FEMA abruptly disbands youth advisory council, but students say their climate advocacy won't stop
FEMA ended the Youth Preparedness Council amid broad budget cuts, affecting 15 students nationwide who served as disaster preparedness ambassadors and climate advocates, officials said.
- On January 16, FEMA emailed young participants that the planned summer summit in the nation’s capital was canceled, and on August 1, informed them the program would end early.
- The early termination and summit cancellation followed chaotic changes at FEMA, including staffing cuts, delayed trainings, and funding slashes to related programs like AmeriCorps in April.
- Ashton Dolce, 17, and peer Sughan Sriganesh, both council members, expressed frustration over losing their platform to raise climate awareness and resilience in their communities.
- Experts Chris Reynolds and Monica Sanders warned that cutting youth involvement undermines emergency management’s preparedness for more frequent climate disasters and harms future community leaders.
- FEMA stated the move enables it to remain a lean, deployable disaster force supporting states leading preparedness, but critics see it as a disservice to youth climate advocacy and resilience efforts.
29 Articles
29 Articles
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After a few frightening incidents seeing family and friends collapse in Phoenix’s grueling heat, Ashton Dolce, 17, began to wonder why his country’s leaders were not doing more to keep people safe from climate change. “I was just dumbfounded,” Dolce said. He became active in his hometown, organizing rallies and petitions to raise awareness about extreme heat and calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make such conditions eligible…

FEMA abruptly disbands youth advisory council, but students say their climate advocacy won’t stop
By GABRIELA AOUN ANGUEIRA After a few frightening incidents seeing family and friends collapse in Phoenix’s grueling heat, Ashton Dolce, 17, began to wonder why his country’s leaders were not doing more to keep people safe from climate change. Related Articles New draft of global plastic pollution treaty would not limit plastic production Groups seek to influence plastic pollution treaty talks at the UN as negotiat…

FEMA abruptly disbands youth advisory council, but students say their climate advocacy won't stop
Ashton Dolce joined the Youth Preparedness Council at the nation's disaster relief agency to advocate for issues such as protection from extreme heat.
FEMA abruptly disbands youth advisory council, but students say their
After a few frightening incidents seeing family and friends collapse in Phoenix’s grueling heat , Ashton Dolce, 17, began to wonder why his country’s leaders were not doing more to keep people safe from climate change. “I was just dumbfounded,” Dolce said. He became active in his hometown, organizing rallies and petitions to raise awareness about extreme heat and calling for the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make such conditions eligibl…
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