The walk has ended, but it's not too late to contribute. Please help us get to $5000 before we close out this campaign. Thank you.

The Walk for Climate Hope on July 6, 2024, supports Accelerate Climate Solutions’ initiatives to build our future environmental leaders through programs focused on high school and college students.

Participants will take a 5k walk in nature on or around July 6. There is no fixed location for this walk.

Funds raised support our Building Leadership Around Sustainable Transformation (BLAST) program, which challenges high school students to come up with a project that addresses an environmental problem. Working as individuals or part of a team, students are paired with mentors, write a proposal, and then pitch their idea in front of a panel of judges with the chance to win funding for their project. In our pilot year, 60 students, 12 interns, and 50 mentors, judges, and volunteers participated. Projects ranged from coding an app to reduce carbon emissions, to planting trees and native plants, to improving recycling and reuse. We are excited to make this an annual program.

Contributions also support our internship program. High school and college students intern with Accelerate Climate Solutions to learn how putting their skills and ideas to work can truly make an impact on the community where they live. Since starting in January 2023, 12 students have completed the program, with another 22 joining Summer 2024. Past and future projects include:

Business recycling survey
Community bike plan
BLAST planning
Community education programs
Civic engagement
Pop-up thrift shop
Videos, social media, and web
Building electrification promotion

Looking ahead: Accelerate Climate Solutions will be working to expand BLAST to other communities by creating a toolkit that can be used anywhere. The BLAST ceremony takes place in the spring, so we are looking to add a fall challenge - an Earth Hack - using multiple disciplines, including computer science, to “hack the climate.” And, of course, we will be working to grow BLAST locally and beyond, building off the success of our pilot year.

Your contributions help us hire high school and college interns, support the administration of the BLAST ceremony, and ensure that we grow to reach even more students.

Thank you!

Accelerate Climate Solutions is a nonprofit corporation established in Illinois on January 9, 2023, with a focus on Naperville, Aurora, and surrounding communities. We are a 501c3 organization and all contributions are tax-deductible.

Virtual Walk-a-Thon for Climate Hope

By Accelerate Climate Solutions

Virtual Walk-a-Thon for Climate Hope

Supporting Youth Programs that Build Future Environmental Leaders

Team Members