Innovation Grants

Major Activities & Achievements

This project successfully established the Community and Climate Impact (CCI) Hub, bringing together community leaders, organizations, and public health experts in north-central Washington to address the health impacts of climate change. Key achievements included:

• Three In-Person Workshops: Facilitated discussions to improve climate communication and develop best practices for community engagement.
• Best Practices Toolkit: Co-created with Hub members to guide effective, inclusive climate impact messaging.
• Resource Sharing: Organized existing resources and launched the CCI Resource Hootboard, a digital platform for sharing climate education materials.

Community Impact

The project strengthened connections among organizations already working to support their communities. Through workshops, new collaborations formed, and resources were shared, helping ensure future efforts are more effective and aligned with community needs.

The Role of EarthLab Funding

EarthLab’s support allowed us to host in-person workshops, build trust, and create a safe, inclusive space for collaboration. It also supported student involvement, fostering ongoing engagement with the community.

What We Learned

This experience highlighted the importance of starting with a clear understanding of partner priorities and aligning project goals early. As facilitators rather than leaders, we focused on amplifying the voices of community organizations and ensuring all goals were well-integrated.

Deliverables

• Best Practices Toolkit: Step-by-step guidance for creating inclusive climate impact messaging.
• CCI Hub: A coalition of local stakeholders that continues to work together as part of Wenatchee CAFE’s Climate Taskforce.
• CCI Resource Hootboard: A digital platform for sharing and accessing climate-related resources.

Since the inception of this project, we have recruited over 50 individuals from across north central Washington to be involved in our Community and Climate Impact Hub. These individuals are involved in climate impact messaging across multiple community-based organizations, public health districts, fire districts and local governments. Upon recruitment, all individuals were given the opportunity to share more about their vision for climate impact messaging across north central Washington through one-on-one interviews with our master’s student, and were invited to participate in three workshops to meet and collaborate with their peers across the region. 

Workshop One was hosted in August of 2023 with the goal of introducing Hub members, sharing individual and organizational goals, assessing the current state of climate impact messaging (gaps, current strengths, resources needed, etc.), and aligning on a shared goal through engagement and storytelling approaches. This workshop was incredibly successful, with 35 attendees across the four counties. The majority of activities revolved around storytelling and reflecting on the current state of resources available in the community. Participants were each asked to bring current resources they use to share information about the impacts of climate change which were placed around the room for a gallery walk activity and round table discussions. Evaluations after the workshop relayed excitement across the group, and ideas for future connections as well as additional members to be invited. A virtual meeting was hosted in late October to recap the findings from Workshop One, and Workshop Two is scheduled for mid-November in Wenatchee. The goal of Workshop Two is to walk away with an outline or scaffolding for a “best practices” toolkit that contains step-by-step guidance on best practices for climate impact messaging, and brainstorm ideas for where and how to host this toolkit and available resources through a co-developed resource sharing platform.