Five States Just Joined California in Launching Their Own Climate Action Corps

NEW YORK  — On Sept. 20 during Climate Week, the governors of Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina and Utah announced the creation of Climate Corps in each state, partnering with California and its nation-leading Climate Action Corps  — the first state-level program of its kind. 

Combined, the bipartisan group of five states represent more than a fifth of the United States by population — making this a major milestone in delivering climate action at the community level. This makes for a total of 10 states in the U.S. with a climate corps program. This announcement also complements a new effort by the Biden-Harris Administration to launch an American Climate Corps.

As a part of California’s comprehensive strategy to address the climate crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom created the California Climate Action Corps in 2020 — providing a case study on the success of climate-based and statewide service programs that empower climate action through volunteer and fellowship opportunities. Fellows can gain hands-on work experience in urban greening, wildfire resiliency and organic waste and edible food recovery activities.

How it works: 

• Each state is creating its own civilian climate corps using private funds and some will use additional funding from AmeriCorps. Increasingly, more states are leveraging private, state and federal funds to expand similar paid service opportunities, such as College Corps programs in California and Minnesota.
• Participating fellows will earn up to $30,000 (prorated for those serving in a less than full-time capacity) by serving their communities, engaging volunteers, educating the public and participating in urban greening, wildfire resiliency and organic waste and edible food recovery activities.
• The state-level Climate Corps are supported through a public-private partnership between philanthropy and AmeriCorps.