know that they or their children, or many of their family members have asthma, or that they, you know, can't go outside on certain days.

And that is the daily living that people all throughout our state have.

And there's not any part of our state that is really, really good on these issues, whether it's general environmental or environmental racism, it's all one in the same.

- Leah, why don't you weigh in?

- I think here in Cleveland, we've struggled with a lead based paint in our homes, many homes that make up what were historically red line communities, many homes who have not seen investments since they were structured and built.

And so you've had two and three decades worth of a fight to remediate this issue here in Cleveland.

And you finally saw recently some relief through the Let's Save Cleveland Initiative and their efforts, but that's just one prevalent example of a child or a family living in a neighborhood where their mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers, didn't have another choice on where to live.

And now these homes, if they were painted before 74, are all filled with lead-based paint, right?

In the dust and the particles and all of these things are in the homes of the children that we're asking to go out in community and thrive.

Well, that's one form of environmental racism that I can just put here today, relative to the city of Cleveland, where I'm from and where I love, so.

- Now we tend to think of the environmental movement as being very white, even though people of color, as you point out are often critically impacted by these issues.

How do you guys unpack that?

Have we done a good job in Ohio and nationally of engaging and including communities of color in the solutions to these problems?

- I'll jump in.

No, we've not done a good job at all, whether that's Ohio or national, but we are starting.

And the best place to start is when you need to start.

And that means that different people are on different paths, whether you're talking about self-transformation or organizations or any parts of our economy, but to be intentional about it is a different thing.

And that's what part of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund is about, is intentionally not just including folks, but actually providing funding, you know.

Tanner and I were talking it's really, it is really difficult to raise the money.

And if you're at the most community level, it's the hardest.

Because you're both hustling for the funds as he said, but you're also working to do the work itself and we have to connect more folks.

So the Ohio Climate Justice Fund is one part of the answer, certainly, but if we don't each step into the roles, that we need to step into, no matter what color our skin is, no matter where we come from, we aren't being inclusive enough as a movement.

And so part of the reason I'm excited to be part of the Climate Justice Fund with my esteemed peers is not only do I get to learn, but I get to share a little bit of the story and help others not have such a difficult path.

And the BiPAP communities, the black, indigenous, people of color communities all throughout this nation have had the hardest time in connecting the dollars to the issues that are the most important.

- Anybody else?

- You're going to get me started about REI, cover magazines, and stuff, like, that stuff doesn't fit me.

If I see another cover on a mountain with a dog and this and that we should be representation.

It should be in cities.

It should be all strives, all places.

What, how does that actually play out though?

And that's just my thing.

Cause the clothing doesn't fit me well, and I'm more active than anybody, anyway, I almost biked up here.

But what does that mean?

It's been co-oped, it's been taken away, and the modern environmental movement is built off of systems of colonization and oppression and everything you can name under the sun.

And what that looks like now is that oftentimes colored folks are made to feel disconnected cause I don't have my branded sunglasses on and go mountain biking every day.

Right?

But our history, our connection with it might look different.

It might look from an immigrant perspective, might look from a slavery perspective.

It's shown that we, depending on who you are and all that, are often more engaged, more connected to the environment, but it's not being presented or given to us in a way that's economically advantageous, that's planning, urban set up advantageous where parks are, where amenities are, where resources are.

So to go deeper, it's connecting the values and the priorities of community to environmental stuff, right?

That's what we do.

And it would be easy to do if everybody looked like me, that kind of community engagement would be easy, but we don't.

And that's why community engagement is so hard.

And that's why it takes so much time and trust, et cetera, to break down all these stereotypes and things that we think regarding the environmental movement in this case, which is largely homogeneous, right?

Caring more about the flora and fauna in a watershed instead of the humans in a watershed and the connection that all of those beings have.

So I don't know where I end with that, but now you've heard my rant about outdoor industry.

Right?

I can go with that for awhile.

- All right.

We want more Tanner, right?

Okay.

So the Ohio Climate Justice Fund grants are for between 15,000 and 30,000.

They're going to fund community conversations around climate change, around the state.

They'll differ from city to city.

The fund provides the presentation toolkit and then each group studies it and makes it their own.

So Tannor, we can't wait to hear how you're going to be tailoring it in Cincinnati for your folks.

What's it going to look like there?

How you use the grant.

- Oh, okay.

