City of Kingston - Applications for 2025 Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions are now open!

The City of Kingston is calling on all passionate climate advocates to take the lead in driving local climate action! Apply to become a Neighbourhood Climate Action Champion (NCAC) and receive support to share your knowledge with residents in your community.

Returning for its third year, the NCAC program provides funding, training and resources to help residents lead green projects across the city. 

“Since the inception of the Neighbourhood Climate Action Champion program 2 years ago, we’ve seen an incredible number of inspiring climate projects take place all over Kingston!” says Julie Salter-Keane, Manager, Climate Leadership. “We’re thrilled that so many residents are eager to share and foster sustainable practices across the community and we’re excited to see a new cohort of projects come to life this year."  

Program details 

Interested residents are invited to submit their applications on Get Involved Kingston before Dec. 6, 2024. Participants are expected to commit 4-5 hours per month towards climate outreach, project development and execution. Each champion will receive up to $2,000 to bring their project to life. 

Climate action project ideas could include: 

• Educating residents about environmental issues
• Leading discussions on climate challenges
• Collaborating on community-focused projects
• Inspiring broader participation in climate action 
• Contributing to climate adaptation and mitigation 

In 2024, program participants led 12 incredible projects, from planting little forests to educating neighbors about home energy retrofits. Autumn Smith, one of last year’s Neighbourhood Climate Action Champions, helped neighbours transform their lawns from grass to food growing spaces. 

“It felt like a huge accomplishment to have so many people encouraged to grow food in their yards,” says Autumn. “I've been so happy with all of the projects and towards the end of the season, most of the participants were speaking about enlarging what they had.” 

“This year has really taught me the power of joining my community and reminded me that we are better together,” she adds. “I’d encourage you to apply to be a Climate Champion and share what you know – it's good for the community and the environment!”