A summer internship for young climate activists in the church.

In partnership with the General Council of The United Church of Canada, The Climate Motivators program aims to support the vision of climate justice and youth involvement of the UCC.

Each motivator will work on a climate justice project related to a personal passion of theirs in partnership with a sponsoring community of faith. Motivators must choose a project within one of these four UCC climate response areas: Raising our Spirited Voices; Responding to Climate Impact; Getting Our House in Order; and Reconnecting with Creation.

The program and employment will begin June 30th and run until August 22nd. Motivators will all travel to Five Oaks Education and Retreat Centre in Paris, Ontario from July 2nd – 9th. Motivators will then go and work in their local communities for the remainder of the summer.

MORE INFORMATION

Role of the Mentor

Check in with interns for a minimum of a 30-minute period every two weeks
Contact coordinators with any concerns about interns
Offer space as possible to interns (working from church…)
Plan with intern a way to present their project with their sponsoring COF at the end of the summer
Support intern in connecting with local communities
Promote and share news of the program on local social and web accounts

Role of the Community of Faith Sponsor

Brainstorm with the intern possible projects to work on that fit into one of the four climate response buckets named above
Possibly provide space for the intern to work for the summer (if there is space and it is accessible)
Promote interns work and events
Provide time for intern to present their work in worship, a lunch and learn, or other public event

Project Ideas

This year, we ask that you propose a project within these predetermined categories:

Host an event that educates your local community about climate/sustainable actions, and how it connects to our faith
Prepare and/or preform an energy audit or retrofit project(s) with your local community of faith
Plant a pollinator, veggie garden, or native trees on your local church property.
Establish a “green team” within your community (with adults and/or youth!)

If you have an idea that is not represented here, you can still propose that idea, but leadership might redirect you back to one of the above ideas to help keep our projects attainable and faithful.

Need help to kick-start your project idea? Here are a few resources: