Meet Arkansas Climate League

We were lucky to catch up with Arkansas Climate League recently and have shared our conversation below.

Arkansas, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Our resilience comes from staying deeply connected to our roots. The founders of the Arkansas Climate League have always carried the audacious belief that all Arkansans deserve to benefit from cleaner energy and to live in a healthy environment. That belief has given us the staying power to pursue meaningful, locally driven programs.
We are a small staff with a core group of volunteers from diverse backgrounds, bringing a range of skills and perspectives. While being small can sometimes make it challenging to meet every program goal, it also allows us to be nimble and responsive. Adaptability empowers us to innovate, persevere and deliver programs that make a real difference in people’s lives.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

The Arkansas Climate League is a grassroots nonprofit bringing cutting-edge clean energy solutions and practical, people-powered programs to low-income neighborhoods in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Our work is rooted in a simple belief: everyone deserves access to clean energy and a healthy environment.
One of the most exciting milestones for us came in 2024, when we invested our U.S. Department of Energy Community Energy Innovation Prize winnings to install solar arrays on two cornerstone community nonprofits: the Elizabeth McGill Drop-In Center and the Antioch for Youth and Family Food Bank. The solar installations have lowered electric bills for the nonprofits. They also send a powerful, visible message that clean energy belongs to everyone.
We also run three core, ongoing programs. Our Resource Center is open three mid-days a week, where we provide DIY home energy-efficiency materials and help families apply for utility bill assistance programs. Thanks to a grant from the Western Arkansas Community Foundation, we’re excited to be launching an Energy Efficiency Materials Bank and Tool Lending Library in 2026.
We manage raised beds, a pollinator garden, and adopt-a-spots at the Antioch Community Garden, a collaboration we deeply value. Looking ahead to 2026, an anonymous donor is making it possible for us to add a compost system to the garden.
Community education is another big part of what we do. In 2026, we’ll host our third community garden gathering: an Earth Day event focused on energy efficiency, solar power, and composting. If past years are any indication, we expect around 200 neighbors to come together to learn, share, and build connections.
What’s most exciting about our work is how it blends practical support with community empowerment. We don’t just share information.We show up, listen, and work alongside residents to create real, lasting change.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Looking back, the three qualities that have mattered most in our journey are simple but powerful: show up, listen, and collaborate. It can feel slow when the problems we’re working on feel urgent, but faster isn’t always better. The most durable solutions take time because they’re built on understanding, partnerships, and trust.
We’ve been fortunate to have board members who regularly attend community meetings, not to lead, but to listen, learn, and build relationships. Our Resource Center and outreach staff also live in the neighborhoods we serve, which keeps our work grounded in real, everyday experiences. By focusing on community-centered learning and practical support,like helping families access utility assistance and weatherization resources,we’ve been able to improve lives.
We also try to practice these same principles internally. Within our organization, we’re learning to listen fully. Sometimes this means being okay with silence and letting ideas breathe before critiquing them.
For folks early in their journey, our advice is to invest in relationships. Real change grows from trust, and trust grows when people feel understood and valued included in cultivating change.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

As we work to overcome challenges and build the skills needed to be successful, we’ve learned that the expertise and creativity we need are often already within our local circles or nearby communities. Sometimes people step forward on their own; other times, we simply have to ask. Staying open to surprises and being intentional about inviting the right skills to the table has made a real difference for us.
One person who stands out is a neighborhood volunteer named Jose, who played a key role in our 2025 Autumn Vibes Garden Party. He and his friends volunteered to purchase ingredients and grill food for the event, and it was a huge hit with the community. We’ve also been able to expand our capacity by engaging remotely with volunteers with skills critical to our growth—in particular one volunteer with a talent for building business donations, and another with deep experience in grant research and donor relations.
Their dedication and the dedication of many others has helped our small team grow, learn, and accomplish far more than we could on our own. For a small nonprofit working with a tight budget, this kind of volunteer support is essential.

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