CLEO Institute

The CLEO Institute’s (CLEO) mission is to educate and empower communities to demand climate action, ensuring a safe, just, and healthy environment for all. Climate and environmental justice have been at the core of CLEO’s work since their founding in 2010 by high school science teacher Caroline Lewis. Even today, CLEO is the only women-led nonpartisan nonprofit in Florida dedicated exclusively to climate education, advocacy, and engagement. While CLEO considers all Floridians to be on the front line of the climate crisis, they prioritize programming for those most disproportionately affected: low-income earners, historically marginalized communities, BIPOC communities, women, and youth. Programs stretch across Florida’s five major counties, Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough, Leon, and Orange. CLEO’s bottom-up and top-down approach bridges the gap between communities, local government, & academia to ensure residents’ voices & needs are at the forefront of climate policy.

The CLEO Institute uses optimism, education, and action to change Florida’s climate future. CLEO’s core programs include Climate Resilient Schools (CRS), genCLEO, Community Engagement, and Empowering Resilient Women. CRS provides in-class climate presentations, professional development for teachers, and free standards-aligned climate curricula. genCLEO creates pathways for students to increase their civic engagement around climate issues from high school into college. The Community Engagement program is designed to build community resilience and improve climate literacy through workshops focusing on climate and hurricane preparedness. Empowering Resilient Women provides six months of fellowship programming to build climate literacy and individual resilience for 30-35 women of color in Miami. CLEO’s staff, board members, and advisory council share extensive experience with the organization. CLEO educates thousands of people and meets with hundreds of elected officials annually.

For more information:

Florida legislators failed to protect outdoor workers this session – The Invading Sea, March 2024

Florida is about to erase climate change from most of its laws – Grist, March 2024

Florida is getting hotter, but legislators voted against local heat protections – The Invading Sea, March 2024

Florida energy bill threatens to rob future generations of healthy, habitable planet – The Invading Sea, March 2024

At front lines of climate battle, a Miami course prepares women of color to lead the fight – Miami Herald, April 2023

Ron DeSantis Is at the Forefront of GOP Climate Politics – TIME, October 2022