Thank you for your interest in joining the Greater Cincinnati Regional Climate Collaborative (RCC)! Please read the background information below and submit this short application. Upon receipt your application will be reviewed and approved, and then your primary contact will be invoiced for the membership/partnership dues.

The RCC serves as a network for public agencies to better understand regional climate impacts on their communities and advance adaptation and mitigation solutions. With support from Green Umbrella staff and partners, the RCC facilitates peer sharing, highlights best practices among local governments, develops opportunities for regional collaboration and program implementation, and helps secure funding and technical assistance.

Geography & Focus: Green Umbrella's geographic focus is the ten-county Greater Cincinnati region across Southwestern Ohio (Butler, Clermont, Hamilton, Warren), Northern Kentucky (Boone, Campbell, Grant, Kenton), and Southeastern Indiana (Dearborn, Franklin). The RCC is principally focused on understanding and addressing climate change adaptation and fostering equitable implementation. Together we can adopt proven solutions to improve the quality of life in our communities, the resilience of our infrastructure, and the predictability of budgets.

Activities: the RCC's activities are designed to complement and add value to the many existing regional and sub-regional climate-related efforts underway. Primary activities include:

Building Local Capacity 

• Increasing regional government and NGO staff capacity to act on sustainability, equity, and resilience 
• Implementing equitable action plans, projects programs, and policies 
• Creating workforce opportunities for the next generation of sustainability professionals -- including a fellowship program for local governments

• Centering resident voice, experience, and expertise in local government and community plans, projects, programs, and policies -- especially communities of color, low-income community members, youth, and the elderly through the Climate Safe Neighborhoods Partnership

Elected Officials 

• Building political will among elected officials and those running for office, and support efforts at local to state levels 
• Supporting the development of climate platforms across local to state offices in Greater Cincinnati

Preparing Partners and People 

• Listening to community needs and co-creating solutions meaningful, self-determined engagement of community groups with the RCC and local governments 
• Providing community leaders–especially leaders of color–with resources, technical support, and guidance in their climate efforts 
• Identifying accountability and transparency pathways and opportunities for the RCC and local governments to their communities

Regional Funding and Resources

• Raising awareness of climate impacts and solutions 
• Developing resources to accelerate action across the region -- including a Regional Action Playbook 
• Securing and disseminating federal, state, and philanthropic funding to regional communities

Membership Dues: Please review the Member Dues Structure here.

Member Benefits:

• Regional Meetings: bi-annual Greater Cincinnati-wide meetings—resources, networking and in-depth learning.
• Resilience Fellow: subsidized 10-week fellow to kickstart and accelerate your planning and implementation processes. 
• Consultations: two Consultations per year with Green Umbrella staff and consultants to help problem-solve your top questions/needs (via phone/web).
• Equity Working Meetings: quarterly Equity Working Meetings composed of local governments, agencies, NGOs, and CBOs to share resources and best practices around equitable adaptation practices.
• Webinars: Access to webinars on critical adaptation topics.
• RCC Web and Newsletter: access to information about new and ongoing adaptation projects from fellow members on the RCC website; news on the RCC and key regional and state-level activities, funding updates and more.
• Funding Tracker: access to funding announcements which allows members to easily find relevant adaptation funding from across agencies in one place.
• National Partnerships: access to content, resources, and connections from the RCC's national partners and networks (including the Institute for Sustainable Communities' Urban Equity Climate Compact, Georgetown Climate Center's Regional Collaboratives Forum, and more). 
• Funding: participation in regional funding proposals and automatic recipient of any funding received for RCC members/partners.