Anchorage youth can apply for $1,000 to $5,000 climate project grants

Anchorage residents ages 15 to 24 can apply for grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to run local climate projects, under a program the city opened Aug. 24. Applications close Oct. 18, and awards are expected around Nov. 2.

The grants aren't city money. Anchorage is one of 300 communities Bloomberg Philanthropies chose this year for its Youth Climate Action Fund, which is giving the municipality $50,000 to start — about $40,000 of it for the grants — plus another $50,000 if the city moves the first round quickly. Funded projects run through April 2027.

The awards can go only to nonprofits, so an applicant has to pair with a nonprofit fiscal sponsor to receive any money; grant-writing experience isn't required. The Alaska Conservation Foundation is co-sponsoring the program, and the city's Youth Advisory Commission is helping pick the winners.

To qualify, a project has to fit one of four focus areas in Anchorage's 2019 Climate Action Plan — the Assembly-adopted plan to cut the city's greenhouse gas emissions: building and transportation energy, consumption and waste, food systems, or urban forests and watersheds.