Djola Village

Djola Village Events

Where ideas meet the road

Live challenges, pitch nights, and community gatherings in the Catskills. Where founders, residents, and local leaders meet to build what rural life needs.

Djola Ventures · Phoenicia Playhouse · Fri Sep 25 · 1–3 PM

2026 Climate Tech Week

The Micro-Transit Challenge

A pitch-to-pilot competition for the Catskills corridor. The challenge: design a reliable transit solution that moves residents between Phoenicia and Pine Hill to Margaretville Hospital and nearby medical appointments in Woodstock and Kingston — and earns bonus points for solving free or reduced-fare rides for seniors and lower-income residents. Pitch to a panel of industry leaders, funders, transit experts, and the residents who actually ride. The winner pilots their solution for real, with the Town of Shandaken.

In partnership with

Hudsy
Town of Shandaken

September 2026 is Climate Week NYC — the world's largest climate action event. The Micro-Transit Challenge is bringing that energy to the Catskills: a live pitch competition in the Town of Shandaken, focused on the rural mobility and health access problems that Climate Week's own themes say need solving.

Aligned with Climate Week NYC themes: Transport and Travel · Climate and Health · Environmental Justice · Sustainable Living, Cities and Communities

Friday, September 25, 2026 · 1:00–3:00 PM
Phoenicia Playhouse · Phoenicia, Town of Shandaken · Ulster County, NY

What the winner gets

  • A real pilot in the CatskillsDeploy your solution in the community, backed by the Town of Shandaken.
  • Investment supportA look from top sustainability, climate and social impact investors
  • Application spot to Djola Ventures residencyWinner will be considered as a candidate for our inaugural campus residency
  • Your story on filmThe pitches are filmed by Hudsy as part of their documentary on building sustainable infrastructure and social impact.
Attend the eventApply to compete
Climate Week NYC 2026 themes

The themes line up exactly

Climate Week NYC organizes its 2026 program around twelve themes. The Micro-Transit Challenge sits squarely inside four of them not by design, but because rural mobility is genuinely a climate problem.

Transport and Travel

Theme 12

How people and goods move is being reimagined. In rural areas that means building real alternatives to car dependency the exact problem competitors are pitching to solve in the Catskills.

Climate and Health

Theme 2

Getting to a doctor's appointment shouldn't depend on owning a car. The challenge is explicitly about medical access connecting residents to Margaretville Hospital and rural care places.

Environmental Justice

Theme 4

The transition can only succeed if it works for everyone. Rural communities face real climate risk and are routinely excluded from solutions designed in cities. This challenge is built for them.

Sustainable Living, Cities and Communities

Theme 10

Climate action becomes meaningful when it improves the places where people actually live. The winner doesn't just pitch, they'll pilot their solution in the Town of Shandaken.

See all twelve Climate Week NYC 2026 themes

Apply to compete

Apply to compete

Takes about ten minutes. Finalists pitch live and in person in Phoenicia on Friday, September 25 — 5 minutes plus Q&A before a panel of industry leaders, transit experts, and local residents, filmed by Hudsy. Please only apply if you can be there in person.

Who you are

Site, deck, demo, LinkedIn — whatever shows your work best.
You don't need to be local — but tell us where home is.

Your solution

0/140

Walk us through the idea. What's the vehicle, who drives, how do riders book it, and how does it reach doctor's appointments and Margaretville Hospital?

0/1400

Low density is the hard part of rural transit. Cost, funding, demand — how does yours hold up?

0/1000

How does it cut car dependence or emissions? Any electrification pathway?

0/800

Stage & team

Pilots, users, partnerships, or the hard-won insight behind your approach.

0/800

Names and one line on why you're the ones to build this.

0/800

A link to you explaining the idea. Loom, YouTube, Drive — anything we can open.

Questions? Email [email protected]. We review on a rolling basis and notify finalists by email.