Community Outreach & Education Sub-Committee

Community Outreach and Education Committee (Outreach Committee) of the Village of Pelham Climate Smart Communities Task Force (CSC Task Force) spearheads the Village's efforts in the area of climate change education and engagement. Prior to establishing the CSC Task Force, the Village initiated and conducted several climate-related education and outreach efforts through the Village's Sustainability Advisory Board (SAB), and prior to that, the ad hoc Solarize Pelham team. Outreach Committee provides public education and support in relation to initiatives proposed by the Sustainability Advisory Board and Climate Smart Communities Task Force. Aims to engage individuals in the Village of Pelham and in the broader Pelham community, and to engage for profit and not for profit organizations in moving the community toward sustainability, reducing carbon emissions, improving adaptability, and mitigating the harms of climate change. Collaborates with other community organizations like EcoPel to spread the word on sustainable practices and local initiatives. Outreach Committee promotes and supports changes on both the individual and institutional level. Shares original and extrinsic content from federal, state, regional, and community-based climate/environmental programs and initiatives on Village website and SAB/CSCTF social media accounts.

Sub-committee Initiatives

• Community Choice Aggregation (CCA)
  • The village of Pelham is enrolled in the Westchester Power/Community Choice Aggregation. All ConEd customers in VoP receive power from renewable sources, unless they opt out. VoP signed on with CCA before SAB/CSCTF was established.
• Gas-powered Leaf Blowers
  • Reduce use of gas-powered leaf blowers through public education, increased enforcement of existing laws, and pursuing further restrictions
• Heatsmart Pelham
  • Sustainable Westchester-sponsored program to encourage Pelhamites to install air source or groundsource heatpumps. VoP and Town of Pelham partnering on the application, submitted in late September
• Photo-Synthesis Photo Contest
  • With PMHS Photography Club, sponsoring an "ecobeneficial" photography contest
• Solarize Pelham
  • Completed in 2019, the Village and Town of Pelham, partnering with EcoPel, and led by a core team of community volunteers, participated in Sustainable Westchester's Solarize Westchester program. A solar contractor was selected for Pelham residents and through workshops and other marketing venues with the selected contractor, 42 households signed contracts for solar installations and received group installation discounts as a result. (This effort predated creation of SAB/CSCTF.)
• Sustainability Talk Series
  • CSCTF partnered with EcoPel on series of talks on sustainability issues, i.e. EVs, Food waste, Tree Canopy, and Ecobeneficial landscaping. Experts in environmentally related fields were asked to present to community members. Talks hosted by Manor Club until switched to virtual, then hosted by EcoPel virtually.
• Village Visioning