Terrassa will participate for the first time in the Youth Climate Action Fund program of Bloomberg Philanthropies, an initiative in which 300 cities from around the world have been selected to promote youth-led climate projects. The City Council will channel local participation with aid aimed at people between 15 and 24 years old and entities linked to that age group.
Terrassa's entry into the program places young people not only as recipients of environmental policies, but also as responsible for investigating and executing proposals aligned with municipal priorities. The projects must focus on climate education, sustainable agriculture, sustainable mobility, and circular economy.
Terrassa will receive 50,000 dollars to distribute aid between 1,000 and 5,000
Each selected municipality will have an initial endowment of 50,000 dollars, about 42,582 euros at the current exchange rate. In the case of Terrassa, that amount will be distributed in grants of between 1,000 and 5,000 dollars, equivalent to between 851 and 4,258 euros.
Non-profit organizations, youth associations, educational centers, and public institutions will be eligible for these grants. The program's objective is to strengthen collaboration between local government and the young population in defining municipal-scale climate responses.
The funding is intended for small-scale initiatives, with the capacity for direct application in the city. This includes both awareness-raising proposals and actions related to mobility or resource reuse.
Environment and Youth Services will open the call for applications in the design phase
The program will be deployed in five phases, which include design, launch, support, dissemination, and evaluation. At the start of the process, the municipal services of Environment and Youth will assume the preparation of priority topics and the call.
In addition, the City Council will establish the selection committee that must evaluate the proposals submitted. The final resolution will come through an open and transparent call, with evaluation by an independent committee.
That body will have the function of guaranteeing both equity in the distribution of resources and the diversity of the chosen initiatives. The scheme foresees that the selected ideas will maintain a direct fit with the municipal strategic priorities in climate matters.
Among the areas set for these proposals are climate education, sustainable agriculture, sustainable mobility, and the circular economy, and the planned grants will range between 851 and 4,258 euros per project.