Project Summary: Describe your contribution in one sentence

Kindle transformative, sustainable change to advance climate justice by cultivating and activating brilliant, inspired, energetic new BIPOC leaders through interconnected outdoors education, leadership development, and civic engagement and organizing programs.

What are the additional countries or territories of impact?

Mexico

Challenge Focus: What topic does your project most directly relate to?

Website URL(s) or social media handles

https://semillaproject.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesemillaproject/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesemillaproject Twitter: https://twitter.com/semilla_project

The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve?

The Semilla Project tackles climate justice by building leadership skills and a strong foundation for young Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to become long-term advocates—changemakers—for tangible, place-based, and sustainable solutions for our community and our planet. Specific to our geography, the American Southwest is a beautiful, diverse region with a rich cultural history and extraordinary natural beauty. However, the economy is heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry as a major employer and economic engine—but it also contributes to climate change which has resulted in megadroughts, wildfires, flash flooding, rising temperatures, and shrinking aquifers in the region. 

 

The same extraction-based economy that is driving catastrophic climate change disproportionately affects BIPOC and people in poverty in our state (New Mexico) and around the world. Lack of investment in BIPOC communities and BIPOC youth leadership has effectively disenfranchised a growing population. By contrast, investing in BIPOC leadership development can be the spark to ignite inspiring and powerful changemakers. New Mexico’s BIPOC youth must be empowered to process and heal from layered forms of oppression and emerge to lead the advancement of equitable solutions to the climate crisis facing us today. 

Your connection and commitment: How close are you to the problem and/or the community impacted?

The Semilla Project team is composed of BIPOC and brings experience, empathy, and solidarity to youth movement building and leadership development based on a shared understanding of the challenges related to racial injustice, undocumented status, LGBTQ identity, and fear of deportation and violence. We know that BIPOC and low-income youth are experiencing escalating intersecting climate and racial justice threats that negatively impact their health and futures at an ever-increasing rate. We place the lived experience of directly impacted peoples at the center of our work. We work to restore community sovereignty both “upstream” and “downstream,” i.e., from statewide advocacy campaigns for climate justice to highly local and place-based efforts that center youth empowerment and joy in the outdoors.

Our work makes a difference on two levels: 1) increased BIPOC community capacity for advocacy, organizing, and policy change for climate justice; and 2) transformation of the typical organizing model (based on capitalistic/paternalistic structures) so that young organizers are supported in their commitment to justice in a way that is empathetic and healing, and curbs the burnout endemic in the field.

Over two years, we have piloted an experiential education program, called SemiYA! (Youth Activation through Outdoors, Land Based Learning and Wellness), to prepare BIPOC youth leaders to increase their capacity to tackle racial, health, and climate justice issues. Youth go through a leadership development pipeline grounded in outdoor learning, healing, and wellness; learn the root causes of the climate crisis; participate in coalitions that identify solutions; and become advocates for just transitions, clean energy economy, and outdoor equity.

Your approach: How are you enabling other people to identify as green changemakers? How are you influencing them to get involved in your initiative or care about the issue you are addressing?

The Semilla Project places people at the center of an ecological approach to train the next generation of climate justice leaders, activists, organizers, and advocates. Our approach is counter to the typical capitalistic model,where speed, capacity and profit is prioritized over support, healing, and community – termed “industrialized activism,” that approach can perpetuate ongoing trauma for BIPOC who are already on the front lines of racism, misogyny, dispossession, and displacement.

By contrast, The Semilla Project’s work is seeded in the vision for a better future. We work from a place of connection, healing, and community. We begin with authentic connection to land and place to ground youth in a place of wellbeing and sustainability and mitigate youth risk factors. We then engage youth through four participation levels (Base, Member, Active, and Leader). We combine technical and leadership skills with land-based learning, healing, and grounding practices through an anti-racism lens that (re)connects BIPOC young adults to their own identities, cultures, and each other while building long-time activists. Youth participate in such activities as mountain climbing, backpacking trips, and hiking, within a curriculum that explores the intersection between their identities and climate justice. They receive training on Base-Building, Non-Violent Actions, and Organizing 101 and engage in campaigns such as increasing carbon reduction policies, regulation to existing extractive operations, and centering BIPOC in Justice40 implementation.

