The Living Building Challenge is more than a certification program. As an advocacy tool, the Challenge offers a framework with the power to change the way entire communities value sustainability, equity and prosperity.
The Ambassador Network is a global volunteer initiative to encourage the rapid and widespread adoption of restorative principles guided by the Living Building Challenge. Within this network, individuals and local groups called Living Building Challenge Collaboratives discuss restorative principles, share expertise, and remove cultural, regulatory and ideological barriers to systematic change. In support of this endeavor, the Institute provides training for two distinct volunteer opportunities:
Ambassador Presenters
Professionals who wish to shift the focus of green building conversations are trained through the Ambassador Network to deliver informal introductory presentations to peers, local organizations, institutions, companies and community groups. In communities with low but nascent familiarity and support for the Living Building Challenge, presenters help build local capacity for sustained discussions on restorative principles and the formation of a local Living Building Challenge Collaborative. Learn More.
Ambassador Facilitators
Living Building Challenge Collaboratives are community-based groups that meet in-person regularly to share knowledge and create the local conditions that support development of Living Buildings, Sites and Communities. Each Collaborative is overseen by at least one trained facilitator, who is responsible for cultivating a welcoming environment for grassroots involvement and outreach. Each Living Building Challenge Collaborative has an online presence on Facebook. If there is no Collaborative in your area yet, we hope you will be inspired to form one. Learn More.
Meet Matt Grocoff. He's a Living Building Challenge Ambassador working on the front lines of decentralizing water in Ann Arbor, Michigan, starting with his beautiful 112-year-old Victorian home.