Collaborative Framework
Vision
Equitable net zero carbon in the Teton Region by 2030.
Theory of Change
Cross-sector collaboration that enables partners to identify and implement a diverse, distributed portfolio of project partnerships that center equity is the accelerated path to building community capacity, creating systemic change, and achieving equitable net zero carbon by 2030.
TCAP Purpose
The purpose of the Teton Climate Action Partnership (TCAP) is to provide a collaborative, equitable, adaptive, community-wide action structure for catalyzing projects that meaningfully and equitably transition the Teton region to a zero carbon economy and society by 2030.
TCAP is a collaboration of autonomous actors committed to common principles. It is not an entity that receives or distributes funding, nor is it an oversight structure. Opportunities are prioritized by the action of collaborators, not TCAP policy.
TCAP is a collaboration centered on equity. Accountability is provided by the public through the outreach of the TCAP Equity and Community Engagement team.
TCAP is a collaborative forum for identifying, launching, and celebrating equitable climate action. It is also an open source of climate action plan content.
TCAP Principles
Teton Climate Action Partnership (TCAP) is a principle-driven collaborative planning initiative. It is committed to supporting the actions of the collaborators if the collaborators are committed to the principles of TCAP. The principles have been co-created by TCAP participants to reflect the collaboration we aspire to be and how we agree to do this work together. Recognizing that we are adaptively learning as we go, these principles are intended to reflect our current best understanding of how to achieve an equitable zero-carbon economy and society, and we intend to collaboratively update them over time as we learn through this process.
CHANGE. Urgently change the status quo that created the climate emergency. Pursue climate justice - promote solutions that rectify existing inequities in climate impact and support those hurt by a change to the status quo.
ENGAGE. Activate, welcome, hear, and honor all voices. Engage all community members how they want to be engaged. Create a network that is supportive, safe, accessible & inclusive. Listen for understanding, speak to be understood.
COLLABORATE. Show up fully for co-creation, in service to the greater good. Make space for everyone’s capacity to grow. Grow our capacity to collaborate.
ACT. Take the next best step based on the available science, data, lived experience, and action of other communities. Innovate & experiment with imagination and creativity.
ADAPT. Embrace trial & error. It’s OK to try and fail. Learn, grow, and proceed.
COMMIT. Embrace the entire vision and all principles. Bring our whole selves with fidelity and integrity. Be honest about who and where we are. Respond to conflict with patience, thoughtful communication, and a desire to progress.
Equity in Teton Climate Action Planning
Due to our history of colonialism and systemic racism and current inequitable economic and political systems, people who are least responsible for the climate crisis and have the fewest resources to adapt are impacted the earliest and the most. We have a clear obligation to center justice, equity and anti-oppression in our climate action planning.
Below are guiding principles that ought to be followed for every action we take. Please note that these principles are intended to be used as a guide. Simply because an action qualifies under the following principles does not mean it is acceptable. The only way for us to do climate action planning that centers justice, equity, anti-oppression, diversity, and inclusion is by listening to and following marginalized communities. Any action must be planned for or taken intentionally in collaboration with marginalized communities. Any opportunity to involve marginalized communities must be taken. Having people from marginalized segments of our community lead various processes and projects is an ideal. At the least, it is our duty to make the planning and execution process open and easily accessible, which could include holding meetings and having media and communications in languages other than English as well as compensating people for their time.
TCAP Equity Principles
Projects or actions must:
Not harm marginalized communities*
Prioritize community over economy
Support and protect marginalized communities
Seek perspective and leadership from marginalized communities
Protect and support workers regardless of immigration status
Replace job opportunities if jobs are lost in the process of an energy transition away from fossil fuels
Prioritize support related to health, infrastructure, jobs, housing, public safety, and economic recovery for those most affected and those with the least resources
Consider communities affected outside of Teton County
*Marginalized communities are indigenous people, communities of color, migrant communities, undocumented people, de-industrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, low-income workers, LGBTQ+ community, women, the elderly, the unhoused and homeless, people with disabilities, youth, and more
Collaborative Structure
Consistent with our Theory of Change and Principles, TCAP’s collaborative structure is designed to identify and catalyze the implementation of a diverse, distributed portfolio of climate action projects across all emissions sectors. The climate action projects themselves are independently led and managed by the partners who come together to implement that project. In service of TCAP’s purpose, the TCAP structure has three domains. Each domain includes advisory team and staff functions. Mutual accountability to the shared TCAP vision, purpose and principles is reinforced in quarterly coordination meetings and through public input and inclusion organized by the equity and community engagement team. Staff are provided to TCAP when a collaborator commits to the completion of a staff function or a portion of a staff function.