So first of all, let me backtrack to, okay.

Yeah.

Fundraising is really hard.

The work we do is really important, supporting it's tough.

Often we don't have the luxury to step back and think about what we're doing.

And I feel-- obviously I'm jaded, and it feels like I'm battling and so forth, but you know, many organizations have the operating funds or whatever to do the strategic planning.

So we're just going, going, going, going.

And so I'm very proud of our programming.

It does mean that we don't get to check in as much as I'd want to, step back, evaluate as much as I'd want to because the funding isn't there to do so.

So at some point your programming and your response and your activities become stagnant, right?

Because of that.

This is providing the opportunity, not only for us, because of the funding, but then to respond to our community, who's also being compensated.

Whatever our meetings look like, whatever those things are, we compensate the residents of the people being involved in it.

So it's plain and simple, it's funding to listen and evaluate and respond to climate change.

What that is going to look like in Cincinnati is in the form of a program we have called Climate Safe Neighborhoods.

In the Cincinnati area, we've developed the first ever neighborhood scale climate plan.

In one of our neighborhoods, we're spreading out to maybe all 52 or different jurisdictions this year as we go.

And the Ohio Climate Justice Fund listening sessions are going to be a key component of that.

So we're hoping to reach all sorts of residents.

And the cool thing about groundwork and in Cincinnati is we know we know who has not been engaged yet because there's a green Cincinnati plan, right?

It's a great effort.

It's a great document.

And now it needs more engagement.

And that type of plan and policy teeth has real impacts downtown, city hall, county, whatever system you're working in.

- So these grants, as we discussed, for 15 to 30,000, funding community conversations for BiPAP people, black and indigenous people of color.

Leah, why don't you talk, don't you address this question?

Some might say, why is this fun just for BiPAP people?

How do you answer that?

- I proudly answer that question.

So there's been multiple studies that show that only a fraction of philanthropic resources have gone to non- white led institutions for environmental work and that's over a myriad of years, right?

And so the Ohio Climate Justice Fund intentionally steps in to try to do what we can within our sphere of influence to correct that.

So we only fund organizations who are either led by or governed by.

So what does governed mean?

That means 60% of more of your board of trustees identify as persons of color to receive the grant and host the conversations.

The conversations are not just for people of color, they're for anyone in Ohio, in any community to come and join in and be educated on climate and share their own impressions and ideas around climate action.

- Now Rachel, you had some thoughts on this too.

- Yeah, so the great thing about this is that this is, as Leah said, very, very intentional because this is the-- these are the groups that are oftentimes, they're smaller staffed.

There's, you know, how are you supposed to get to the table?

We talk about, you know, inviting everybody to the table.

We want to have a very inclusive table.

But the fact of the matter is when you're, when you're in Tanner's position, you don't even know there's a table.

Or if you do, you don't know how to get an invitation.

And I've been there myself too.

So it's an important investment that allows both the work to happen, but also a relationship, if the partners want to, to continue.

And there's no other way to make that introduction and make friends and build the trust and also be able to build the trust and mentorship of the partners within the cohort itself, because it's tough being a community driven organization, trying to figure out how you're going to make payroll and how you're going to do this and how you're going to do that while you're doing the work.

So this is a critical piece, it's not the only piece, we need a lot more of this.

Don't get me wrong, but it's a start.

And because it's participatory grant making, meaning the other folks on the advisory board like myself, usually are applying for grants.

We're not giving grants.

So we're learning a lot too about that kind of a process and bringing kind of, I hope, I think a different approach.

- I'll build on that a little, Rachel.

Spot on and what we can do going a step further is use-- so being associated with Leah, now I have some validation right?

Now, I have some cred, I can use that guilt.

I can use that shame, whatever we we've got great-- Better than me, right?

(stammering) Yeah, so it's not always, I can't always, you know, people at X and Y government, aren't good.

There's plenty of great civil servants and so forth, but maybe, you know, the ears not on the curb of the street, they don't know what's going on.

This type of thing validates me and our efforts to involve not only people who need to get their stories out or want to tell their experience or whatever, but those who might be making potential decisions down the road.

And that's where we can really get some stuff done beyond the listening.

And that, really, is our accountability after, you know, this first stage of things.

- All right, we are gonna start to wrap up with an important question.

Climate change is a critical issue, threatening our planet with all types of issues, all types of threats.

