Discover your unique path to improve the resiliency, equity, and sustainability of your organization, community, and the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region

Color Your Organization Green (CYOG) is a year-long course, during which participating organizations form internal “Green Teams” and through monthly guided learning sessions have the opportunity to develop a Climate Action Plan for their organization.

What to Expect

Participants will:

  • Develop an understanding of the obstacles and opportunities that climate change poses for our region, through an intersectional, equity-focused lens;

  • Identify how they currently contribute to the climate crisis, and corresponding quick wins and high-impact solutions that will mitigate their impact;

  • Create a strategy and vision to guide their organization in addressing the climate crisis over the long term;

  • Connect to relevant resources and a network of like-minded organizations;

  • Begin moving toward their vision, implementing strategy, and measuring progress. 

Course components

Course Structure

Participating organizations will form an internal “green team,” made up of at least three individuals from their organization, including at least one executive-level staff member who has the power to implement change within the organization. A cohort of green teams from different organizations will move through the course together, attending a variety of in-person gatherings and virtual workshops.

Time Commitment

The course will run from January to November 2025, including a kickoff meeting, the Climate Solutions Summit, a summer social, online workshops, and a course completion celebration. Each change team is expected to dedicate 3-6 hours per month to the course (for meetings and assignments). All cohort gatherings will take place on Fridays.

Cost

To support the participation of a wide range of organizations, course fees will be on a sliding scale, based on annual budget size: 

  • $2,000 for organizations with a budget of <$1M

  • $3,000 for organizations with a budget of $1-5M

  • $4,500 for organizations with a budget >$5M 

  • Marcus Ebenhoe speaking

    "Caring for creation is one of our business’s core values, but knowing where to start paralyzed us. Color Your Organization Green has allowed us to break the process down into easy to handle steps which allowed us to create a Climate Action Plan that we can utilize for years to come."

    Marcus Ebenhoe
    Director of Advocacy and Parish Social Ministry, Catholic Charities Family and Community Services

  • “Color your Organization Green launched us into setting achievable goals for our organization’s CO2 reduction. The systematic approach to reducing our organizational climate impact helped us understand our carbon footprint, boost ongoing recycling initiatives, and set sustainability metrics that will ultimately make a difference in our communities. Thanks to the CYOG program, we are one step closer to achieving our mission of elevating people, community and planet for a good today and better tomorrow.”

    Joyel Bennett
    SVP Operations and Services,Goodwill of the Finger Lakes

About the Instructor

André Primus is a native Rochestarian who has been passionate since childhood about the environments we create and the environment we’ve been given. Previously he worked in public engagement, translating between decision-makers and the people affected by those decisions, guiding communities through difficult decisions, and knocking on doors to keep people informed. At the Climate Solutions Accelerator, André helps organizations through the process of finding their unique response to the climate crisis and connecting them to other organizations and communities that can walk with them through that process.

Apply Below!

Applications will close by Friday, December 13th at 5:00 PM.