Collaboration Meetings
Sector team and cross-sector coordination meetings are the heart of the TCAP collaboration. All TCAP meeting times and location are posted on the TCAP calendar.
TCAP Overview
Achieving our ambitious vision for net zero carbon by 2030 will require undertaking a wide array of collaborative projects within and across all topical areas and emissions sectors. This is challenging, complex and intersectional work that no single agency or community based organization or funder can hope to address on their own. Collaboration is the only pathway forward, but an honest assessment finds that we lack the experience, skills, capacity, networks and support structures to collaborate across sectors at the very high level required. TCAP is designed to provide the structure and support needed to gain skills and capacity through action, thereby building the experience, courage and momentum needed to undertake even more ambitious and challenging action that was previously impossible. Since this work, learning and capacity building needs to happen across the region and within each and every organization in our communities, TCAP itself is not an organization or funder. It is a collaborative framework designed to catalyze, support, track and report on regional climate action, equity and capacity building. Since this work is inherently emergent and adaptive, TCAP must remain fluid and not fixed, responsive to our collective stage of development and current needs and opportunities. Since there is no command center or all knowing entity-behind-the-curtain, TCAP itself does not have decision making or oversight authority, but is instead an enabling framework.
Collaborative Resourcing Domain
Collaborative action is at the foundation of TCAP’s theory of change. By collaborating, more gets done and everyone’s capacity increases. TCAP is not an organization or funder, it is a collaborative framework that will increase the capacity of participants to do work in the realm of equitable climate action.
The work of collaborative resourcing is completed by the staff of TCAP collaborators, with advice from five sector teams and the collaborative resourcing team.
Sector Teams: Collaborative Resourcing
Energy Sources & Buildings Team - Current Contact: Phil Cameron, ECW
Transportation Team - Current Contact: Alicia Cox, YTCC
Land Use Team - Current Contact: Nancy Shea, LWG
Water Team - Current Contact: Johnny Ziem, ToJ
Food & Waste Team - Current Contact: Erik Kimball, ISWR
Collaborative Resourcing Team - Current Contact: Alex Norton, LWG, Nancy Shea
Community Engagement/Equity Team (Cody Pitz)
Dashboard Team (Amy King).
Scope of Work: Collaborative Resourcing
The purpose of the collaborative resourcing domain is to support the identification and implementation of equitable climate action and build the capacity for equitable action. This work has three steps.
Identify Ideas
The first step in collaborative resourcing is the identification of climate action and resource ideas. These ideas can be entered into the Idea Input Form by anyone. The public can access the form on tetonclimateaction.org and through TCAP’s public outreach and presence at public events. TCAP collaborators also have links to the form in all of their meeting materials to encourage the constant recording of new ideas. At every advisory team meeting, there will be time for adding new ideas via the form. Ideas will also be generated out of the evaluation of action that has already occurred. Collaborators reporting action into the TCAP dashboard will also be encouraged to enter the next steps they identify through action into the idea form. The collaborative resourcing staff will work with the Equitable Engagement team to ensure that those who lack access to technology have opportunities to provide input and ideas.
Craft Opportunities from Ideas
An idea entered into the input form gets fed into a spreadsheet that is curated by the collaborative resourcing staff. The staff will take the first steps to combine similar action ideas, separate amalgamated ideas and craft actionable units of action into opportunities. Staff will also take the first steps to assess an action idea’s potential impact using the Dashboard model and socialize it with potential partners and funding sources. Staff will input this initial idea buildout into an “Action Summary” for review by the advisory teams and eventual posting on the opportunities page of this site.
Catalyze Opportunities into Action
Once an Action Summary has been reviewed, staff will make suggested modifications, update the impact projection and post it to tetonclimateaction.org as an opportunity. Action Summaries will be tagged by status, sector, and action type so they can be easily sorted and searched. Once posted, the public will be able to provide input on the opportunity. Staff will continue to update the Action Summaries to reflect public input. In addition to being posted online, the Action Summaries will be available for collaborators to print and present to potential funders. As momentum builds for an action, collaborative resourcing staff will support the project lead in planning the action, grant writing, and fundraising. This support will include the engagement and empowerment of marginalized voices in the action planning and implementation.
Roles: Collaborative Resourcing
The framework for collaborative resourcing is a series of monthly to quarterly sector team meetings supplemented by quarterly cross-sector coordination meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to talk about the project, funding, and partnership opportunities in each sector and across sectors to make sure TCAP collaborators make the most of the most opportunities.
