YCI’s Youth Climate Leadership Program supports young people in the GTHA, aged 19-25, to grow leadership skills and enhance their careers while engaging their communities and driving climate change action.
Join us in this exclusive opportunity to build skills, network and make a real impact in your community!
YCI’s 6-month Youth Climate Leadership Program provides young people exclusive access to training, mentorship and experience leading a team to create and catalyze community-based climate action initiatives that make a positive impact.
Gain skills and experience in youth mobilization, project design, community development, social innovation and more.
Connect with 300+ youth and change-makers across the GTHA, including customized coaching and mentorship to support your growth.
Engage like-minded youth to design and implement a community-based climate action initiative that makes a real impact.
Click on the Leaders below to learn more about their climate action initiatives.
Catalyze a community-based climate action project as a YCI Climate Leader. Climate Leaders receive comprehensive training on designing and growing sustainable projects, youth mobilization and community development as well as climate science and traditional ecological knowledge. Climate Leaders also receive customized coaching, mentorship, and more.
Learn about leading with courage and mobilizing other youth by identifying your values and challenging your limiting beliefs.
Learn the basics of climate change, the importance of local context and climate communications best practices.
Learn about breaking down complex problems, gathering insights through design research and exploring the opportunity space.
Reframe your problem and opportunity + learn more about design thinking, ideation, and brainstorming.
Develop and refine your project idea, learn about the Theory of Change and build a pilot project strategy.
Dive into the nitty-gritty of planning your project, including resource mapping, milestones, budgets and partnerships.
Learn the basics of grant writing and how to access seed funding for your pilot project.
Gain knowledge and learn from guest speakers in specialized areas such as Policy Change and Advocacy, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and more!
You’ll fit right in if you:
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis as they are received. Successful applicants will be contacted within 2 weeks to schedule an interview. Apply early and don’t miss the chance to participate in this unique program and join our Climate Action Network.
No, you do not need to have an established project or project idea to apply. To be eligible, you need to show passion and commitment to growing leadership skills and creating a positive impact through engaging your community in climate action.
Participants can expect 3-5 hours weekly for virtual training sessions, asynchronous learning and project implementation. Training sessions are held on weekday evenings once per week for the first 2 months then staggered biweekly for the remaining program. There is also 1 half-day weekend Leadership Development session.
In addition to structured training sessions, participants are expected to dedicate time outside of training to iterate and implement their climate action project. This time commitment can vary based on the scope of the climate solution.
You will access funds through a grant proposal process which will be evaluated on a set of criteria and approved by YCI before funds are administered.
A climate action project can be broadly defined to address, whether directly or indirectly, the causes, inputs and/or symptoms of climate change.
Your participation in the program will primarily be as an individual. The program invests in both your personal leadership and your project. However, YCI encourages and will provide opportunities for you to engage others in your project and in the program. Some programming may be made available to your broader team, if applicable.
Your participation in the program will primarily be as an individual. The program invests in both your personal leadership and your project. However, there will be opportunities for you to engage others in your project and in the program. Some programming may be made available to your broader team, if applicable.
Each participant is expected to engage a minimum of 2-6 other young people in their project in some way. Engagement can range from recruiting team members to help design your project, consulting with youth on solution design or engaging youth in spreading awareness of and/or access to your solution. The purpose of the program is to harness the potential of youth to drive positive climate action. YCI encourages many different forms of youth engagement to achieve this.
- YCI Climate Action Network member