Global philanthropy for local action
Wattle Fellows and alumni secured close to $100,000 for local climate action projects through Bloomberg Philanthropies and council partners.
It’s this experience that led the Wattle Fellowship to support Fellows and alumni to participate in the Bloomberg Philanthropies' Youth Climate Action Fund with the City of Melbourne and Hobart.
“Collaborating with the broader Wattle Fellowship team has been a terrific way to build direct relationships with the next generation of changemakers. They are a force to be reckoned with, so watch out!” - Krystel Bendle, City of Melbourne
Fellowship staff helped fellows and alumni to apply for the fund with a grants writing workshop and support while drafting their applications - leading to a number of successful grants and projects involving young people taking climate action within the City of Melbourne.
“Most people know me as the bee man,” says Clancy Lester, Wattle Fellow and Youth Climate Action Fund grant recipient.
Clancy is a native bee researcher turned science communicator having recently graduated with a Master of Science (Biosciences). He works part-time as the alumni officer at the Wattle Fellowship.
During his time as a fellow, Clancy taught workshops to help community members build “bee hotels” - simple, but effective interventions to support native pollinators. After the completion of his Wattle Fellowship, the Youth Climate Action Fund enabled Clancy to amplify his work to a bigger, broader audience.
“I ran free workshops where students and other young people could build native bee hotels using recycled materials and learn about pollination, climate change, and everything environmental. Over 500 bee hotels were created, with over 300 participants directly engaged. The Youth Climate Action Fund made this project more visible, more ambitious, and far more accessible.”
Over the last year, Wattle Fellows and alumni secured close to $100,000 for local climate action projects through Bloomberg Philanthropies and council partners.
Alyssa Seckinger-Crow saw the Youth Climate Action Fund as an opportunity to engage city-based young people to develop a new appreciation for our oceans.
“I was studying mechanical engineering, but was super passionate about the ocean,” says Alyssa.
“I'm a marathon swimmer. I love free diving and being in the ocean, and I witnessed Port Phillip Bay and the habitat there deteriorate, especially during COVID. I decided to use my Wattle year to really embark on delving deep into: What is the ocean? What problems is it facing? Why don't young people know about this? And what can young people do?”.
The grant enabled Alyssa to organise an Ocean Leadership Summit for high school students at the Melbourne Zoo - partnering with over 10 organisations to host 200 students.
“I think one of the best things about the Wattle Fellowship has been how we all support each other's projects,” says Alyssa.
The Ocean Leadership Summit has inspired other members of the Wattle community to take the youth engagement model developed by Alyssa and incorporate it into their own fields of speciality - rippling throughout the community.
"The Wattle Fellowship is now an ecosystem - the connections that our fellows foster with alumni, our partner organisations and the experts who contribute to the program reach far further than their formal year of the fellowship," reflects Linh Do, fellowship director.
"We're witnessing fellows inspiring alumni and vice versa - our partners and contributors are becoming active collaborators in our community. Our founding vision is coming to life ."
Four years on, the Wattle Fellowship continues to prove that when people are given the right conditions for collaboration, they don't just change their communities - they change how change happens.