Collaborative Resourcing Staff
Functions
Meet regularly with Equitable Engagement and Dashboard staff
Plan and facilitate the sector advisory team meetings and quarterly coordination meetings so that the participants can focus on the core work of identifying and fleshing out action opportunities
Initial grouping, separating, and buildout of ideas through the idea input form
Regularly monitor grant and other funding opportunities and enter them into the input form and encourage collaborators to do so as well
Support project planning, fundraising, and grant writing as prioritized at the quarterly coordination meeting
Current Personnel
Alex Norton, LegacyWorks
Nancy Shea, LegacyWorks
UW Students
Sector Teams
Sector Team Functions
Meet monthly to quarterly to:
Provide updates on opportunities and active actions.
Identify ideas, and
Review and enhance Action Summaries
Advise staff and collaborate through tough questions
Provide additional capacity to staff on regular and/or special projects
Discuss sector priorities in preparation for coordination meetings
Collaborative Resourcing Team
Collaborative Resourcing Team Functions
Meet monthly to quarterly to:
Provide updates on opportunities
Identify funding sources and partners
Review and enhance Action Summaries
Advise staff and collaborate through tough questions
Provide additional capacity to staff on regular and/or special projects
Discuss funding and partnership priorities in preparation for coordination meetings
Equitable Community Engagement Domain
Equity is at the center of TCAP’s theory of change. Due to our history of colonialism, systemic racism, and inequitable economic and political systems, the people least responsible for the climate crisis, who have the fewest resources to adapt are impacted the earliest and the most. The solutions must:
Not harm marginalized communities*
Prioritize community over economy
Support and protect marginalized communities
Seek perspective and leadership from marginalized communities
Protect and support workers regardless of immigration status
Replace job opportunities if jobs are lost in the process of an energy transition away from fossil fuels
Prioritize support related to health, infrastructure, jobs, housing, public safety, and economic recovery for those most affected and those with the least resources
Consider communities affected outside of Teton County
The work of equitable community engagement is completed by the staff of TCAP collaborators, with advice from the Equity and Community Engagement Team.
*Marginalized communities are indigenous people, communities of color, migrant communities, undocumented people, deindustrialized communities, depopulated rural communities, low-income workers, LGBTQ+ community, women, the elderly, the unhoused and homeless, people with disabilities, youth, and more.
Sector Teams: Equitable Community Engagement
Equity & Community Engagement Team
Current Contacts: Cody Pitz, Sunrise & Hannah Habermann
Scope of Work: Equitable Community Engagement
The purpose of the equitable community engagement domain is to engage and empower marginalized communities in the identification, prioritization, and implementation of climate action projects. The equitable community engagement effort includes three tasks.
Engage and Empower Marginalized Voices
Equitable climate action requires engaging marginalized voices to participate in and lead climate action. The equitable community engagement staff and team will ensure marginalized voices are part of collaborative resourcing, dashboarding, and climate action projects. Collaborators will support equity by paying marginalized community members for their valuable engagement in identifying, prioritizing and implementing climate action. Staff will work to match interested and knowledgeable people in marginalized communities with the projects that meet their needs so they can inform the climate action and increase their own capacity.
Convene and Engage the Public
TCAP accountability is provided through equitable public review of the climate action opportunities. The equitable community engagement staff will design public outreach that equitably gathers opinions on the Action Summaries. This may include attending community events or an interview series - the outreach will be designed to meet the target audience where they are to identify their needs and the types of actions that would impact them most. The opinions gathered on existing opportunities will be recorded on the Action Summaries to convey the communities priorities to potential actors and funders. New ideas will be recorded in the idea input form for buildout by the collaborative resourcing team.
Design a Dynamic, Inviting and Evolving Website
Telling the story of climate change in the Tetons - the impacts, the vulnerabilities, the opportunities, the adaptations - is important because those stories can inspire additional, equitable action. At the core of that effort is tetonclimateaction.org. The website will reflect the overall structure of TCAP with:
An opportunity matrix of Action Summaries
Active action information and updates
A Dashboard of climate change, equity, and action
A storytelling platform to amplify equitable climate action
In addition, the website will include the meeting schedule and details for TCAP teams. The equitable community outreach staff will ensure tetonclimateaction.org is up to date and functioning. The website will be continually enhanced to be more accessible, user-friendly, and reflective of the TCAP principles.
