Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway in March announced that Madison would join Bloomberg Philanthropies’ new Youth Climate Action Fund, which has provided technical assistance and funding for 100 mayors to activate tens of thousands of young people to design, produce, and govern urgent climate solutions in cities across the globe. Madison joined the fund alongside cities from 38 countries across six continents, representing over 62 million residents.
The city, in partnership with United Way of Dane County and UW–Madison Extension Dane County, supported the By Youth For Youth (BYFY) program in determining how funding received through this initiative would be distributed. BYFY is a program that allows high school youth leaders to make positive impacts in their community by making local investment decisions to support youth-led and youth-developed programs and projects.
This year, youth members of the BYFY program served as a grant review committee for the Youth Climate Action Fund. They reviewed twelve applications and distributed $5,000 each to eight youth-led and youth-implemented climate initiatives that aligned with the City of Madison’s Sustainability Plan. Â
Projects awarded were required to involve at least one of the following priorities:Â Â
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Quality, affordable housing;
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Resilient city design and infrastructure;
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Renewable energy and decarbonization;
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Sustainable transportation;
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Clean, abundant water;
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Zero waste;
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Healthy ecosystems; and/or
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A vibrant green economy.