We believe our approach, grounded in holistic wellness and healing, kindles transformative, sustainable change for climate justice–cultivating leaders who are inspired, energetic, and representative of BIPOC communities.

Community involvement: How is your approach involving community participation, especially the historically marginalized groups?

We steward BIPOC youth through the process of finding their own voices and learning to uplift those voices by providing them with trauma-informed healing, technical support, and personal and professional development opportunities. We train participants to become community organizers, develop leadership skills, conduct root analyses, and develop tangible, place-based actions in partnership with other coalitions. We value: authenticity that allows for individual and collective growth; relationship development as participants bond with the land and each other; love and self-worth; and humility and respect. This allows us to nurture participants through identity development and creative thinking while empowering them to be change agents.

 

Youth are involved in advocacy, organizing, and policy change for environmental health and climate justice through opportunities such as local workshops, community events, health fairs, and partner organizations’ civic education campaigns--further building their skills and growth in leadership. We also provide youth with leadership development scholarships/stipends when they complete program levels and paid internships to develop a pipeline of youth activists. This is important as we demonstrate valuing the time and expertise of youth and provide participants with experiences that can create career opportunities as climate justice advocates.

Your Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions already out there? How is your approach original and innovative? We are particularly interested in solutions that use regenerative approaches.

Our regenerative model strengthens environmental and climate justice movements and infrastructure using decolonized civic engagement, collective liberation, and land-based learning approaches. We start by organizing youth around land connection, rather than a struggle against an issue. Youth share outdoor experiences, overcome fears and challenges, gain accomplishments, and then begin to healthily engage in politicizing and activating around climate and racial justice. Our vision is to build youth leadership and activism from a place of self love, positive identity, and wholeness versus anger and oppression. This is a transformative shift in thinking and construct so that we do not lose people after short periods of intensive engagement, or worse, do long-term harm in people’s journeys rising above systemic oppression and generational trauma. In working with local community partners, we have refined this model to meet the needs of youth and young adults where they are at, build resilience, connect them back to the land, to themselves, and to each other, and support leadership skills while still being able to activate and engage them in politicizing work to advance social change. This model can be spread through adapted use of our curriculum and best practices for youth leadership development and organizing. Adopting this model broadly will lead to sustainability in climate justice activism and organizing–we’ve found our youth remain engaged at rates of 80%+, and are initiating activities and events versus us recruiting them. 

Founding Story: Share a story about the "Aha!" moment that led the founder(s) to get started or the story of how you saw the potential for this to succeed.

Eli Cuna founded The Semilla Project after a 15-year career in organizing. She was a national field director experiencing the constant dynamic of fighting back against oppression amidst an environment that was always urgent given the importance of the policies we were advancing. The organization for which she worked was doing incredible work but she suffered significant burnout from the day-to-day churning environment. This has been documented in research: “In order to “stay strong,” community organizing often rejects displays of grief, sadness, or fear. Stoicism is almost a rite of passage for veteran organizers who have spent years in the trenches. Not acknowledging the trauma that comes from oppression negatively impacts the relationships between organizers and community members, and can have all sorts of unintended consequences.” (Sinclair, Russ, et al, 2006)

 

Eli knew there had to be a better way. Having developed a unique expertise in leadership development and civic engagement rooted in racial justice, intersectionality, and indigenous epistemology, Eli started The Semilla Project to prepare the next generation with an ecological approach to activism. With both urgent climate threats and a growing movement for liberation, now is the time to create transformative, sustainable change.

Impact: How has your project made a difference so far? How is it contributing to a zero-carbon world- where every person thrives, and nobody gets left behind?

