2025 Grants

Bay Area Youth Climate Summit (baycs):

fall 2025 climate summit

Bay Area Youth Climate Summit (BAYCS) is an organization grounded in climate justice and equity, centered around the narrative of frontline communities. This grant will support need-based sponsorships for a climate summit during the fall of 2025. Their annual, day-long event is complete with workshops, panels, and activities that connect youth with a broader network of activists and educational opportunities.

The Houston Climate Justice Museum & Cultural Center’s (HCJM) mission is to educate and inspire action on climate and environmental issues through art, exhibits, and programs. In 2024, the Houston Climate Justice Museum and Earth Clinic re-opened Cane River Gardens as a permaculture education and community organizing hub in Fifth Ward. Since launching the project, HCJM has found multiple community leader partners seeking to advance organizing goals to fight back against creosote contamination caused by Union Pacific.

Charleston Climate Coalition focuses on environmental justice and how injustices not only directly impact people’s lives, but also indirectly exacerbate other challenges they have. The Environmental Justice Community Profile (ECJP) is a digital platform with the primary goal of democratizing existing environmental-justice-related data, helping communities explain, explore, and quantify their exposure to environmental and other justice-related harms.

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. This grant will support new restoration efforts of yet unprotected endangered native prairie, and next-stage ecological restoration of lands existing within the current protection zone.

Atsa Koodakuh wyh Nuwu (People of Red Mountain) formed a grassroots group to protect their ancestral homeland from Thacker Pass Lithium Mining near the McDermitt Caldera. Located in the Northern Nevada and Southeast Oregon area, this remote and mostly untouched part of the sagebrush steppe is declining in millions of acres per year due to human development. For the energy transition away from fossil fuels, copper and nickel are being mined, mostly within thirty miles of sacred Indigenous lands. People of Red Mountain aim to educate communities and share their knowledge of what is really happening as a part of this lithium push.

Paddle for Peace is dedicated to breaking down barriers that limit access to the ocean for diverse groups, including low-income and BIPOC individuals. This grant will bolster their campaigns by strengthening their networks and social channels to promote environmental stewardship among BIPOC youth, including awareness campaigns about ocean conservation and plastic pollution. Their annual Juneteenth event helps kids fall in love with the coast so they’ll be inspired to protect it.

The Save Our Forest Association (SOFA) is an all-volunteer organization in California that protects the mountains from development and industry. SOFA is facing ongoing legal fees as they continue actively engaging in their suit against the U.S. Forest Service for allowing BlueTriton to wreak environmental havoc in San Bernardino National Forest.

Waste-Free Advocates empowers and connects Oregon communities to minimize over-consumption and waste. They plan to initiate a pilot subsidy program to support the passing of reusable foodware policy in Portland. The goal of their reuse coalition is to harness the collective effort and energy of individual advocates, reuse businesses, and other aligned organizations to support new and existing reuse legislation.

Zero Waste Ithica:

Strengthening Core Capacity for Community-Led Reuse

The missions of Zero Waste Ithaca are to foster a culture of zero waste and promote zero waste policies for the benefit of residents in the broader Ithaca, New York area and beyond. Their Bring Your Own (BYO) and Skip the Stuff (STS) initiatives reduce food service waste through grassroots reuse strategies that directly benefit low-income residents, students, immigrant-owned businesses, and multigenerational community members who rely on accessible, affordable systems that prioritize reuse over disposability.

ECHO Systems is a Philadelphia-based leader in reuse and circular economy solutions in the food, beverage, and events sectors. The organization is nationally recognized for leadership in reuse and environmental-justice-centered systems change. Philly Unwrapped addresses two core barriers to reuse—knowledge and access—through four in-person, zero-waste community education and listening sessions.

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. The Restaurant Reuse Partnership Pilot will support local restaurants in transitioning to reusable systems. The project will culminate in a case study and policy brief designed to advance reuse-friendly local policy solutions, supported by visible outreach materials such as signage and stickers.

FoCo Trash Mob (FCTM) is an all-volunteer grassroots organization working to reduce single-use plastics through advocacy and actionable local solutions. By expanding its No Waste Event Bins program, FCTM will purchase an additional stainless steel bin set—doubling capacity from fifty to one hundred people—and provide a modest stipend to support coordination, promotion, transport, and cleaning of the bins.

Sea of Life Florida strengthens and empowers local communities to protect and restore oceans. Their mission is to support and develop locally led ocean conservation projects and business solutions. Their project empowers local communities in Belize to collectively reduce their plastic pollution footprint. By replacing single-use plastics with refillable solutions, families save money on daily expenses, and schools generate revenue to support sustainability initiatives on
campus.

Sunlight Media Collective (SMC) is an organization of Indigenous and non-Indigenous media makers and activists, including Wabanaki Tribal citizens, working to present stories affecting Wabanaki people and highlighting Wabanaki perspectives. SMC will continue their news coverage and documentary production, including covering Juniper Ridge Landfill pollution, as well as Wabanaki Tribal sovereignty.

Woven Roots Community Garden’s mission is to cultivate soil, plants, fungi, and community while organizing and building out a hub to support sustainable practices, self-determination, and liberation in New Orleans. Their project will benefit youth and low-income populations of the 8th and 9th Wards of New Orleans, with a focus on BIPOC, immigrant, and working-class communities. These neighborhoods face unique challenges, including limited access to fresh food, economic instability, and environmental issues, making our initiative crucial for community revitalization.

SWEET Alabama was created to address the compounding issues of housing affordability, energy insecurity, and climate change in Alabama, focusing on disproportionately affected low-income, BIPOC, and female-headed households. The Home Energy Retrofit (HER) Programs include hosting community education and training clinics, creating and distributing manuals, managing a tool bank, and distributing HER mutual aid resource kits.