Community Privacy Agreement

This Community Privacy Agreement shares how Climate Action Families approaches care, trust, and responsibility when handling personal information as part of our intergenerational work.

Table of Contents

1. Our Commitment to Care, Trust, and Community

Climate Action Families (CAF) is an intergenerational community working for climate justice, shared care, and a future where all people can thrive. Our work relies on trust — between adults and youth, among families, and across the wider community.

This Community Privacy Agreement explains how we handle personal information when people take part in CAF activities. It reflects how seriously we take our responsibility to one another, and especially to children and young people, who deserve added care in spaces shaped by unequal power and public visibility.

We do our best to collect only what is needed, to limit who has access to information, and to stay in conversation as circumstances change and people’s needs and comfort levels shift.

2. Who This Agreement Is For

This agreement applies to all participants in Climate Action Families activities, including:

Children and youth under the age of 18

Parents and legal guardians

Adult participants, volunteers, staff, interns, and collaborators

Participation may include events, workshops, meetings, trainings, campaigns, community gatherings, online activities, and ongoing programs. Some activities involve intergenerational participation, while others are age‑specific.

For participants under 18, parents or legal guardians provide consent and serve as primary contacts, while we also respect young people’s developing agency and voice whenever possible.

3. What Information We Collect

Depending on the nature of participation, CAF may collect categories of information that help us support safety, coordination, accessibility, and community connection. These may include:

Contact and household information (such as names, addresses, and guardian contact details)

Emergency contact information

Age, grade, or age range of youth participants

Educational information (such as school or learning context), used to support local connection, coordination, and community-building

Language, accessibility, or support needs shared voluntarily

Family or caregiving relationships, when relevant to participation or safety

Participation history in CAF activities

Communication preferences

When people visit the Climate Action Families website, certain basic technical information may also be collected automatically through website tools such as cookies or analytics services. This information may include IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and general website usage patterns. This type of information helps us understand how people use the website, improve accessibility and functionality, and identify technical issues. It is generally reviewed in aggregate form and is not used for targeted advertising or commercial data sales.

The specific information collected may vary depending on the activity and is limited to what is reasonably necessary. CAF intentionally avoids collecting unnecessary or unrelated information, including social media passwords, financial information about children, or ongoing location data.

4. Why We Collect Information

Information is collected only for purposes connected to care, safety, coordination, and relationship‑building, including:

Communicating about activities and opportunities

Supporting accessibility and inclusion

Ensuring safety and emergency preparedness

Coordinating roles, logistics, and participation over time

Meeting basic legal, insurance, or reporting requirements

We do not collect information for commercial use, data resale, or targeted advertising.

5. How Information Is Used and Shared

Personal information is used internally by CAF for mission-aligned purposes only. Access is limited to screened staff, interns, and volunteers who need the information to support participants.

CAF may also use trusted third-party services to send emails, newsletters, or occasional text messages related to programs, events, and organizational updates. Contact information shared with these services is used only for communication purposes connected to CAF activities. Information may be shared externally only when reasonably necessary, such as:

With event partners for coordination

With emergency responders when safety requires it

With insurers or legal entities as required
CAF does not sell or rent personal information and does not share participant data for unrelated political, commercial, or marketing purposes. Text messaging consent and opt-in information will not be sold, rented, or shared with third parties for marketing or promotional purposes.

Participants may opt out of communications at any time by using unsubscribe links in emails, replying “STOP” to text messages, or contacting CAF directly.

6. Care for Youth and Intergenerational Participation

CAF takes special care with information about children and youth. Young people often have less power in digital and public spaces, and we treat that reality seriously.

Our practices include:

Handling youth contact information with heightened care

Limiting identifying details in external communications whenever possible

Recognizing that parents or guardians may sometimes be present and sometimes not

Respecting young people’s leadership, agency, and desire to receive information directly

In some cases, parents or guardians may authorize CAF to communicate directly with a young person without involving them in every exchange. In other cases, CAF may receive contact information without clear indication of whether it belongs to a youth or an adult. When this ambiguity exists, CAF aims to communicate in ways that are appropriate for mixed-age audiences and welcomes clarification or updated preferences at any time.

Young people themselves may raise questions or concerns about privacy, communication, or participation. We take those concerns seriously and will work to address them with care and responsibility.

7. Access, Stewardship, and Internal Responsibility

CAF limits access to personal information based on role and responsibility. Those with access are expected to:

Use information only for agreed‑upon purposes

Handle youth information with particular care

Avoid sharing information casually or outside approved channels

Access needs are reviewed periodically as roles change.

8. Public Spaces, Visibility, and Limits of Control

Some CAF activities take place in public or semi-public spaces, including marches, protests, hearings, community events, and collaborations with other organizations. In these contexts, CAF may not be able to control photography, recording, or reporting by others.

CAF may also use photos or videos from public events where individual participants cannot always be identified. We strive to honor participant preferences within the spaces and communications we control, while being transparent that full control is not always possible in public settings. If someone recognizes themselves in an image used by CAF and has concerns, we encourage them to reach out so we can address the situation when reasonably possible.

CAF communications or website pages may occasionally link to external organizations, partners, or resources. These websites operate independently and may have their own privacy practices. CAF is not responsible for the privacy policies or content of third-party websites, and participants are encouraged to review the privacy practices of any external sites they choose to visit.

9. Data Storage, Security, and Retention

CAF recognizes that public engagement, youth leadership, and climate advocacy can carry real risks in some social and political contexts. We work to minimize the collection of personal information, limit access to those with clear responsibility, and use discretion in how participant information is shared or made public.

CAF stores information using commonly trusted tools such as secure databases and shared work platforms. We take reasonable steps, appropriate to our size and capacity, to protect information from unauthorized access.

CAF periodically reviews data for relevance and archives what is not needed for current activities.

10. Participant and Guardian Rights

Participants and parents or guardians may:

Request access to their information or their child’s information

Ask for corrections or updates

Request deletion, subject to legal or safety requirements

Change communication preferences, including email or text messaging

Requests can be made by contacting CAF directly. We welcome ongoing conversation and understand that needs and comfort levels may change over time.

11. Community Practice and Shared Responsibility

Privacy is not only an organizational responsibility. It is a shared community practice.

We ask participants to:

Seek consent before sharing images or stories of others

Be especially careful with photos and information involving children and youth

Speak up if something feels uncomfortable or concerning

Ongoing dialogue is encouraged.

12. Updates and Ongoing Dialogue

This agreement may evolve as CAF grows and as our understanding deepens. When updates are made, the revised date will be posted, and significant changes will be communicated to the community.

We view this document as living guidance rather than a closed contract.

13. Contact Information

Questions, concerns, or requests related to privacy can be directed to:

Climate Action Families
info@climateactionfamilies.org

Last updated: 3/10/26