As examples of our successes:

• BIPOC youth regularly highlight the value of outdoor experiences for self-discovery and confidence. A recent rock-climbing participant shared in a TikTok video, “...my favorite part about today was just learning that my body and mind’s physical limits are way higher than I thought they would be. I mean, I got pretty high up there, so I’m really glad I had this experience.”
• We have piloted the SemiYA! program for two years, and have a youth retention rate of 80% after serving 300+ BIPOC youth through leadership development and training programs. In addition, we’ve engaged over 1,000 youth, families, and community members in relational organizing through presentations, 1-to-1 information sessions, and more. 
• Our youth coalition was a key advocate for the Land of Enchantment Trust Fund, signed into law in March 2023, in which funding will be applied to land and water stewardship programs, supporting New Mexico communities and better protecting them from extreme weather conditions like historic wildfires, flooding, and severe drought. (Note: The Semilla Project does not engage in lobbying.)

What’s Next: What are your ideas for taking your project to the next level?

Our vision is to create the next generation of activists. When youth and young adults are advancing change from a place of wellbeing, they are able to work for justice whether they are in nonprofits, small businesses, corporations, government work, or elsewhere. Advocacy does not need to be siloed. With well-grounded youth leadership, the broader community will experience:

• Sustainable, long-term change for climate justice and racial equity
• Dismantling of entrenched power systems
• Growing local leadership, resilience, and long-term capacity

To accomplish this, we seek to take our model to scale. We have more demand for participation than current capacity. We are prepared to impact more communities and BIPOC organizers throughout NM and additional southwestern and midwestern communities, where the demographics and geography lend themselves to land-based healing and learning. 

 

We are also launching a new project, called “The Return,” which will train, equip and mentor a youth cohort to climb three notorious volcanoes in Mexico in a respectful and empowering way in 2024. The Return is a vision for BIPOC to grow as outdoor leaders, deepen their relationship to the land, connect with Indigenous communities in Mexico, and grow capacity for policy change around the climate crisis killing the volcanic glaciers.

Your team: What is the current composition of your team (types of roles, qualifications, full-time vs. part-time, board members, etc.), and how do you plan to evolve the team’s composition as the project grows?

Our founders have extensive track records of developing youth leaders, scaling and replicating successful approaches, and designing and leading civic engagement and community organizing campaigns. For example, Executive Director Eli Cuna co-founded New Mexico Dream Team in 2012, growing it to the largest youth-led immigrant/mixed-status network in the state with 5,000+ members and 25+ chapters. Other leaders include Josue De Luna Navarro and Maggie Seawright, both of whom have significant experience in organizing and culturally competent climate justice. We have an advisory board of four BIWOC, and a staff of three full-time and several part-time employees, all BIPOC, working in the outdoors, as well as organizers, curriculum developers, trainers, and communication/narrative specialists. We remain committed to BIPOC leadership and youth representation as our program continues to grow. 

Operational Sustainability Plan: What is this solution’s plan to ensure operational sustainability.

The Semilla Project has a robust fund-seeking plan that includes individual giving, grant seeking, events, and fees-for-service which has propelled it to a budget of approximately $800,000 over just 2.5 years. Our staff are robust fundraisers, who have developed key relationships with local and national foundations that supported our launch and growth. We are cognizant of diversifying our funding sources; currently, we have 14 foundation funders, which ensures we are not overly reliant on any one source. We consistently prospect for new funding sources and make connections through established relationships and in networking events. In addition, the Semilla Project has emerged as a solution to capacity building needs of like-minded social justice organizations with whom we’ve collaborated and they contract with us to provide leadership development training for effective organizational work (e.g., campaigns, services, and programs). Finally, to ensure we are adequately resourced and financially stable, we conduct an annual budgeting process with the triple goals of accurate forecasting while controlling costs and increasing revenues; year-to-date financials are reviewed regularly and operations are adjusted as needed for budgetary changes. We have operating plans in place, and are continually cross-training employees and volunteers for operational sustainability.

VIDEO: Please share the link to a 1-minute YouTube video that answers the following “I identify as a Green Changemaker because...”. Ensure that your video does not exceed 60 seconds

https://youtu.be/t5P3wyoQbJ4

Impact Model: While reviewing applications, we identified a need to better understand the impact models for the innovations that applied. How would you describe the activities you engage in and what outcomes and long-term impact do they lead to?

