Eligibility and Application Process
The Municipality of Anchorage is a member of a global cohort of 300 cities that were awarded this grant to work with young people to turn climate ideas into real, funded projects. Through this grant, youth-led teams can be awarded a microgrant to bring their ideas of tackling our community’s climate challenges to reality.
The Youth Climate Action Fund is established and supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies and delivered in partnership with the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation (BCPI) at Johns Hopkins University, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) as a fiscally sponsored project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). (YCAF Program Charter)
The Youth Climate Action Fund aims to:
- Equip cities to partner with youth in developing and implementing solutions to local climate challenges.
- Create pathways for youth ideas to move from input to implementation, aligned with city priorities.
- Build lasting city capacity and structures to engage with youth.
- Increase trust between cities and young residents through visible collaboration and results.
(Source: YCAF Program Charter)
Program Eligibility
To be eligible, the project must:
- Be proposed, designed, and led by a team of at least two young people aged 15–24.
- Align with the Municipality of Anchorage’s climate priorities:
- Energy consumption from buildings and transportation
- Consumption and solid waste
- Food systems
- Urban forests and water sheds
- Operate within a budget of $1,000–$5,000 using eligible expenses*
- Focus on youth leadership and action; equipment and infrastructure costs should not exceed 50% of the project budget*
*Your project sponsor will help you with this requirement
Project Sponsor
The program can only award grant funds to eligible non-profit organizations. This means that each project proposal must have a non-profit organization sponsor to apply for the grant. The MOA can match youth applicants with eligible non-profit organization to act as project sponsor.
Examples of the types of eligible projects:
- Climate education and awareness, like courses, experiences, or the arts.
- Research and data collection, like mapping environmental health.
- Resilience and adaptation, such as addressing water quality or heatwaves.
- Green Infrastructure, reforestation, and environmental protection, like creating parks, community gardens, or green roofs for community buildings.
- Sustainable agriculture and food systems, like urban farms that would enrich community access to fresh food.
- Promotion and advancement of circular economy, like sustainable fashion or rethinking the use of discarded materials.
- Sustainable waste management, like sorting, collection, or cleaning.
- Sustainable transportation, like encouraging walking, cycling, and using public transportation.
- Climate governance, like youth councils or consultation of youth for public decisions.
Each project application must identify:
- At least one output (a direct deliverable, such as number of events held)
- At least one outcome (the result of those activities)
- A numerical target for both an ‘output’ is a direct deliverable or measurable result of activities (like ‘number of clean-up events held'), and an ‘outcome’ is what happens because of those activities. Both need to have a numerical target.
How to Apply:
To apply projects must meet the criteria above and submit the following, completed forms to Annamarie.C.Husa@anchorageak.gov on or before October 18, 2026.