Oak Park Climate Action Network, a volunteer group that partnered with the village to provide climate coaching to community members looking to go green, is asking Oak Park to help bolster its communication, education and outreach efforts.
OPCAN volunteers are working to eliminate local contributions to the climate crisis and advocate for the goals of Climate Ready Oak Park, according to its website. They do this through advocacy, education and neighbor assistance.
“We found that people had lots of questions, that they didn’t know where to go for answers,” OPCAN member Pam Tate told the village board Oct. 8.
A key goal of CROP is to reduce community greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2030 and to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Most greenhouse gas emissions in Oak Park come from heating and cooling buildings, including homes. The idea for the climate coaching program came from CROP, too, in a goal to implement an education program to connect residents with services for energy and climate resiliency upgrades.
In March, OPCAN started the free climate coaching program where peers with experience help locals access resources and support to make their properties or apartments more climate friendly. Anyone can request a coach online.
The coaching, which is not a substitute for full-time paid labor, focuses on short-term engagement, like 30 minute phone calls, and referrals, OPCAN member Derek Eder told the village board Oct. 8. These volunteer coaches can help people get “unstuck” in their climate-related goals, Eder said.
“We’re also not industry professionals,” he said. “I couldn’t install your heat pump for you even if you paid me, but I know who those contractors are. I know what they can do. I know what it costs. I know some of the steps, as a homeowner, you have to go through to do it.”
The topics the coaches cover include reducing emissions, installing insulation, rooftop solar panels, heat pumps, induction stoves, electric vehicles, gardening, flooding, recycling and composting as well as available grants and tax credits.
Since March 11, 2024, when the program launched, Eder said OPCAN has received 50 climate coach requests and has 17 climate coach volunteers. The most requests came in April and May. About 25 requests were related to available grants, rebates and tax credits. Other popular questions related to rooftop solar panels and switching from gas heating to electric heat pumps. Less popular categories included help with gardening or flooding.
“There is real demand,” Eder said. “Some people maybe don’t make that connection, I think, between climate change and things like flooding, but it is related.”
Nick Bridge, one of the climate coaches, told the village board Oct. 8 that he went through a lot to get rooftop solar panels on his home. But he was able to do it, and now he can help others navigate that.
“It’s a very satisfying process for me as a volunteer to really be able to help people to make a big impact on their carbon footprint,” another climate coach, Cindy Klein-Banai, said.
“There were a lot of questions we had about how to take the first steps with some of these initiatives, the Climate Coach helped us sort out all of the options available to us much quicker than we would’ve been able to ourselves,” one climate coach recipient said, according to OPCAN’s presentation to the village board.
Most of the requests, about 78%, came from single-family homeowners. Another roughly 10% came from condo dwellers. Eder said most of their climate coach recipients heard about the program through Oak Park’s newsletter or website, or through word of mouth.
So, OPCAN is asking the village to ramp up marketing efforts for the climate coach program through its website, in the OP/FYI notice and through other flyers or announcements. The group is also asking the village to fund recommendations for education and outreach efforts in 2025.
“We need more advertising, we need more outreach and marketing,” Tate said. “But we’re very proud of the fact that we’ve served probably over 50 people … without any major marketing.”
Other cities have contacted OPCAN to learn more about the program, too, Tate said, wanting advice on how to start their own.
Trustees agreed this is a great program and that they are supportive of it. Trustee Brian Straw said he signed up to learn more about installing solar panels at his home, because the information available can be “overwhelming” and even “frightening.” Without a lot of time to study the process yourself, it’s easy to put off, he said, but that’s where climate coaches can come in.
“It’s really the neighbors-to-neighbors thing that has the biggest impact in an area like ours,” Trustee Chibuike Enyia said, mentioning how he’s taken steps to be more energy efficient and inspired his parents to do the same with their house here and in Nigeria.
“What this program shows me is that you guys are creating three-dimensional touchpoints,” Trustee Lucia Robinson said. “You’re talking to people, you’re giving them realistic, practical suggestions … There’s no real substitute for having the type of energy and the grassroots effort that you guys bring to this.”
Village President Vicki Scaman also pointed out the positivity OPCAN and the climate coaches carry for addressing climate change. Embracing that positivity and neighbor-to-neighbor collaboration is key, she said.
“We want this to be contagious,” she said. “We want people to jump on board and to feel like it’s doable. And to be positive about it because it is very easy to get a little depressed about climate change.”