Food insecurity, water scarcity, flooding, infectious diseases, extreme heat, economic losses, displacement.

These human impacts have led the World Health Organization to call climate change the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century.

What are your thoughts?

And I know we could go a whole day on this and write a book, but what are your thoughts on whether government, the media, philanthropy, are doing enough to respond to the pressing challenge of climate change At this point, is it really up to the people?

Leah, do you want to start?

- Yes, it's up to the people to change the climate icon from a polar bear to a child.

(applause) And the only way that it's going to happen is if we to begin to demand.

I think anyone in here who knows me knows that I don't personally call myself an environmentalist for that reason.

I don't feel like the movement ever really included me or people that looked like me.

And so I just take my hat off and I take a bow to those who have dedicated their careers to this fight and to this effort, because to be fighting within a realm where it wasn't set up for you to succeed, which could be a lot of different sectors, but we're talking about this one, it's a very hard battle.

And so I do think it's up to people to give the media, philanthropy, and government, the cue on what we will and will not accept moving forward.

- I feel like my panel has more thoughts on this.

Rachel, what about you?

- Oh gosh.

Yeah, there there's so much more that needs to be done.

And when you keep hearing, you know, whether it's corruption at your city level or corruption at the state level, or you're hearing about all the different things happening, it's hard to understand how climate is a big piece of this, but just like taking a drink of water and it nourishes every cell of your body, climate affects absolutely every single thing.

And you see this from, you know, the farming and the droughts to the flooding, to all the different things happening across the country, let alone right here in the Midwest.

And if we're going to tackle these big issues that affect all of us, but certainly affect people, often the poorest and the darkest skin, the most in our state, we have to be as inclusive as possible.

So the people who are the most effective have to be there, but it wouldn't also be fair to say, oh, you just lead the fight.

Go ahead.

It's your fight.

No, no white people mostly created this problem.

So we have to be part of helping to solve it.

But with folks in the community leading the way, the way they want.

That's what's great about this customization.

Tanner's program will look different than the programs here in Cleveland and elsewhere, and we'll learn and grow as we go.

And you can't speak for other people.

They have to be able to speak for themselves.

It's a strong Jemez Principle that we all believe in, and the Climate Justice Fund does, And if you're gonna allow people to speak for themselves and you should, part of that is actively listening in the first place.

So that's what this is really built on.

- Tanner.

- Right?

Yes.

I can attest, Leah is the type of future environmental justice leader we need, right?

That's just the type of person.

Cause we got to break away from the old thing.

And then again, there is no climate issue.

It is in every issue, as Rachel is saying, regardless of the shenanigans in Columbus or whatever state capitol, if we're understanding these issues on the ground level, using our power, democratizing the data, putting pressure on systems that we learn about together, through things like this, then we're going to impact the change ground up if we have to.

And that's, I think, where we're at.

- One quick thing that Leah can answer quickly.

There is a new grant period open right now.

- Yes.

- Talk about that.

- August 11th is the next upcoming deadline to apply for Ohio Climate Justice Fund grant.

It is a one-page application.

It's very quick, very easy and accessible.

You can go to ohioclimatejusticefund.org and put that application in today, so, thank you.

- Are current grantees eligible?

- No.

- Not yet.

- Just no.

- [Dan] If anybody would like to give Tanner a grant, please see him afterwards.

Climate today at City Club, we're enjoying a forum about how to invest in efforts that sit at the intersection of racial equity, democracy, and climate, and how to change the way such decisions are made.

Joining us on our stage, Rachel Belz, executive director at Ohio Citizen Action, Leah Hudnall, director of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund and Tanner Yess, executive director at Groundwork Ohio River Valley.

Our moderator today is Margaret Bernstein.

She's the director of advocacy and community initiatives at WKYC.

We're about to begin the audience Q and A.

We welcome questions from everyone, City Club members, guests, students, and those of you joining us via our live stream or on the radio broadcast, on 90.3 Ideastream Public Media.

Now, if you have a question here in the audience, our Q and A is a little different than it might've been last time you were here, we ask that you first raise your hand and wait in your seat until a City Club staffer kind of motions you over to the designated microphone over there.

If you're unable to walk to the microphone, our staff can come to you.

And as usual, if you'd like to tweet a question, please tweet it at the City Club.

And you can also text your question to 3 3 0 5 4 1 5 7 9 4.

