History - C4 - Community Collaboration on Climate Change

The History of C4

Where we’ve been, and
what we’ve learned.

C4 is an organization that is designed to evolve. The plan is not etched in stone and will be revised as needed. While the infrastructure is formalized, the Planning Team intentionally built in space to provide agency to those that will be participating over the next three years. To authentically engage BIPOC and white dominant grassroots environmental organizations, participants need to be prepared and committed to evolve over time in partnership and this will undoubtedly result in refinements to the plan and process

Lesson Learned - 1

Slow down to make sure the process is the most equitable it can be. Often white dominant culture is focused on identifying quick outcomes and meeting arbitrarily identified deadlines. Focusing on the process may be difficult, but it is the most important way to move forward equitably.

Lesson Learned - 2

Ensure the right people are at the table from the beginning. In our second phase of the C4 Planning Team, we were able to increase the representation of BIPOC voices. However, having already begun brainstorming in our first phase, our newer team members were left out of those conversations.

Lesson Learned - 3

Prepare for, encourage and create space for uncomfortable conversations. The uncomfortable conversations during the C4 Planning Team’s meetings were always the ones that we most needed to have. It is because of those difficult conversations that trust and relationships grew within the team.

Lesson Learned - 4

Identify and share structural and institutional barriers with stakeholders. This has come up mostly in our fundraising efforts. As we are working with community- based organizations, sometimes a funder’s process is inaccessible, so identify those barriers and communicate them with foundations and stakeholders.

Lesson Learned - 5

Be transparent. During our second phase of the C4 Planning Team some members had lower participation, and most of these members were BIPOC participants. While the extenuating circumstances of COVID- 19 likely contributed to this outcome, as we saw job displacement from at least a few of the members on our team, there is an important question to be asked here. Was there something in our process that did not provide a safe, accessible or inspiring space for some BIPOC participants to engage? Being more transparent with this issue moving forward is something we hope to work toward as we seek feedback.

Lesson Learned - 6

Acknowledge the complexity of the problem and process and develop multiple methods for communicating them. Our C4 journey is rich and complex and we need to streamline how, when, where and with whom we explain this journey. Our team members have been on this journey for the last year and a half and experienced the important nuances. Helping others understand our journey, process and outcomes to come alongside of us in this journey is critical.

The C4 Planning Team honors the realities of social circumstances that required remote engagement practices at the same time that many of the committee members were and still are actively engaged in Black Lives Matters and Movimiento Cosecha movements highlighting police brutality and racism in this country. Climate change is both an immediate and hidden threat in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Its causes are integrated with extractive systems and policies based in capitalism and white supremacist culture which are intertwined with the complex solutions of racial equity. Black Lives Matter. COVID-19 has highlighted disparities in health care and economic stability which will mirror negative impacts caused by climate change events.

2005

The Community Sustainability Partnership

The Community Sustainability Partnership (CSP) was created in 2005 by the City of Grand Rapids and four major academic institutions to transform the greater GR region through collaboration, sharing of experiences, and mobilizing local resources to develop sustainable organizations, neighborhoods and communities. While the CSP achieved notable successes, including a United Nations University Regional Centre of Expertise designation, environmental injustices continue to persist in our community.

A 2019 University of Michigan study identified 5 GR census tracts in the top 10 in the state for having the most environmental injustice. Although we are all negatively impacted by climate change, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are disproportionately impacted and aren’t genuinely represented in the current environmental and climate change movement. In addition, organizations and individuals that have been most active in the climate space are not connected in a way that will result in time sensitive communitywide improvements. Finally, Grand Rapids lacks a solid and stable infrastructure to challenge systemic barriers and make bold changes necessary to create a just climate future, and the C4 intends to change that fact.

2019

A Need For Something New

2019

Forming the C4

Since August 2019, a group of City staff, community leaders, issues experts, and environmental advocates have been meeting to better define the C4, create infrastructure, establish an equity-focused process, and develop a plan to create and support the type of conceptual spaces needed for a climate-just Grand Rapids. The C4 Planning Team created the initial infrastructure for community participation, organizational collaboration, and the creation of a climate justice movement – a movement that combines discourse on climate change and environmental justice to perform actions to ensure all communities, especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, are treated equitably.

The C4 Planning Team created the infrastructure needed to launch a 3-year pilot. This infrastructure includes a vision statement, values, community agreements and Leadership Team governance. We also sketched out a 3-year plan and accompanying budget to launch and pilot the C4. This also included equity training together; creation of our by-laws; and hiring of facilitation support via planning grant.

2020

C4 Planning Committee 2.0

2021 — Present

C4 Now

Around September 2021, the C4 Leadership Team launched. Together this team was able to secure key grant funding in November of 2021. In 2022, the C4 launched it’s first and second Ambassador Cohorts, along with the organizations website.

The First C4 Planning Team

* Members involved in the C4 Planning Team 1.0. The initial planning team (Aug. 2019) concluded that it did not represent our community (31% BIPOC). We added more members in September/October of 2019 (47% BIPOC) to form the C4 Planning Team 2.0. Names and positions are reflective of the 1.0 team in 2019.

Aaron Ferguson, Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services (MDHHS)*

Allison Waste Sutter, City of Grand Rapids*

Ana Jose, West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Annabelle Wilkinson, City of Grand Rapids*

Ann Erhardt, Michigan State University (first phase only)*

Beca Velazquez, Publes, Urban Core Collective (UCC) (first phase only)*

Bill Wood, West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC)*

Carissa Patrone, West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum (WMSBF)

Cheri Holman, U.S. Green Building Council – West Michigan (USGBC-WM)*

Gayle DeBruyn, Kendall College of Art and Design

Jackie Hernandez, Healthy Homes Coalition

Kristen Trovillion, Grand Rapids Public Schools (at the time)*

Kareem Scales, NAACP Grand Rapids

Maeve Tropf, Steelcase*

Nichole Rafael, Westside Collaborative (at the time)*

Nick Carlson, Business Development Director, Goodwill Industries of West Michigan, Inc.*

Sarah Brant, Westside Collaborative (at the time)*

Sergio Cira-Reyes, Urban Core Collective (UCC)*

Stephanie Pierce, Grand Rapids African American Health Institute (at the time)

Synia E. Gant-Jordan, Legacy & Love LLC

Wende Randall, Kent County Essential Needs Task Force (ENTF)

Willie Patterson, LINC UP

Keep up with us in our journey for climate justice

What Did We Create?

Momentum and Direction. Trusted Relationships. Infrastructure. 3-Year Pilot Plan. Equity-centered Processes.

Defining the C4

Our Infrastructure

Our infrastructure includes a vision statement, values, community agreements and Leadership Team governance.

The C4 Pilot

Our 3 Year Plan

We also sketched out a 3-year plan and accompanying budget to launch and pilot the C4.

See/Engage/Act

An Equity-Centered Process

Our equity-centered processes will generate new outcomes by focusing on equity-centered movement building, developing leaders, growing collaboration, sharing resources, and an iterative process.