This blog is based on information delivered during a River Rally 2026 session presented by Hannah Mico (River Network), Juan Lazo Bautista (Defensores de la Cuenca) Diamond Spratling (Girl + Environment), Lydia Williams, and the team at New Orleans East Green Infrastructure Collective (Jackie Baham, Trina Hudson, and Pamela Carrie).

Federal action on climate change is slowing down, but communities across the United States are working tirelessly to implement climate solutions at the local level. As a partner in those efforts, River Network is leveraging Tools for Equitable Climate Resilience, a toolkit published in 2020-2021 that positions community-led research and leadership as key strategies for advancing local resilience efforts.

In the last six years, we have partnered with 34 organizations to launch programs that build local climate leadership. At River Rally 2026 in San Antonio, Texas, we brought 3 partner organizations together to demonstrate how local leaders are already pursuing meaningful climate action in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Gulf Coast.

Getting Started

New Orleans East Green Infrastructure Collective (NOEGIC) set out to build on the framework of Water Wise Gulf South’s Community-Driven Green Infrastructure Model by working with residents who expressed interest in bettering their community, but needed more training to feel confident doing so. This program engaged them as leaders in the areas of climate resilience and justice.

Graduates of the 2026 Leadership Cohort pose with their certificates after touring the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet by boat.

NOEGIC launched their first Leadership Cohort in March 2026, guiding New Orleans East Neighborhood Champions through a program that deepened their understanding of place, key players, and their change-making capacity. Participants learned leadership skills from local advocates that focused on community philanthropy, climate planning solutions, advocacy, and sustainable stewardship. Having graduated the first cohort in May 2026, the NOEGIC team is in the process of iterating the program before taking on their second cohort, and continuing to build a strong base of local climate leaders.

Building on What Works

Girl + Environment (GPE) has already been engaging young Black and Brown women and femmes in climate advocacy through culturally responsive leadership opportunities. With a successful track record delivering their Energy Justice Cohort model in Georgia, GPE launched their first Climate Advocacy Cohort in 2025 in Mobile, Alabama, enabling participants to explore how climate change impacts Gulf South communities through pollution, health disparities, and disaster recovery.

The Climate Advocacy Cohort utilizes multiple strategies to deliver training and support, including hands-on projects like the “Girlies Green Fest” planned and implemented by participants.

This 8-month program engaged Fellows in relationship-building, hands-on learning, and mentorship. GPE Executive Director and Founder, Diamond Spratling, emphasized the importance of inclusivity and access working with “girlies” (19-25 years of age) who are early career or still in school, and the power of designing a culturally responsive program that builds on young leaders’ existing strengths and interests.

Lydia Williams, a cohort Fellow of GPE, shared the importance of this program from a participant perspective:

“The Gulf South is one of the most climate-vulnerable regions in the U.S. Communities of color face disproportionate impacts from pollution, disasters, and energy burden, and are historically excluded from climate decision-making and investment. Solutions are often created without community voice; but GPE invests in local leaders to shift who holds power in climate solutions, and builds community-rooted leadership—not outside intervention.” 

With the first Climate Advocacy Cohort completed, GPE is strategizing with these young climate leaders in the Gulf South on ways to build their movement and power.

Moving a Trusted Program Forward

Defensores de la Cuenca, originally a leadership development partner from River Network’s first program cycle in 2020, has iterated and expanded their community leadership programs extensively over the last six years. As an organization that works with Spanish-speaking communities across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, Defensores recognizes their constituency is often navigating a new country and culture, and working to build a new support network. Despite those challenges, community members are still eager to bring their knowledge and leadership.

Defensores fills a critical gap by engaging the Spanish-speaking community in leadership programs like Embajadores de los Arboles.

In 2021, Defensores launched La Academia to engage residents in becoming watershed ambassadors. Now in its fifth year, La Academia continues to offer a language-accessible leadership development program that responds to the many other needs of the Spanish-speaking community in the Chesapeake. In 2023, Defensores launched Embajadores de los Arboles, using a similar model to engage residents as tree ambassadors.

As an organization that has continued to iterate their programs over the course of many years, Defensores successfully engages residents as the leaders that they already are by sharing knowledge, connecting them to experiences, and honoring their culture and identity.

Climate Leadership is Climate Infrastructure

Local climate solutions cannot exist without people to lead and implement them. Through partnerships with organizations who are working to identify local leaders and build power, we have learned that climate leadership is critical infrastructure to guarantee the safety of our communities as climate change unfolds. If you’re looking to take the first (or next) step to building local climate leaders in your community, you can access the Fostering Community Leadership Toolkit and learn from other River Network partners via Webinars, Storymaps, and more on our Tools for Equitable Climate Resilience homepage.