About a year ago, Chelsea, 350 Colorado’s Movement Building and Volunteer Director, and I were brainstorming ways to build the climate movement. She had a dream that 350 Colorado had activists in every ZIP code of Colorado, working to keep fossil fuels in the ground and fighting for a just transition to renewable energy.

If this seems ambitious to you, you are not alone. This was no easy task to undertake. There are 513 ZIP codes in Colorado. Imagine what could be achieved if we had 513(+) volunteers in Colorado working for a better climate future!

With this inspiration, we created the ZIP Leader position. Short for “Zoning Interpersonal Power”, the position is meant to empower activists in their community to create a network of people in their ZIP code, which we coined a “ZIP List”, working towards a common goal. With the ZIP Leader program, we challenge activists to ask, “What environmental issues are impacting my ZIP code?” and then find some like-minded neighbors to work towards a solution.

At 350 Colorado, we discuss the power of local action all the time. Climate change is impacting the whole world, but we zero in on the problems that Colorado is facing. As a movement, we have so much more power to make change in our state than we do at the Federal level. Our local teams and committees get even more granular, focusing on different areas of Colorado or specific problems. We have more people power on the ground beneath our feet, in the communities that we know and love, because we know them.

With the ZIP Leader program, we aim to be even more nuanced. No one knows more about your community and ZIP code than you, the person who lives there. That is the power we are trying to harness with this program.

Where We’ve Been

Like any ambitious goal, we had to start small. The first step was to create the position description and training materials. Our dream was for each person to make the role their own, so we left room for creativity and inspiration. Thanks to the hard work of past Movement Building intern (and Climate Hero of the Month!) Sadie Forkner, major strides were made! She consistently contributed to the development of this project in significant ways that made things run much more smoothly.

Once we had all the documentation and the process was created, it was time to start recruiting! We reached out to existing 350 Colorado volunteers we thought would be good for the role, posted on social media, promoted the role within 350 Colorado’s local teams and committees, and passed out flyers.

We held our first ZIP Leader training in July 2024 for six people from all over the state. Shortly after that, we onboarded another group of ZIP Leaders, resulting in a total of 15 ZIP Leaders.

Recruitment slowed down during the fall and winter months, as we worked to engage and support our existing ZIP Leaders. This was more difficult than expected, as we found a balance between communication and reliance on our ZIP Leaders. In December, we started recurring check-ins with the ZIP Leaders to discuss challenges and successes.

What We’re Doing

We are hoping to continue the momentum from our ZIP Leaders!

The ZIP Leader check-in meetings have continued, but we are trying to find the right cadence. From the ZIP Leaders’ feedback, we planned a couple of skill-building sessions during our meetings; unfortunately, we didn’t see much success with these. Summer is a busy time, so we are hopeful that when fall rolls around there might be more engagement at these meetings.

Our new ZIP Leader Signal chat is still evolving. It provides an easy setting for ZIP Leaders to collaborate and support each other. Recently, we went on a hike in Boulder together, and we hope to provide more opportunities for in-person connection soon!

 

In the meantime, we hope our ZIP Leaders are out in their ZIP codes, building the movement and talking about a better climate and future for everyone!

Challenges

Some of the challenges faced by ZIP Leaders over the last year include: balancing activism with work and personal life, consistent engagement from activists, and feeling pulled to other types of activism with the current political situation.

The ZIP Leader program as a whole has also encountered a few challenges over the last year. Many of them are obstacles commonly faced in organizing. Engagement and communication have been difficult. While most of the ZIP Leaders provide occasional updates, this has not been consistent, so it is difficult to know how their organizing is going or if there is a better way to support them. We continue to try new methods of staying in contact with our ZIP Leaders to determine the best course going forward.

Finally, recruiting new ZIP Leaders has been challenging since the initial launch. We intentionally took a break from recruitment for a few months, but we still received a trickle of sign-ups in our interest form during that time. That has since died down. Now that we are actively recruiting again, we hope to have new ZIP Leaders to welcome soon!

Successes

We are so incredibly proud of the work our ZIP Leaders have accomplished this year!

Sally in Aurora has been deeply engaged with STAR, Save the Aurora Reservoir, trying to prevent fracking near the Aurora Reservoir and a superfund site. Ryan in Boulder put on a Jack’s Solar Garden Tour in Longmont. Sami in Erie fought tirelessly against the Draco Pad in Erie, and Ellie in Greeley has been working hard on the Greeley Clean Air project for the last year. Serafina in Boulder has excelled at community building by putting on awesome movement-building events with Climatique and other groups and being an example for all of us in mutual aid.

 

We applaud all of their hard work and the many efforts of all of the ZIP Leaders, and we are excited to see what another year of the ZIP Leader program brings!

Where We’re Going

As the ZIP Leader role continues to evolve, we hope it will be a powerful tool in the fight for the climate.

In our ZIP Leader meetings, themes that continue to come up are mutual aid and relational organizing. Relational organizing focuses on building a relationship with people through organizing, which helps keep them engaged. This can be as simple as a community trash pick-up or a potluck. Mutual aid is a system of reciprocal help, where organizing is supported in exchange for a shared need, such as exchanging food, childcare, or other resources. Our hope for existing and future ZIP Leaders is that they continue to find creative ways to engage with their community using these ideas.

The goal for this role is flexibility, for each ZIP Leader to make the role their own. That could look like getting a group of people together to consistently attend city council meetings, focusing on a specific issue in the community, or something completely new!

350 Colorado is looking for more ZIP Leaders to cover all 513 ZIP codes in Colorado, especially in the Denver area. If you are looking for a flexible and personal way to advocate for the climate, this might be the perfect role for you! Fill out the interest form here and start making positive change in your community today!

As Bill Gates famously said, “Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” We have a long way to go in the fight for a better climate future, but if we lean into the power of local action, there is no telling what we can achieve.

Written by volunteer and 350CO Climate Hero of the Month, Shelby Behr