The number again is 3 3 0 5 4 1 5 7 9 4.

And we will try to work it into the program.

Supervisor of our microphone today is content and communications and program innovation manager, Alyssa Raybuck.

May we have our first question please?

Anybody can go up.

There's one on Twitter right now.

- Locally, we have a mayoral race in Cleveland this year, a county executive race next year.

How do you think this effort will alter the work and leadership in the public sector?

- I will take it as the Clevelander on the panel.

So yes, I am a proud registered voter in the city of Cleveland.

And I would hope that any mayoral candidate who has worked their snuff will better understand that this effort is underway and as we're able to deliver and democratize the data that we collect from these conversations, that they will take a look so that they can understand what community is actually calling for.

So there's a lot of different resources we already have.

We have a climate action plan.

We have different environmental groups.

This will just be an added resource.

So we're excited about that.

- Thank you.

The fund sounds like it's an amazing new development.

It sounded like there was a lot of work and time and effort put into getting the fund together.

And I wonder what the sources of funds are that went into it, that you have to actually then dole out as grants.

And what are the obstacles and the, I guess, the good parts that you're looking forward to and adding to, cause you have to maintain this fund now, right?

To be able to give out the grants and increase it, hopefully.

- Yes.

So our seed funders where the George Gund foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, and the US Energy Foundation.

You're correct, a lot of work and intentional planning and tears and laughter went into forming what you all see today.

And you're also correct in the fact that we have to continually fundraise to be able to regrant the dollars out to these organizations.

And so I'm excited about being able to have proof of concept from these first two cohorts, to be able to take the show on the road to other potential funding partners and show them what impact we can have when we actually invest in conversation.

This grant is about nothing else, but actually supplying what is needed to host conversations in community.

That's what it's for.

Everyone has the same deliverable.

Now, how they all execute it will be the magic.

That's what we're excited for.

- One of the other difficulties that you might imagine is myself and the other partners at the steering committee are incredibly busy people in our own right.

And in, I mean, for large part, this was another volunteer activity, right?

A pretty high level one don't get me wrong, but it still had to, you had to find time and energy to do it.

And I have to tell you if we didn't have the ability to hire Leah, to be able to do the organizing piece of it and really just kind of keep us all focused, it would not be, it would not have launched when it did and it needed to.

And so it's, it's another reminder that so many times the people who are so invested at the community level are asked to do more and more and more.

And I would say I would actually speak for my cohort of people of color are even asked more than I am.

If we didn't have the ability to work together and the trust to work together, to figure this out, this wouldn't have happened.

So it's a big thanks to the funders.

It's a big thanks to the other steering committee members.

It's a big thanks to Leah.

And then we have to have great applications from folks.

And that was amazing to see those.

- Let's talk about that, Leah and Rachel.

Who are some of the other grantees in your first cohort?

- We had nine grantees across several different cities in Ohio, including Lima, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, and Youngstown, I believe.

We have one here with us in the room today, See You at the Top.

A 501c3 based in Cleveland, Ohio who focused on exposing youth of color to the great outdoors and the healing nature, the healing that can come in nature.

And so there are seven more that you all can read about online.

If I start rattling off who they are, I'll forget one.

Then I'll be in trouble when I get off.

So I'll stick to that safe answer, but we're really excited.

- Are they all formally environmental groups or is there diversity?

- It's a great mix.

We have a community development organization.

We have some kind of, I would call them legacy organizations who started with an environmentally focused mission.

But the great thing about Climate Justice Fund that I'm trying to get across to everyone is that you do not have to consider yourself an environmental organization.

As Tanner has said throughout our time today, climate is not just a singular issue.

It permeates through everything we all care about.

And so the organizations that we want to partner with are going to be faith-based groups, youth development groups, community development groups, they're going to span the deck of what issues they're working on.

As long as they understand that climate is impacting us.

And it is our issue, right?

In every community.

And we deserve the right and we have the right to talk about it and learn about it and whether or not those in the public consider us experts or not, we now have the voice and we're going to use it.

- Hi, thank you for this wonderful discussion we're having today.

I'm with that Global Shapers Cleveland.

So we're a international organization representing young people across the world under the age of 30.

So I was just curious about how you will, how this fund could involve young people specifically like high school students, college students, in these conversations.

