On April 10, 2024, Oberlin was selected by Blooming Philanthropies to receive funding through the organization’s Youth Climate Action Fund. The City of Oberlin distributed the initial $50,000 funding last summer in the form of microgrants between $1,000 and $5,000.
Bloomberg Philanthropies has now given the City a new round of $100,000 in funding, double the funding from the last round, which will be distributed in the form of microgrants between $1,000 and $5,000. Any entity can apply to receive funding from April to October as long as they are engaging young people between the ages of 15 and 24. The City of Oberlin is going to continue to extend the funding to entities across Lorain County.
One of the criteria for receiving funding remains the same: the project should be youth-led, between the ages of 15 and 24, but they can work with younger or older people. The last round’s funding was used to support various creative climate projects.
“The last round, we had a real range of projects,” Sustainability Coordinator Linda Arbogast said. “So The MAD* Factory is a theater company and they work in Oberlin, but they also have an office in Lorain. And they applied for a grant to help make their wardrobes more sustainable, the theater more sustainable, and also to do a show about climate change. So, the theater and the arts, I think, especially in our region, is a really great way to get the word out about climate change. So I’d be excited to fund more projects that are related to that.”
All the ideas from the last round have been implemented, and the City of Oberlin is looking forward to seeing new applications and ideas.
“The time is now,” Arbogast said. “I would also say that ideas are so valuable and we need everybody on board and it’s okay if your idea is crazy or out there, or maybe not even very formulated. If you are willing to work hard and think hard, we are willing to work with you on helping you formulate your ideas.”
Margie Flood, executive director of Oberlin Community Services, said that the funding given to OCS was beneficial to the youth. OCS used the funding to start a Farm to Fork cooking class for people aged 15–24 to learn how to grow their own food and how to make it.
They have funding left from the last round and will be doing this class again.
Jason Hawk, communications and development coordinator of OCS, talked about how the youth were surprised to learn how easy it is to be sustainable and healthy at the same time.
“So young people who are perhaps more used to pre-prepared stuff and not as familiar with fresh herbs, fresh produce, and how to cook,” Flood said. “So that was the idea of the cooking class. I don’t think we’re applying for the spring because we had leftover funds from the first round. So we are going to redo the class and also we’re doing a class part two because the youth loved it so much, they wanna come back and learn more.”
Eli Butler, assistant food programs coordinator of OCS, said that having a localized food system where people are able to grow at least part of their own food is crucial to both mitigating carbon emissions and just living with the climate crisis as it is.
“I think this is a fantastic opportunity for people and organizations like OCS to really get going on some ideas that [they] may have had and haven’t had the money to do,” Flood said. “Try them out and really dig into trying to make a difference with climate adaptation.”
