Our Why - The CLEO Institute (2024)

Founded in 2010, The CLEO Institute is the only women-led nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Florida exclusively dedicated to climate education, advocacy, and engagement. The devastating hurricanes, the increased flooding, and rising temperatures we regularly witness in Florida underscore the importance of CLEO’s work.

Building community resilience and adaptive capacity require an informed, engaged, and prepared public. We work with government, business, academic, and community leaders to advocate for long-term equitable solutions. CLEO’s top-down, bottom-up approach is helping Florida, the most vulnerable state to climate impacts, become more resilient by empowering Floridians to take climate action.

OUR MISSION: To educate and empower communities to demand climate action, ensuring a safe, just, and healthy environment for all.

OUR VISION: A world in which all people, governments, and organizations are informed, engaged, and taking action on critical climate issues.

• Heed the Science
• Seek Social Justice
• Respect Earth’s limited resources
• Value community and collaboration
• Prioritize accountability and transparency
• Respect multiple approaches to solving the climate crisis

Established in 2018, CLEO gave its first-ever Circle of Change Awards to honor individuals whose initiatives are paving the way for innovative solutions to the climate crisis. Whether it was for the creation of edible beer can rings that eliminated plastic pollution and provide food for the turtles, or the creation of the NYT bestselling book Drawdown, the most comprehensive book ever written on how to reverse global warming, or a collaboration between top local news media outlets to elevate climate issues in our community, the Circle of Change Awards are CLEO’s way of recognizing agents of change.

In 2019, CLEO decided to give this award an even deeper meaning, by renaming the award after one of its most influential founding members and first CLEO Board President, Dr. F. Lynn Leverett. A champion of change from the very beginning, Dr. Leverett has been with CLEO from the start, supporting our cause to bring climate literacy, engagement, and advocacy to our community. A lifelong environmentalist who believes in the power of the individual, she has been instrumental in the shaping of CLEO’s mission. She has been a pivotal member of the CLEO board, serving as President for 4 years, and then as a board member. It is with great privilege that we honor Dr. Leverett’s significant contribution to CLEO by naming our most prestigious award after her lifelong dedication to climate advocacy.