Roles: Equitable Community Engagement
Equitable Community Engagement Staff
Function
Meet regularly with Collaborative Resourcing and Dashboard staff
Plan and facilitate the Equity & Community Engagement Team meetings so that the participants can focus on the core work of engaging and empowering marginalized communities
Support collaborative resourcing staff in identifying partners in marginalized communities
Public outreach planning
Maintain tetonclimateaction.org
Enhance tetonclimateaction.org as prioritized at the quarterly coordination meeting
Current Personnel
Nancy Shea, LegacyWorks
Cody Pitz, Sunrise JH
Equity & Community Engagement Team
Meet monthly to quarterly to:
Provide updates on engagement
Identify partners
Review and enhance Action Summaries
Advise staff and collaborates through tough questions
Provide additional capacity to staff on regular and/or special projects
Discuss equitable community engagement priorities in preparation for coordination meetings.
Dashboard Domain
Acting and adapting are two of the six principles of TCAP. A public dashboard that records projected and actual impact allows for broad input and open evaluation of the community’s climate action. The dashboard serves as a community report card, a tool for analyzing the potential impact, and a resource for collaborators, funders, and decision-makers looking for the most recent data available.
The work of dashboarding is completed by the staff of TCAP collaborators, with advice from the dashboard team.
Sector Teams: Dashboard
Dashboard Team - Current Contact: Amy King, LWG
Scope of Work: Dashboard
The purpose of the dashboard domain is to report past and current climate change, equity, and action and project the potential impact of identified opportunities. This work has two components.
Data Compilation and Visualization
The dashboard will include monitoring of the climate, net carbon emissions, equity, and climate action. The data compilation and visualization component of the work involves collecting information on climate, emissions, offsets, equity, and action and designing highly effective ways of reporting that information for the use of decision-makers, community organizations, and the public. The dashboard staff will work upstream from broad models to more and more detailed inputs in order to provide more and more detailed analysis. The intent is that the data will be interactive to build a greater understanding of the most impactful climate action available to the community and allow individual users to set their own climate action priorities.
Project Analysis
Using the same models built for the data visualization, the dashboard function will analyze climate action opportunities to understand their potential to contribute to achieving our goal of net-zero carbon. TCAP collaborators will be able to consider this projected impact along with public sentiment as they decide which climate action projects to pursue. The actual impact of a project will be compared to the projected impact to refine the model and improve opportunity identification.
Roles: Dashboard
Dashboard Staff
Function
Meet regularly with Collaborative Resourcing and Equitable Engagement staff
Plan and facilitate the Dashboard Team meetings so that the participants can focus on the core work of data collection and modeling
Coordinate regular data collection and input
Regular project analysis
Dashboard enhancements and project support actions as prioritized at the quarterly coordination meeting
Current Personnel
Amy King, Alex Norton, LegacyWorks
Megan Jennings, Zach Isler, ECW
Dashboard Team
Meet monthly to quarterly to:
Provide updates on data sources and models
Review and enhance Action Summaries
Advise staff and collaborate through tough questions
Provide additional capacity to staff on regular and/or special projects
Discuss dashboard priorities in preparation for coordination meetings
Climate Action Projects
TCAP exists to catalyze and report climate action. The action itself is independent of any TCAP direction. The TCAP structure provides collaborative resourcing, equitable community engagement, and dashboard support to turn opportunities into climate action. The climate action itself is a conglomeration of interrelated projects undertaken by TCAP collaborators. In TCAP’s collaborative approach, an opportunity gets prioritized when collaborators work together to get it funded and launched. TCAP is a matrix of opportunities developed by collaborators to reflect TCAP principles. TCAP openly provides all of the components of a climate action plan, without the centralized prioritization of an adopted plan that can slow action and artificially limit the pool of resources that might be invested.
Advisory Teams: Climate Action Projects
The advisory teams for each project are created by the project leads for the project. TCAP collaborative resourcing staff may help bring together partners, and TCAP collaborators will act as project leads and project advisors, but TCAP teams will not have climate action projects.
Scope of Work: Climate Action Projects
The scope of work for each climate action project will be defined to meet the project need. Each project will report back to the TCAP dashboard. Project team members are invited to participate in one or more of the TCAP teams in order to build project capacity.
Roles: Climate Action Projects
The projects themselves are the domain of the project leads. Necessary roles within each project will vary and be defined by the project. Funding for each project will be unique to the project and flow through the project lead or a fiscal agent for the project. TCAP collaborative resourcing staff may provide some fundraising and grant writing support, but TCAP as a collaborative is neither a grantor nor a fiscal agent.
Coordination Meetings
In addition to the regular sector team meetings, there will be quarterly cross-sector coordination meetings. The purpose of these meetings will be to uphold the TCAP principles, facilitate cross-sector collaboration, and coordinate staff functions. While the coordination meetings will be open, they build on the work already completed in sector team meetings and differ from public engagement events. The meetings will be facilitated by collaborative resourcing staff.
If you are part of the TCAP team and would like to contribute meeting times and zoom links, please click the button below to a password protected page.