How we started and run our neighbor-to-neighbor Climate Coach program
In March of 2024, OPCAN launched our all volunteer Climate Coach program in partnership with the Village of Oak Park. Since then, we have connected over 80 Oak Park residents to neighbors who have installed solar panels, upgraded to heat pumps, switched to an induction stove, planted a native garden, or otherwise green-ified their homes.
The impact and success of this program, which was documented in a recent 6-month report, has led to a lot of interest by climate groups outside of Oak Park to start their own programs. This blog post is for them!
We’ve found that our Climate Coach program is a great way to engage with homeowners and build up more local interest in home electrification.
Read about the keys to our success, how we run the climate coach program, and what is expected of our volunteers.
Keys to our successful Climate Coach program
Having an all-volunteer roster of neighbors as coaches, who speak from their own experience, and can offer local tips and lessons on permits, service providers, budgets and timelines.
Keeping our engagements limited to (1) household emissions reductions aligned with Oak Park's climate action plan, and (2) avoid trying to replace paid consultants or service providers, and instead offering key steps and advice to help 'activate' neighbors who want to go from idea to action.
Partnering with local government to get the word out about what we do, while doing our own outreach via tabling, flyers, yard signs, social media and op-eds in our local paper. We also have an easy-to-use website with an online form for folks and lots of resources and references on the areas of our coaching.
We have a light-touch orientation for new coaches (it's like a flywheel -- folks who take action can then become new coaches for their neighbors!!). You can see the original slide deck. For our first group of coaches, we had an online meeting to review the program and what would be expected of them. We then took inventory of what kinds of experience each coach had and documented it in a spreadsheet (more on that below).
We try to track what we do and what impact it has through reporting forms for coaches and a semi-annual survey to those who received coaching. Then we report out our impact on our blog and to the Village.
How we run the Climate Coach program
OPCAN administers the Climate Coach program with free tools by Google and Zapier. If you’re looking to start your own, here’s the steps you can take to recreate ours:
Create a website or page dedicated to the program. This is the single place where we point people to in all of our marketing efforts: https://opcan.org/climate-coaches
The page provides a brief description of the service, what we offer, and what we won’t do.
People are directed to fill out a simple Google form with basic contact information and can pick up to 3 topics to get help on, along with a place to add additional details.
This submission is shared to a Google Spreadsheet where we track requests and who was assigned.
We use a service called Zapier that connects the Google Sheet to send a formatted email to a group of Climate Coach organizers (we use a shared email that goes to 6 people so requests aren’t dropped and for visibility).
Someone is designated as the ‘switchboard operator’ that monitors the incoming emails and compares the requested help categories with our volunteer expertise. That volunteer expertise was gathered initially and updated as we get new coaches or coaches get more experience.
The request email is forwarded to the appropriate coach and the assigned coach is recorded.
The coach reaches out to the client via email or phone to have their 30 minute call.
Coaches are asked to fill out a form documenting how the session went.
OPCAN’s Climate Coach volunteer expertise matrix
OPCAN’s Climate Coach system
What’s expected of a Climate Coach
Our Climate Coaches are volunteers and do not need to be experts about the technology or home improvement. What they do need to be is friendly, and willing to talk about their own experiences improving their homes.
You will be assigned clients based on the experience you have. Depending on what you know, you may get anywhere from 1-3 requests per month (sometimes zero!).
Once assigned a client, you will be forwarded their request and contact info. You will be responsible to reach out via email with them and schedule a 30 minute call. Some calls have gone for longer, as questions occur to clients in the course of conversations.
Some coaches have gone beyond this and visited people’s houses to give more hands-on advice.
Coaches are encouraged to connect with their neighbors, but are not obligated to follow up with them.
After a call is concluded, we ask that coaches document how it went in a Google Form. We also ask clients if they’re okay with a follow-up contact from an OPCAN volunteer to find out what steps they plan to take or have taken as a result of their coaching session.