December 2025 Newsletter

In This Issue

• Reflecting on 2025
• Thank You to the Board
• Online Event: Podcasts in Climate Communication
• Member Spotlight: Mawadda Almasri
• Plan Ahead: 2026 Trainings
• Jan. 28th: Changing the Conversation webinar

Reflecting on 2025

As 2025 draws to a close, we want to reflect on the passion, hope, and action this community has taken on climate change this year. Through the many difficult and dark moments, this Network has shown so bright, reinforcing what makes NNOCCI so important: you, collectively, all of you… ‘Us’.

Despite our loss of funding in January 2025, we are proud to share that this community pulled together and accomplished the following:

Led at least 4,155 hours of training (forgot to report your 2025 Training? Report it here!)

Hosted 5 ‘Framing the Conversation’ Crash Courses, adding 93 new Members (19 of whom are trained through our partner, Polar Bears International’s Arctic Ambassadors program)

Provided 350+ hours of professional development through webinar offerings, such as our October Month of Climate Hope and Action series (sign in to your nnocci.org account to view them)

Contributed at least 1000 volunteer hours 

Successfully piloted a new public education offering, a 6-hour ‘Starting the Conversation’ Workshop

Funded at least $3300 in scholarships for our educational offerings

Celebrated a May of Momentum* to highlight climate actions and champions across the world (*scroll to the bottom for May of Momentum posts)

Raised funding to support a part-time Project Coordinator through 2026

At the end of this year, we are now in nearly 650 institutions across 47 states, with 800+ members and growing! Thank you for helping us speak in one unified voice on climate change - every one of you is a light to your communities. May we shine even brighter together in 2026!

Board of Directors: Thank You and See You Real Soon

Every year, NNOCCI’s Board of Directors rolls-over nearly 50% of its Members, allowing new voices to have the opportunity to shape and support the Network. After serving two (or more) years in these positions, we wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude to the Directors who are transitioning off the Board this year. Please help us celebrate and thank:

Jeanette Johnston (she/they)

Over the last nearly 4 years, Jeanette has led (and most recently co-led) the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. Through her tenure as Director and later JEDI Training & Impact Director, Jeanette has overseen a wide array of projects and updates for our community; from reviewing, developing and leading JEDI and climate justice materials, to ‘rocking the boat’ to ensure the Board is considering the many facets of decisions, to helping create and facilitate curricula for audiences across the US and Canada. We will miss your thorough nature and thoughtful considerations on the Board, but are so happy to have you staying on the Governing Council.

Sarah Navarro (she/her)

Since 2015, Sarah has been an integral part of the NNOCCI Community, most recently having served as the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee’s Network and Outreach Director. Sarah’s diligence and creativity were integral in piloting this role, which presented a new, two-pronged approach to our JEDI work. With the intention of expanding our Canadian reach beyond large city aquaria and zoos for our US Embassy grant, Sarah was focused on shepherding the Network in reaching new audiences who could benefit from our tools. In the face of lost funding, Sarah shifted her focus to assessing and attending to where our greatest strengths lie: in supporting our community’s JEDI framing needs during a very difficult time. We will miss Sarah’s ingenuity and insight, as well as her occasional animal friend visitors, but are grateful to have her staying on as a JEDI member.

Dr. Missy Partyka (she/her)

Since stepping up as an Interim-Director of the Science Committee, to becoming the Director of two combined committees, Missy has helped shepherd two teams together to work toward the same goal. As our resident Gulf-coaster, Missy brought a unique perspective as someone with her feet in both Academia and rigid anti-climate policies due to her state’s stance on the issue. Not only will we miss hearing her perspective as someone in the field day in and day out, but we’ll also miss seeing her adorable pup, Sassafras, in meetings. We are happy to have Missy returning to the Science and Evaluation Committee as a member.

Katie Russell (she/her)

From Secretary and Communications Committee member, to Communications Director, Katie has been with the Board of Directors for 4 years now, and is taking a well-deserved break to focus on her upcoming wedding! Over the past two years, Katie has brought a lot of direction to the Communications Committee, solidifying three subcommittees to divide and conquer social media, website, and newsletter. From Canva pro, to sea otter-expert, to software extraordinaire, Katie often has an easy solution to a complicated issue. We will miss seeing her and her three cats Ginger, Kiele, and Reggie in meetings, but wish her the best luck in this next chapter and cannot wait to welcome her back!

Help kick off our new series of online events with NNOCCI Presents: Podcasts in Climate Communication. This interactive discussion will highlight how our members have used Strategic Framing in this popular medium, including how they engage with listeners in a recorded format, how they have been able to use NNOCCI tools in this work, and why they chose podcasting to share their messaging.

Thursday January 29, 2026
10-11am PT/ 1-2pm ET

As we go into the new year, we want to more frequently highlight the amazing work of our Members. This month we're shining our Member Spotlight on Mawadda Almasri. Mawadda (she/her) recently completed her North Carolina Environmental Education Certification and began a new career as an education specialist at the Carolina Raptor Center. Mawadda says the course she took with the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI) was the experience that stood out to her as the most impactful. In her own words: 

The course--Framing the Conversation--is an introductory course on shifting climate conversations and messaging to be more positive, civic-minded, and solutions focused. I took the course back in 2021 when I was an AmeriCorps member at the North Carolina Zoo and just starting my certification. It was a tool that the zoo wanted me to have in order to help them build their climate change programming. I enjoyed participating in the course, and by the end of it, I had acquired helpful tools and resources that assisted me in creating an effective climate change program. Since then, I've been an active NNOCCI member, and I've also worked as a teacher assistant for those same courses. I plan to continue being involved in the NNOCCI community, participating in the climate sector, and advocating for climate action.

Congratulations, Mawadda, we are so grateful for your hard work and dedication to NNOCCI!

Want to spotlight your own work, or shine a light on another NNOCCI Member in 2026? Reach out to us at ContactNNOCCI@gmail.com to share with us!

Plan Ahead for 2026 Trainings!

Want some certainty for the new year? Well, we’ve locked down our full 2026 training schedule! More details to come, but here is a sneak peak of our upcoming virtual climate communication opportunities:

Changing the Conversation: An Introductory Presentation (1-hour)

January 28th (Wednesday)
July 16th (Thursday)
September 15th (Tuesday)

Starting the Conversation Workshop (3-day)

February 24th - 26th (Tuesday-Thursday)
July 28th - 30th (Tuesday-Thursday)

Framing the Conversation Crash Course (7-week)

April 9th - May 21st (Thursdays)
October 7th - November 18th (Wednesdays)

For more information on these trainings, please visit our website’s Training page.

Trying to communicate climate change, but people just don't seem to respond to your facts and science? As important as knowing the climate science is, social science provides evidence-based practices that allow us to communicate climate science more effectively.

Whether you’re new to the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation (NNOCCI), or just need a refresher on our approach to climate communication, this introductory webinar is a great opportunity to learn more and connect!

During this hour-long session, you'll learn from skilled NNOCCI trainers about how specific values and metaphors make your audience more receptive to climate change messaging, and join a community of communicators changing the climate discourse to be more positive, civic-minded, and solutions-focused.

NNOCCI is widely recognized as the United States' leading climate change interpretation training program, and the effectiveness of our unique framework and training approach has been highlighted in dozens of peer-reviewed publications. We have recently expanded our work into Canada.