New SEAP, NCoC Report Highlights Regional Climate Action Planning Achievements in American South

Southern cities, including Richmond, VA, Charlotte, NC, Louisville, KY and Sarasota, FL identified as examples of participatory climate planning excellence

ATLANTA, GA — Today, the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP) and the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) released a new report that underscores the importance of incorporating community input into the state and local climate policy planning process.

The report highlights the hard work of hundreds of state, county, municipal, and tribal governments who have engaged their communities as partners in planning for a more equitable and sustainable future. The participatory climate action planning work featured in this report was in response to the Inflation Reduction Act’s Climate Pollution Reduction Act funding, an unprecedented and first-of-its-kind investment in clean energy and climate action in the U.S.

“Real climate action in Southern communities is within reach. This report seeks to spotlight the excellent work happening in states, cities and tribes across the South to involve their communities when crafting local climate action plans,” said Sarah Beth Gehl, executive director of the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP). “SEAP is excited to showcase how lasting, impactful policy emerges from constant collaboration with our neighbors, especially the neighbors often left out of the policymaking process to begin with.”

“The communities most vulnerable to climate change are the same communities often left out of the planning and policymaking process,” said Kyla Fullenwider, Senior Fellow at National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC). “This report is more than an opportunity to celebrate the best of regional climate action planning in the South; it is an essential piece of the groundwork we must build to craft policy with the understanding that the American people and our environment are inextricably linked. Public participation in planning for and responding to climate change is required in creating climate-resilient communities.”

This report highlights climate action plans that were exemplary in their integration of community input, prioritizing low income and disadvantaged communities and implementing best practices like designing for accessibility and engaging partners from the start who bring experience, expertise and relationships to the planning process.

The states, cities, and tribes acknowledged for excellence in participatory climate action planning include:

 

STATES

  • North Carolina
  • Tennessee
  • Louisiana

 

CITIES

  • Richmond, Virginia
  • Charlotte, North Carolina
  • Louisville, Kentucky
  • Sarasota, Florida

 

TRIBES

  • Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians
  • Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians

 

Read the full report here

To learn more about the report and the importance of civic engagement in climate action planning, join us for a webinar on October 24, 2024 at 2:00pm ET. Register for the webinar here.

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About SEAP

Launched in 2019, the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP) partners with policy thinkers and doers to amplify their efforts and bridge gaps in policy infrastructure. SEAP’s goal is to advance policies that improve economic security, healthcare access, and environmental justice for all Southerners—acting as a connector, convener, and policy entrepreneur across issues and states, translating good ideas to the Southern context. SEAP researches policies to achieve stronger outcomes at the state and local level in the South, amplifies the activities of local organizations through technical assistance and grants, and provides a bridge between the best learnings nationally and a regional strategy for implementation and engagement. Embedded in the work of SEAP is a rigorous consideration of race, class and gender, which intersect all social and economic policy in the South.

About NC0C

NCoC was founded in 1946 and chartered by Congress in 1953 to serve as a central hub for America’s efforts to make citizenship more effective by developing a field that contributes to a more active, alert, enlightened, conscientious, and progressive citizenry. Today, NCoC achieves that mission through a range of programs that enable communities to measure civic health through public data, empower stakeholders to leverage civic infrastructure to understand our digital civic discourse, and convene the wider community to ensure that our institutions centralize equity in our political representation. In addition to these year-round programs, NCoC hosts an Annual Conference that brings together the organizations and partners we serve with thought leaders, policymakers, and practitioners to further the field of civic engagement.