Sammamish City staff told the Sustainability Commission the city has contracted Sustainability Ambassadors, a nonprofit that works with high‑school students, to run youth-led sustainability projects in local schools through December.

The contract is “about a $26,000 contract,” Rose, a city staff member, said during the commission meeting. The scope includes two paid project managers and outreach across multiple high schools to run projects that mirror priorities in the city’s Climate Action Plan.

City staff said the program will support three focus areas drawn from the Climate Action Plan and the commission’s priorities: building decarbonization and energy (DEU 4.1), transportation and land use (including school commute alternatives), and natural systems and water resources (WR 2.1 and WR 2.2). Rose said the Ambassadors will help with student impact storytelling, school town halls, classroom materials and community workshops. “This is an impactful program because we have not historically been able to work with the schools,” she said.

Staff described the operating model as two paid interns/project managers who recruit and support student ambassadors; they reported at least 15 students were engaged across four schools in the initial outreach. Rose said the city’s contribution supports the nonprofit model and that multiple jurisdictions participate in the program.

City staff identified intended deliverables including student-led projects, metrics collection (for example, a carbon commute count), outreach support for city events and possible student report-outs to council. Staff said students are already pursuing actions like distributing ORCA cards and running bus‑use surveys; Rose noted a March 31 deadline tied to King County Metro’s youth fare process.

The commission asked clarifying questions about how the Ambassadors differ from the city’s volunteer stewards; staff said Ambassadors focus on school outreach and education while stewards do on‑the‑ground restoration and planting work. Staff also said they will schedule at least one and possibly two formal student report-outs to council and will update the commission periodically on program progress.

Ending: Staff said the Ambassadors work has been added to the 2025 sustainability work plan and that Rose and program staff will return with a program schedule and deliverables for future commission updates.