And also if we think about Cleveland specifically and how all those in college tend to leave, like when I went to case, we were considered like the brain drain, right?

So like a lot of case students will leave Cleveland.

So I'm just curious, like I'm thinking about just involving young people in these conversations, but also giving them a sense that this is their home and this is a place that they can build community and a career and kind of lead, you know, these conversations and these actions to, you know, climate change adaptation mitigation for their communities and themselves going forward.

Yeah.

- I'll jump in.

They're already having these conversations.

We're behind, you know, us older folks, we're behind.

But what I think is critical is that there's that connection point, right?

So the conversations are being had, but some of us who can help, whether it's influence or provide support, you know, financially and otherwise, if we're not making that connection, then we're not doing our jobs really.

So this, I don't know that this is going to directly hit what you're talking about, but there's so many different opportunities and it's kind of an open, it's an open process for a group, a 501c3 group or a group that has a 501c3 sponsor to have the conversation they want.

And I think my best guess is if you are a group that works in the youth area at all, that would probably be an area you'd have the most conversations, or if you're wanting to get in that, I could imagine maybe in the future, some organizations pairing up together, or maybe they've got, you know, different communities they serve, but they could have the most diverse type of conversations.

- Yeah.

So one of the things that I would just love to submit is that we are an intermediary fund.

And so we provide an opportunity to growing community groups and 501c3's that maybe wouldn't directly apply to a Cleveland foundation right off the gate.

And one of the calls I got was from someone who was willing to connect me to a college student union group to apply, right?

And so you don't see those types of groups on the the grantee announcements for the quarterly reports of who philanthropy has funded.

So I'm excited to be able to begin to have those conversations with people that we, institutions, don't really get to have one-on-one conversations with and partnerships with.

So whatever abnormal situation you have in community, we'll figure it out.

We just need you to get in contact with us 'cause we're excited.

- That's, I gotta talk about, we, you know, we have 75 youth employees, they're way more fun to work with than anybody else.

And if I'm nodding too much, it's cause I'm an Islander, it's so cold in here, right?

They're the best messengers, they're the most up on the things that might impact them, but they don't always have an outlet to impact the change or spread the word that they might want to.

Especially, double that, if you're coming from a community that doesn't have this built in connection with nature or environmental science or whatever it is, again, that's type of stuff.

That's kind of been co-opted.

So to connect that again, to income or recreation in a safe place with people who look like you and you start to build those advocates and those change-makers in the communities that need them most, that have these connections that are most suited for it, et cetera, then, you know, our job is done.

So that's why I prioritize youth workforce so much because it builds in all of those things.

And groundwork is part of a 21 city network across the US, supported by the national park system.

And we all do this to an extent, but I think Cincinnati is one of the biggest now.

- Biased?

- I might be a little but.

- Hello everyone, thank you for this very important conversation.

My name is Kwame Botchway.

I am also with Cleveland Global Shapers, we decided to take over the Q and A today.

So my question is, I recall a quote by Brittany Brown, where she says, if it's not measured, it's probably does not exist.

And I have a personal pet peeve with organizations that do not measure impact in any form.

And so my question to you is as you are administering this fund, do you have a system in place where you are tracking, monitoring, and measuring the impact that the organizations that you're finding, one, are having, and then two, the impact that the fund is having and how do you sort of intend to loop this feedback into, you know, the establishment and administration of future funds?

- Thank you.

So after every community conversation, grantees are asked to pass out a survey, digital or hard copy, to all of the conversation participants.

And so it's an anonymous survey that's collecting data from individuals who were in this conversation, going a bit deeper and a bit more personal about their direct relation to utility costs and, you know, food insecurity and just climate impact in general.

The other side of that coin though, is that the host is asked to complete a survey after every conversation.

And it gives them ample room and space to tell me everything that we didn't do right on behalf of the Climate Justice Fund to help them better at the next conversation.

And so we just had this internal conversation about, you know, we're done with this first cohort, we'll have probably over 40 different host surveys and over a hundred different participant surveys.

What are we gonna do with this data?

One, what are we gonna do with it, how are we going to really synthesize what we learned from it, and then two, who do we owe it to, to release it?

So we want Climate Justice Fund to be an added resource.

We don't want to become another adversary to community who's fighting with us about getting information that they participated in and things like that.

So we're very much thinking about how we're going to measure and not just so much Climate Justice Fund's impact, but the impact these conversations have had on their community.

