OPCAN presentation on Climate Coaches to the Oak Park Village Board
OPCAN members presenting to the Oak Park Village Board of Trustees
On Oct 8th 2024, members of Oak Park Climate Action Network (OPCAN) gave a presentation on our Climate Coach program to the Oak Park Village Board.
In the presentation, which you can view on the Village website, OPCAN Climate Coaches Pam Tate, Derek Eder, Nick Bridge, Cindy Klein-Banai, Daniel Becker, Mac Robinet and Amy Rosenthal shared how the program works, the kinds of requests we’ve received, and the impact of the program over the 6 months since it was launched.
Much of this information is also available in our 6-month Climate Coach Report, which you can also view here.
Climate Coach requests per month from March - Sep 2024
After our presentation, we received positive feedback from all Village Board Trustees and President Scaman. Here are a few direct quotes from the session transcript:
Trustee Parakkat: We have forced this from the sidelines, and it's a great program…something that really goes to the core of what we have to tackle, which is built-environment-related emissions and reductions.
Trustee Straw: I would just say I absolutely would be supportive of making sure that we are doing more to get the word out. You’ll find that you have another sign up for getting some coaching when you get back to your email!
Trustee Enyia: So I really like [this] approach because it was my neighbors telling me these things and it felt like it hit a little bit more for me, rather than a corporate person telling me … so thank you for stepping up and I think this will inspire more people to step up, too.
Trustee Wesley: Thank you very much for the presentation. It is amazing. I heard permitting in terms of that being a process that needs to be navigated and I'm wondering if there's anything we can do to reshape that permitting process for the initiatives to be cleaner and more straightforward, and quicker… I'm super excited about this and well done.
Trustee Robinson: You guys are creating three-dimensional touch points. You are talking to people, giving them realistic, practical suggestions and then you are able to show them what those look like in your homes and some of your neighbors homes.
President Scaman: The positivity that you carry about this kind of opportunity for addressing climate change - it never ceases to amaze me. For the members of Oak Park that are generous and open and a reminder of the confidentiality that you provide for residents … Very excited about the potential for future partnerships and I also wonder if you don't get more volunteers after tonight.
It was exciting and validating to receive so much positive feedback on our program by our elected representatives. OPCAN plans to continue our Climate Coach program and are looking forward to future partnership and collaboration with the Village.
Luzane Draughon from the Wednesday Journal also published a recap of this presentation on Oct 14, 2024: OPCAN asks village to help market climate coaching.