Unlocking Our Climate Potential: A C3Converge Recap
Bringing together hundreds of sustainability experts and advocates, the California Community College system gathered in Anaheim in late September for the C3Converge Conference, organized by the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, in partnership with the Foundation for California Community Colleges (FoundationCCC).
The conference kicked off with a plenary session featuring a diverse array of speakers from the community college system, higher education sustainability organizations, and system partners. Carla Grandy, Senior Climate Fellow, spoke on the challenges inherent to working in sustainability while detailing the recent successes, achievements, and commitments made to climate action and sustainability across the system. Additional speakers addressed the shifting political landscape around climate action and environmental justice, and how sustainability work can continue unabated with some adjustments to messaging.
Chancellor Sonya Christian and Josh Fryday, California’s Chief Service Officer, hosted a fireside chat where Chancellor Christian reaffirmed her commitment to climate action and spoke about aligning workforce development efforts with emerging economic needs, with a focus on programs that could positively support environmental justice through career technical education.
The conference was broken down into four tracks: workforce development, curriculum, community engagement, and sustainability. As part of the sustainability track, FoundationCCC’s Community Impact program, Mt. San Antonio College, Strategic Energy Innovations, and the California Youth Leadership Corps presented a panel discussion on efforts to support green careers for enrolled students. Several students participated in the panel and explored the ways that these programs have impacted their education and career options.
FoundationCCC’s Enterprise and Procurement Services also hosted a panel featuring Eera Babtiwale from Mt. San Antonio College and David Liebman, a Chancellor’s Climate Fellow from Santa Rosa Junior College, to discuss an upcoming systemwide master agreement that will support new renewable energy projects (including solar, batteries, and microgrids) and provide an opportunity for colleges to make repairs and procure third-party maintenance services for existing renewable energy projects. Connecting to the systemwide climate action goals, Babtiwale and Liebman focused on the ways in which the new master agreement will support those objectives.
The conference’s second day opened with a session featuring college presidents discussing climate action and sustainability at their campuses. Following the breakouts, a closing plenary discussion addressed recent climate-related events and their economic impacts, with a focus on Southern California following the wildfires in January 2025.
C3Converge was successful in bringing together the community, providing networking opportunities between colleges, fostering the sharing of best practices, and identifying clear next steps for each attendee to take back to their organizations to keep advancing sustainability and climate action. Despite the shifting political landscape, attendees were clearly energized and encouraged to find innovative new approaches that can support the mission of sustainability across the community college system and partner organizations.
