Originally posted by the Kresge Foundation on November 20, 2014.
Community-based nonprofits in 10 states will get help with climate-resilience planning, policy development and implementation efforts to advance the priorities and needs of low-income people.
Seventeen nonprofits will receive grants through The Kresge Foundation’s Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity Initiative. Launched this past summer, the initiative attracted more than 230 nonprofits seeking planning grants.
The organizations selected from that field will each receive $100,000. They are:
- Asian Pacific Environment Network, Oakland, Calif.
- Catalyst Miami, Miami
- Centro por la Justicia / Southwest Workers Union, San Antonio
- Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Cleveland
- Environmental Health Coalition, National City, Calif.
- Fifth Avenue Committee, Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Ironbound Community Corp., Newark, N.J.
- Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy, Los Angeles
- Native American Youth and Family Center, Portland, Ore.
- Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, East Boston, Mass.
- Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs / Oakland Climate Action Coalition, Oakland, Calif.
- THE POINT Community Development Corp., Bronx, N.Y.
- Puget Sound Sage, Seattle
- Tides Center / Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, Fresno, Calif.
- Virginia Organizing, Charlottesville, Va.
- West Harlem Environmental Action, New York
Each of the organizations has a record of effective work in low-income communities and an interest in deepening its involvement and leadership in local and/or regional climate-resilience efforts, says Lois DeBacker, managing director of the foundation’s Environment Program. Most intend to work in partnership or coalition with other nonprofits active in its city or region. All will address efforts to reduce the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change, adapt to the changes already underway and foster social inclusion and cohesion.
Low-income people face disproportionate negative consequences as climate change intensifies, DeBacker says. “Without efforts to address equity concerns in resilience planning, climate change will reinforce and worsen socioeconomic disparities. We are committed to strengthening the climate-resilience field by supporting new models and methodologies that directly benefit low-income communities.”
Funded organizations will participate in a peer-learning event in January. Late next year, a subset of the planning-grant recipients will be invited to apply for new grants to enable them to implement the work plans prepared in the first phase of the initiative. Kresge expects to award up to 15 implementation grants of up to $200,000 per organization per year for up to three years.
Kresge is committed to capturing lessons learned through the multiyear initiative and sharing that information with the broader field and communities across the country, DeBacker says.
Kresge works to expand opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities. Its Environment Program helps communities build environmental, economic and social resilience in the face of climate change.
