On Thursday, January 23, the City of La Crosse held a celebration for 10 recipients of microgrants from the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund (YCAF). The program had $50,000 available, and the event recognized the projects that received up to $5,000 to fund initiatives led by youth (ages 15-24) to help facilitate climate action within the City of La Crosse.
At the end of the program, it was announced that there will be another round of YCAF funding coming soon. See more below.
The event was held at The Nature Place and began with Mayor Mitch Reynolds giving the welcome. He recognized that the recipients represented the best of the next generation, who are responsible for carrying on climate action awareness and initiatives.
The crowd was then treated to presentations by each of the microgrant recipients. These included a very meaningful story by Meenan Yang (age 23) who was sponsored by Cia Siab Inc. Meenan is integrating traditional Hmong medicinal practices with climate action by planting ginkgo trees, which are used for their healing properties. This will increase the community's access to natural medicinal resources and promote the preservation of Hmong cultural heritage and traditional knowledge. The trees also increase urban green spaces and provide training to teach the Hmong community stewardship of trees.
What made the project so meaningful for Meenan was the opportunity to plant the trees alongside her grandfather, expressing how much she treasured the chance to connect and learn more from him about her heritage. You can learn about the other grantees on the La Crosse Climate Action Plan website.
A New Round of YCAF Funding
The City of La Crosse was awarded $100,000 by Blomberg Philanthropy for YCAF microgrants. This program is being coordinated with the help of the Sustainability Institute and the La Crosse Area Community Foundation. Applications will be accepted starting March 6 and continuing until June 1 or until all funding is awarded, whichever comes first. The grants will be distributed on a rolling basis, beginning in April. Complete information is available at the Sustainability Institute website.
There will be several workshops and information sessions to help youth that are interested in submitting a project for consideration.
Informational Zoom meetings on Thursday, March 6 at 6:00pm and another on Wednesday, March 12 (time TBD).
A grant writing webinar will be offered on Tuesday, March 18 5:30 - 7pm
A Collaboration Workshop featuring an Ideation Panel of past grantees will be held on May 7 at Western Technical College. The workshop is an opportunity for people who were successful with their proposals to share their experiences with youth applying for this round of grants. It’s also a chance to connect attendees to nonprofits and generate additional project ideas.
For more information, visit the Sustainability Institute website or contact Lewis Kuhlman at kuhlmanl@cityoflacrosse.org or 608-789-7361