2023 Grants

The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) is a resident led, community-based environmental justice organization dedicated to achieving healthy homes, jobs, and neighborhoods for all who live, work, learn and play in West Oakland, California. They’re doing work around a troubled metals recycling facility in West Oakland that caught fire.

International Monitor Formosa Alliance (IMFA) is a united international alliance of fishermen’s associations, environmental advocacy NGOs, human rights NGOs, and concerned citizens and communities worldwide. Their collective mission is to amplify the voices of victims who have endured extreme hardships due to corporate negligence in environmental conservation, health, and human rights. They are hosting a 24/7 encampment outside a Formosa Plastics facility in Texas, directly after conducting their thirty-day hunger strike in the same location.

As a close partner of Breathe Free Detroit, the main issue of Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments is the intersection of environmental justice and health impact on residents of the near eastside of Detroit. Their focuses include egregious air quality violations, leakage of chemicals due to failed sanitary/sewer infrastructure, and particulate matter pollution due to heavy industry that is poorly regulated. They are in the process of creating by-laws and categories of membership, centered on fence/frontline people whose health and quality of life are most impacted by pollution.

Earth Rights Defenders works with frontline communities, providing legal defense to earth rights defenders who have been criminalized, physically attacked, abused, or otherwise prevented from protecting their communities. They proactively address the root causes of attacks on defenders, including corruption and irresponsible land and fossil fuel development and repression from security forces, while seeking to strengthen policies to protect earth rights defenders and civic space. They worked closely with The Story of Stuff Project on “Casey Camp’s Story” in The World We Need series.

Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an indigenous- and women-led organization that recently reclaimed five acres of land owned by the City of Oakland. Under their Indigenous Stewardship, the land will immediately be used for natural resource restoration, cultural practices, and public education. Their Shuumi Land Tax is a voluntary annual contribution that non-Indigenous people living on the Confederated Villages of Lisjan’s territory can make to support the critical work of the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. 

Climate Defiance is a youth-led climate justice organization working to end fossil fuel extraction through an intersectional lens using direct action tactics targeting the elite. Their organization is brand-new; however, many of their members were involved in past organizing actions such as the Treaty People Gathering to resist Line 3, the occupation of Manchin’s coal plant in West Virginia, and other acts of civil disobedience. 

Re:wild Your Campus has a goal of seeing every university in the United States eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers by 2030, and will continue to empower students until every college campus in the country is ecologically safe. In response to the growing demand from both students and community members to dive deeper into the fundamentals of organizing tactics and sustainable land management, Re:wild Your Campus designed the Ground Up Advocacy Bootcamp, which brings their cutting edge training to a broad audience of young, visionary leaders on college campuses.

we.grow.eco is a coalition which supports and facilitates unifying actions that promote healthy relationships between humans and the environment through voluntary action, ecocentrism, creativity, and more. The organization was born after its cofounders traveled across the country, organizing events about environmental grassroots organizing, engagement and clean up community events. we.grow.eco offers a range of hands-on, experiential programs aimed at middle school students that blend arts and environment. Their goal is not only to clean up the environment, but to catalyze a shift in habits underpinned by a shift in consciousness, which can be described as one from “anthropocentric” (human-centered) to “ecocentric” (environment-centered).

Cafeteria Culture works with youth to creatively achieve zero waste, climate smart schools, communities, and a plastic-free biosphere. They teach innovative environmental education that fosters youth-led solutions by merging citizen science, civic action, video production, and the arts. Students in their programs—overwhelmingly from lower-income communities of color and living in public housing—are providing an urgently needed voice to New York City’s plastic-free and climate movement. By partnering with school food directors and students, they catalyzed the elimination of styrofoam trays from their city’s schools.

The Post-Landfill Action Network (PLAN) equips students with the resources and tools necessary to holistically understand the Waste Crisis and lead solutions on their campuses. Their Students for Zero Waste Conference in November 2023 went extremely well, with one hundred and eighty-three attendees from nearly thirty college campuses, forty speakers, and (most importantly) great feedback on the positive impact that the weekend had on student leaders.

Hānai Kaiāulu (HK) promotes the importance of stewardship of its community’s ʻāina (land) and cultural sites. HK also supports a healthy transition where food is never wasted, but returned to the soil for the next cycle of life. Hanai are things that feed you which should be returned to the land and kaiāulu means community. Their student-run Scrappahz Union 96792 project focuses on bokashi composting, cardboard reuse, and teaching waste diversion techniques to others.

The Save Our Forest Association is an all-volunteer organization in California that protects the mountains from development and industry and organizes with the U.S. Forest Service in San Bernardino County. Their work on The Story of Stuff Project’s Unbottle Water campaign aims to preserve Strawberry Creek and hold Blue Triton and government agencies accountable in the San Bernardino National Forest.

The Great Plains Restoration Council (GPRC) helps people take care of their own health through restoring and protecting native ecosystems, particularly damaged prairies, plains, and waters. GPRC teaches ecological health practices and principles around the country by using literary arts and other media to broaden awareness and community engagement. Their Fort Worth Prairie Park Restoration project has been restoring one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America. It is also working to save the remaining prairie nearby from development.

Fenceline Watch is dedicated to the eradication of toxic multigenerational harm on communities living along the fenceline of industry in Houston, TX. They help communities along the Houston Ship Channel (and throughout the Gulf Coast) who have been contending with rapidly expanding petrochemical infrastructure and the inevitable chemical disasters that follow. Now they are facing even more buildout with hydrogen, carbon capture, and chemical “recycling” projects coming online.

Plastic Free Future is a California-based non-profit organization dedicated to the reduction and elimination of plastic pollution through promoting reusable alternatives and focusing on outreach to systemically excluded communities. They advocate for traditional reuse systems and are involved in the UN International Plastics Treaty negotiations.

Sea of Life Caribbean, Inc. strengthens and empowers local communities to protect and restore oceans in the Caribbean. Their mission is to support and develop locally led ocean conservation projects and business solutions in the Caribbean. Sea of Life’s Plastic Solutions Academy in Belize City aims to find a viable single-use plastic product alternative for local markets, lead a culturally relevant plastic free sea educational campaign, and play a role in the implementation of the Belize Environmental Protection Regulations.

Valley Improvement Projects (VIP) aims to improve the quality of life of underrepresented and marginalized residents of California’s Northern San Joaquin Valley by advocating for social and environmental justice. VIP is working closely with The Story of Stuff Project to create the Burning Injustice documentary, which will be released alongside a campaign targeting government subsidies for incinerators.

River Valley Organizing aims to empower residents and workers who have been affected by the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, OH. Along with frontline organizing and water testing, they want to help with legal representation, storytelling, story building, empowering civic action, and helping the community build sustainable autonomy and justice after this event.

Three Rivers Waterkeeper’s mission is to improve the quality and health of the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers. They are planning to do water testing/monitoring and are speaking out about the petrochemical industry’s role in the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, OH. 

Fair Shake is the nation’s first 501(c)(3) nonprofit environmental law firm incubator with the mission to open the doors of environmental justice. They provide client-centered legal representation regardless of income, with an emphasis on community empowerment. Fair Shake is providing legal support and community outreach to those affected by the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, OH.