It's one thing now to go into your city hall and say, this is the right thing to do.

Please do this.

It's another thing to go back next year and say, well, we had three conversations with 50 people each and all of them said they wanted this and we have it documented.

And that will stop the hustle that Tanner has to continue to have and his peers and his cohort.

We're hoping, because there'll be armed with this data.

So I agree that data is very important.

Kwame, if you have some other ways, you'd like to help us measure all of this, then you are welcome.

Okay.

- It's one side of the coin, right?

And I'm always like, I got a measurement.

You funders just believe me.

You know, I'm going to spend so much time, right.

But there's a better answer there in a sweet spot and you'll get my GIS nerd out here.

So you can physical, spatially, and then even conversationally, anecdotally, blah, blah, blah, all this needs to be lined up with hard data.

So I would love for you to go our website and check out our climate safe neighborhood dashboard.

You can compare surface temperature with socioeconomics, with race, with tree canopy, with combined sewer overflows, with blah, blah, blah.

And that helps us to prioritize our work and then the impact done, or the programs or the whatever we're doing, that's mapped by the kids.

That's logged by them on the phones.

And then it all populates.

I don't have to worry about the reports and so forth.

And we're going to do the same type of things, with the conversations.

- And while it's not a huge number, or it doesn't sound like a huge number, almost all of the applicants, they, well, first of all, the applicants did need to have at least a minimum of three community conversations, whether it's 15 to $30,000.

So they have to have that.

But most of the applicants that they would, they were planning to have about 50 people roughly.

So that's 150 people in each one of these, you know, nine representatives in the cohort.

And that's a whole lot more conversations that we've had.

So even though it doesn't sound like it's as big a metric as it is, knowing what you get out of that, and the fact that it's customized to the communities, we're not coming in, nobody's coming in and saying, this is what you have to think or say, or whatever.

It's a guided conversation, a listening session that we were lucky to learn some things about from folks in Illinois, who've been using it.

So it's a new process for us, but it's not even new for the Midwest.

And so we're building off of this wonderful thing.

And then the other thing I think is cool is that because there's so many different pieces to this, Leah and the fund helped provide and, and our folks in Illinois helped too, provide some of this information ahead of time with all these handouts and how do you do this, how do you-- to make sure that it's as easy as possible for Tanner and his group or anybody's group to actually do the work of the conversations and collect them and all that.

Because a lot of times when you're in that situation, you have to come up with all of that on your own.

So it's attempting to set it up, to give us the most measurement, to give the groups the most measurement possible so that it will help our movement in general.

- And I was really nervous.

I think I kept saying like, I'm not trying to patronize you all.

Here's a press release, you know, here, you know, but it really was to take away the barriers of just taking out more time to sit down and construct all of these different materials.

And so that's one less barrier when you just have a link.

Here's the toolkit, there's 50,000 here, God bless you, come back when you have questions, you know?

- Well, and it also, you know, you can change it for your group, but it's a start.

And it's, you know, if you don't have a communications team and I just barely now have a communications team after 40 plus years, you know, it's really hard to do that kind of stuff.

- [Alyssa] We have another question from our virtual audience.

I know this forum is about a process to uncover solutions, not the solutions themselves, but if you were participants in one of these dialogues that the grantees will lead, what issues and solutions would you be advocating for?

- Oh, nice question.

- Great question.

Twitter always has good questions, so.

Tanner?

- Well sure.

As it relates to-- just waiting to pounce, you know.

Always the goal for us is to connect academic practitioner.

Maybe that being a resident or someone with lived experience in this case and policy or government, right?

So the vein of our programs cuts through these in many ways.

And as an example, believe me, cause I feel like we're going to start just guerilla sending kids on top of roofs with solar panels and stuff at this point, because it can't be that hard to screw these things in and plug them in.

But the policies behind this stuff is insane.

And then with that comes potential jobs, carbon emissions, and so forth.

And you're getting all the-- and I'm not super, super solar or super, super-- like I think the right solution for the right place and so forth.

But if you're not having all of those levels connected, then you can't reap all these multiple benefits.

So that's just one example of which there are, I don't know how many dozen state, federal, city.

And again, that's a cool thing about this process.