SemiYA! engages youth in land-based, outdoor activities such as backpacking, camping, and rock climbing. We provide equipment, training, transportation, trained outdoor guides, and mentoring in environmental justice, climate, and conservation. Our curriculum includes: 

• The history of colonization and local wilderness areas
• Root causes of the climate crisis and its impact on ecosystems
• Ongoing effects of extraction 
• History of the conservation movement 
• Systemic change efforts to address the climate crisis 
• Indigenizing and practicing “Leave No Trace” Principles
• What it means to be BIPOC and in the wilderness (including the impact on wellbeing) and the ongoing process of decolonizing public lands and the outdoor industry

From this base, youth progress to levels of leadership and take part in civic education campaigns and advocacy for climate justice.

Key stakeholders: BIPOC youth and youth-serving partners; state and federally-managed public lands and agencies; policy makers.

Outcomes: Youth will 1) increase awareness, interest, and feelings of empowerment to act on climate justice; and 2) understand climate impacts on individual, community, and population health.

Outputs: # of youth engaged/outdoor excursions/retained in programming; percent indicating increase in climate justice awareness and a working understanding of climate impacts.

Impact: A powerful pipeline of youth activists committed to climate justice; localized, youth-led solutions that draw on indigenous wisdom and support BIPOC-identified climate and environmental priorities; increased youth capacity to develop climate and environmental policy recommendations for governing bodies; and a diversified set of stakeholders to foreground equity in public lands, waters, and wildlife management and conservation.

Audience: Who are you most directly impacting through your work? Who is the target beneficiary? Please specify if the population you are reaching is underserved due to any of the following characteristics?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

How are you activating green changemakers?

If you chose the "Other" option, please specify

 

Organization Type: Which organization type best describes how your work or initiative has been organized or registered?

Nonprofit/NGO

Tell us briefly about how you have and/ or would like to engage partners or other changemakers to enhance your approach:

The Semilla Project holds partnerships with organizations across New Mexico. We work with other youth-serving organizations to complement activities, recruit youth, and learn from one another through communities of practice. Examples of partnerships include: our sister organization Dreams in Action, which activates prospective voters on climate and economic justice; Just Transition Coalition, to develop strategy and policy recommendations for a clean energy transition in New Mexico; Wilderness Society and Nuestro Gila, to bring a cross-racial experience to protect the Gila River area (the last wild river in New Mexico); and NM Dream Team, Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, and Native American Community Academy, to recruit youth/advance land-based learning programming.

 

Goals include creating additional partnerships in the American Southwest and adjoining regions including Mexico where a large rural geography and an international border contributes to work silos. A collaborative approach would gain traction more quickly on shared interest areas, and allow for coordinated outreach campaigns and advocacy for sustainable conservation practices. In particular, we seek to partner with other Indigenous groups to support solidarity and incorporation of Indigenous ecological principles into shared work including protection of and campaigns to preserve the Mexican volcanic glaciers.

Annual budget: Hint: What is the cost for your current operations every year (or most recent year)? This is expenditure for your project or organization. The reference currency is the U.S. dollar.

$500k - $1m

Winning Impact Potential: How would winning the Green Changemakers Challenge impact and leverage your work?

The Semilla Project is at a critical inflection point where additional leverage will build on our early pilot project success while providing technical assistance and financial resources to expand our influence. As we scale, we are expanding programming to Arizona and Texas in the southwest, and to Minnesota and South Dakota in the midwest. Entering these communities with the imprimatur of a Green Changemaker will help establish credibility, and the Ashoka network can help us make connections and build capacity quickly in new communities. Capacity building mentorship from HSBC will bolster our organizational development as we grow.

 

Funding will be used to scale our geographic reach to Texas (El Paso/Mexican border) and southern Arizona where partners are collaborating on protection of the Gila River; as well as fund the initial incursion and planning for The Return project (see above) to support youth changemaker engagement with and advocacy for protection of Mexico’s volcanic glaciers (critical to water supply and supporting the natural ecosystem–in addition to the cultural significance of these landmarks). Our partnership will result in scalable climate justice initiatives that support local communities' regenerative economies and foster global solidarity in the fight against climate change, offering a stable foundation for communities and youth to thrive.

Skills Matching: If you win, you may have the opportunity to be matched with HSBC employees for skill-based mentorship. If matched, which of the following skills would you be most interested in receiving?

Planning & Strategy