Community Ambassador Program
The Community Ambassador Program is made possible by a Marin Community Foundation grant ($126,451) that funds internal and external equity initiatives and supports Drawdown: Marin as it works towards meaningfully including communities of color.
The Ambassador Program recognizes existing community leaders, offers storytelling, climate change, and advocacy training, stipends for participation, and assistance to develop projects that implement existing community priorities, address climate change, and improve quality of life for Marin County’s most undeserved communities.
Project Development Process
The Drawdown: Marin Community Ambassador Program seeks to acknowledge and support existing community leaders from underserved populations and communities of color to advocate for community priorities, learn about climate change, and share information about Drawdown: Marin with friends, neighbors, and family members. Ambassadors identified community priorities and practiced critical thinking to invent solutions through the lens of Drawdown: Marin’s 6 Focus Areas. Ambassadors learned about the climate crisis and explored and evaluated Drawdown: Marin’s endorsed solutions. Working in groups facilitated by volunteers from the Drawdown: Marin Equity Task Force, Ambassadors adopted a rhythm of continuous growth and inclusive decision-making as they developed their project proposals.
Grant Review Committee
12 Ambassadors worked to develop and submit community project proposals to Drawdown: Marin for review and potential grant funding. Funding is available through a Marin Community Foundation (MCF) awarded to Drawdown: Marin in June 2019 to “more deeply engage communities of color” in the initiative. In the spirit of inclusion, a grant review committee composed of 6 members: Drawdown: Marin staff, the Multicultural Center of Marin staff, the Environmental Forum of Marin staff, and Canal Alliance’s “Voces del Canal” program volunteers reviewed the community project proposals. On May 21, 2021, the committee shared their evaluation and thoughts on each community project. At the culmination of the initial committee review, members took a democratic vote to elect projects to receive grant funds.
Selected Projects
Projects selected for implementation are as follows:
- Empowered Women Cleaning Marin by Fátima Piña
- Expanding Trash Disposals in the Canal Community by Linh and Mai Thach
- Community Greening Project by Ha Lu, Alida Calderon, and Sebastiana Gomez
Next Steps
Awardees will convene for a kick-off meeting to discuss logistics related to funding distribution and grant reporting, how best to connect with project partners that will assist with implementation, and on-going technical assistance, which will be provided by the Multicultural Center of Marin staff. Projects must be implemented in 1 year.
Equity Task Force
Equity Progress Report
Drawdown: Marin is committed to addressing and connecting climate change and equity. With generous funding from the Marin Community Foundation, it developed a survey to measure progress toward engaging communities of color in the initiative and addressing systemic inequities as it develops and implements local climate solutions. The first report explains our goals and identifies areas for continued work.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training - May 2020
Meetings