There's all sorts of stuff, if it's not happening in Columbus, that we can do, even in our city or our neighborhood jurisdiction, even at the community council level, there's all sorts of stuff about, oh, how has this data, how are these conversations going to inform where we put that park, for example, all the way up to state or federal legislation.

- Yeah.

I had someone tell me a story and you know, I'm just, I think I'm a good listener.

Some people might disagree, but about watching someone come with a crew from, I think, Dayton to install solar in their community and they wondered to themselves, well, why did you have to go all the way to Dayton to get the people to do that work?

And so I think my issue would be the, the green economy and the clean energy economy that we want.

I want my brothers and my cousins and my friends that look like me, that are from the Southeast side of Cleveland, to be able to have the opportunity to move into this new economy and to earn money without risking their physical health, as our grandfathers did work, working in these power plants.

So that would be my number one issue.

- Is that uncharted right now?

is that work not being done?

- Well, we have more stats, data, that shows us that those opportunities are not really either being afforded to or taken up by people of color.

And so that's just another fight, right?

To be able to make sure that we're advocating for the access, but then also that the people in our communities have the training and the education they need to be competitive moving forward.

- Rachel?

- So this is what I'm going to tell you in your session, Tanner, cause I'm in Cincinnati, so I'm gonna be in Tanner sessions.

First of all, we need more trees in the poorest communities.

This is not new news, but if you really look around, that's a big obvious example.

I live in the West side of Cincinnati and, you know, nasty coal plants still affects me and my neighbors' breathing every day, really.

I would also be talking about what possibilities we have with solar, what possibilities we have with our community, with our aggregation program.

And then there's the new effort of Power Clean Future Ohio, which Ohio citizen action in many groups are part of, that is about locals leading the way, so that there are places to be connected with your ideas, even in, you know, including the conversations and beyond the conversations.

Because what I think we all want to make sure happens is that, or it doesn't happen, is that you you're in this conversation and then you just drop off unless that's your choice, you know, and it's usually that it's not your choice.

You just don't know where to go with it next.

So we want to have those connections.

- Hi everyone.

My name is Ayotte Ameen, I'm an environmentalist running for Cleveland city council here in Cleveland.

And when I have conversations with people, something I always bring up is how, when it comes to having irreversible climate change, we have less than a decade to get there.

If you listen to the scientists, we have to do it by 2030.

And one of the things I think is really interesting about the work that you all do is you saw a gap in the current ecosystem and created a solution for that.

Considering this timeline, I'm curious if you could talk about other gaps in the ecosystem that don't yet exist, that maybe somebody in the room here can start creating to get us towards that stopping climate change by 2030 goal.

- Other gaps where there's no solutions on the horizon.

- [Ayotte] Yeah, yeah.

- Well, I'll just take it from, we need money to keep doing this, right?

And one of the things that I know for a fact, if I don't know anything fairly well, I do study philanthropy a lot, and fund to relations is one of the biggest barriers stopping black and Latinx and indigenous groups from even receiving a look at, you know, a grant or an opportunity.

And oftentimes we don't have enough philanthropic staff who either have the time or the approval or the feeling that they should be hands on.

And so I want someone to create some sort of well-funded, well-oiled machine that will allow growing organizations to come in and learn what they don't know and meet folks that they just, where would you walk up and meet someone from the George Gund foundation?

You don't, you don't.

There's no happy hour that exists for that.

You know, - [Rachel] There could be.

- There could be.

If anyone in here wants to start that, cool idea.

I mean, in Cleveland, we are very philanthropic heavy, so you might very well walk up to a bar and see Steven or something like that.

But otherwise it's hard.

And so I think we do need those times, and I hate to call it development because I don't ever look at growing organizations like starting a 501c3 is hard.

Having the boldness and the bravery to jump out in an already crowded field of nonprofit organizations and starting another one, and really around an issue that you care about enough.

I have a lot of issues I care about.

I haven't started an organization to combat them, right?

So I have a lot of respect for our non-profit leaders.

And I just wish that we would have things more, and not like climate justice or maybe something totally different, but allows them to breathe, treats them with empathy.

It has realistic expectations.

And then one from the inside out, cutting down all of these barriers and you have to know this person and that person to get connected.

And even if you have a seat at the table, do you want to be there?

Sometimes I don't want to be at these tables.

I'd rather stay home.

Covid has been really good in that way.

So I think someone needs to create that, just a barrier free, nonprofit training program to combat supremacy.

- I get emotional that we had to like fight, right?

People didn't want to do what we were doing.

Weren't accepting the ideas.

So we had to do all that stuff.

It sucked.

And the thing about voids is you don't know that they're there 'cause you don't know that they're there until you do something like this.

And if you're not establishing that culture, that fertility or whatever it is, then you're never gonna know.

And so with climate change solutions, again, it has to be nuanced, has to fit, but it has to have be large-scale and impactful.

- This is a subtle thing I'll throw in there.

Cause this is a tough question.

It's like you said, if you don't know the voids there, you don't know what's there, and you're probably too focused on something else.

But I feel like if every person who cares about this issue in any part of the globe just lead with their heart on it, instead of there, you know, I'm an activist or I'm an academic or I'm at this or that, that's all good too.

But if you could just really lead with your heart, we're all humans and we're all in this together.

And if we don't think about it that way, we lose more and more time every second.

- Okay.

One more from our virtual audience.

Are there tools for communities around advocacy to prep for what happens after these conversations for those who feel inclined, a way to unpack it and make a connection to the black and indigenous people of color communities?

- I'll start again.

We're creating those tools by the minute.

The biggest connection, the most important connection is the power, a Clean Future Ohio campaign, which I hope many of you will go home, if you aren't already aware of, and Google and learn more, it's a campaign focused on engaging cities on their climate action versus trying to move things as an entire state where sometimes that can be difficult.

What would I envision if I closed my eyes around these Climate Justice Fund conversations is a rainbow coalition of people who came into a room with maybe one thought and are leaving with either enhanced thoughts or different thoughts on how, even if your basement isn't flooded, someone that you met at that conversation may have had that story.

And it is your problem.

It's, you know, we always want to think it's not our problem until there's like a community issue.

I'm like, well, what's going on?

Well, they're fed up.

You've been over here, ignoring them.

And so I want the individuals who come to these conversations, and I envision that they will come and create their own coalition of community advocates.

It's no way that Leah from Southeast side of Cleveland is going to be able to go to Cincinnati and tell Tanner what's best for them, right?

And there's no way I would ever let him up here and tell us what's best for us.

- I don't know though.

(laughter) - So we want these conversations to spur community action and community power on these issues.

And for them to tell us what the tools are that they need based on the issues that they see and the barriers that they see.

- Outstanding job from an outstanding panel.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you, Margaret.

Today at the City Club, we've been enjoying a forum on climate justice, featuring Rachel Belz of Ohio Citizen Action, Leah Hudnall of the Ohio Climate Justice Fund and Tanner Yess of Groundwork Ohio River Valley.

Our moderator was Margaret Bernstein, director of advocacy and community initiatives at WKYC.

This forum is the second of three forums in our changing climate series presented in partnership with the Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation.

Community partners for our forum today are Black Environmental Leaders, Ohio Environmental Council, the Ohio Climate Justice Fund, and Power Clean Future Ohio.

We appreciate your partnership and willingness to spread the word about the forum.

Lastly, we welcome guests at tables hosted by the Cleveland Foundation, the George Gund foundation, Ohio Environmental Council, and Black Environmental Leaders, we're very happy to have you all here.

On August 10th and 17th, the City Club of Cleveland, in partnership with Ideastream Public Media, will be hosting the Cleveland mayoral debates.

All seven candidates seeking office are expected to participate.

You can view the debates online at cityclub.org or tune into the broadcast on 90.3 WCPN or WVU PBS, that's Ideastream Public Media's platform, starting at 7:30 on both evenings.

There won't be an in-person audience, just so you know that you're not missing out on anything there.

I know all of you would like to be there.

Ohio was also looking forward to a 2022 gubernatorial race and leading up to the election, we'll be hosting conversations with candidates seeking statewide office.

To begin these conversations, former Congressman Jim Renacci will join us next Friday, August 13th, here at the City Club.

There are few tickets still available.

That brings us to the end of our forum today.

Thank you very much panelists.

Thank you very much, Margaret.

And thank you for being here with us in person.

It's great to see all of you and thank you for listening and enjoying the forum with us.

Our forum is now adjourned.

(bell rings) - For information on upcoming speakers or for podcasts of the city club, go to cityclub.org.

- Production and distribution of City Club forums, on Ideastream Public Media, are made possible by PNC and the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland Incorporated.