What can YOU do as a Colorado middle or high school student to help YOUR community plan for, respond to, and rebound from natural hazards?

Submit your idea to increase resilience to natural hazards (wildfire, flood, drought, and/or other climate-change related hazards) in your community to the Resilient Colorado Virtual Expo by May 8th! Please see https://cires.colorado.edu/outreach/programs/heart-force/resilient-colorado-virtual-expo for more information.

• Provide a community service and help your community!

• Put this project on your resume!

• Apply for grant funds to implement your idea! 

Teachers, support your students by using the HEART Force curriculum to help them develop their ideas. Curriculum is easily adaptable to remote learning! Projects can be submitted by individual students, a group of students, or a class.

Submission Guidelines

Tell us about a plan that will help your community by uploading a virtual poster (in PDF format) or a 2-5 minute YouTube video presentation. Plans should be grounded in actions that you, your group, or your class can implement. For example, does your community need more information about what to do if fire/flood/drought threatens their community? What information would you provide, and how could you get them this information? Or, is there a small project you could try implementing in one place, like building a rain garden to help with stormwater management? Or, do you need to draw more attention to an issue in your community in order to implement a solution at a community-level? How could you reach out to the city council or identify and reach out to other community members to get them involved in this effort? Check out the Project Examples section below for projects completed by other students, and/or ask your community members about their needs and ideas.

For submission to the Virtual Expo, the poster or video must include:

• Project Description: What is your solution?

  • What do you plan to do?

  • Where do you plan to do it?

  • Who are the stakeholders? Who will you involve and what will their role in the project be?

  • What resources do you need to complete the project? How do you plan to get these resources?

  • What is a suggested timeline (and how will you take into account potential social-distancing requirements due to COVID-19?)  

• Project Justification

  • Why is your project important? What is your evidence, and/or how do you know this is a need in your community?

  • Who will the project benefit?  

• Project Budget (if you plan to apply for grant funds)

  • See example budget here