The 2015 Environmental Justice Giving Project, a group of 14 diverse individuals, came together to support Environmental Justice organizing in the Pacific NW. These members organized more than 180 donors, engaging them in meaningful conversation around environmental justice, climate change and social justice philanthropy. They traveled to 4 states to learn about our grantees throughout the Northwest and look forward to sharing their stories.
The first Environmental Justice Learning Group brought 15 members together to explore the impacts of climate change on communities of color and the growing climate justice movement led by “front line” communities They each gave a meaningful gift and fundraised their networks to help support the Environmental Justice Giving Project and the broader environmental justice movement in the NW.
Together, the Environmental Justice Giving Project and Learning Group raised over $155,000!
Community Alliance of Tenants | Portland, OR
Community Alliance of Tenants’ (CAT) mission is to educate and empower tenants to demand and obtain safe, stable and affordable rental housing in Oregon. CAT addresses the impact of Oregon’s decreasing supply of safe, affordable housing and absence of meaningful protections for tenants from unjust evictions and unsafe housing conditions.
Community to Community Development | Bellingham, WA
Community to Community Development (C2C) is a place based, women-led grassroots organization working for a just society and healthy communities. We are committed to systemic change and to creating strategic alliances that strengthen local and global movements towards social, economic and environmental justice. We believe that another world is possible and we are active participants with other popular people’s movements. We strive to reclaim our humanity by redefining power in order to end settler colonialism, capitalism, patriarchy, in their external and internalized forms. We prioritize the analysis of women of color, and the actions and solutions proposed by the most directly-affected immigrant, farmworker, low-wage worker, youth, LGBTQ communities in rural Whatcom and Skagit counties. We cultivate deep solidarity relationships with sister organizations through larger regional, national and global coalitions that move social, economic, environmental, racial, and gender justice forward.
Got Green | Seattle, WA
Got Green ensures that low income communities and communities of color in Seattle and South King County gain equal access to and reap the benefits of the green movement and green economy: green jobs, healthy food, energy efficient and healthy homes, and quality public transportation. We do this by cultivating community leaders to organize, educate, advocate and build coalitions. This grant will help Got Green Young Leaders in the Green Movement in leading a campaign to make internships connect to sustainable careers subject to Seattle’s new living wage; it will advance and promote the leadership of low income women and women of color through the Food Access Team; and it will support our new Climate Justice Committee in developing its and Got Green’s work in building resiliency within communities facing climate change and displacement.
Hilltop Urban Gardens | Tacoma, WA
HUG’s mission is to develop systems for food sovereignty and create racial and economic justice. We’re doing this by building a neighborhood-based network of urban farms and gardens. HUG creates opportunities for our community to be inspired, connected, and supported. We’re working to name and transform root level causes of oppressive systems and create solutions. HUG is continuing to dive deep with their work around food sovereignty and 2015 marks the launch HUG’s Community Based Participatory Research project in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood.
OPAL Environmental Justice | Portland, OR
OPAL’s mission is to build power for environmental justice and Civil Rights in our communities through grassroots organizing, education, and base-building with communities of color and low-income communities where we live, work, play and pray. OPAL Environmental Justice Oregon is the premier EJ group in the Portland metro region and across the state. OPAL seeks general support funding to carry forward our strategic work at the intersection of transportation, housing, and climate justice. Over the next two years, we will continue to grow our Bus Riders Unite program to build off our significant victories, advance local education and implementation of inclusionary housing to fight displacement, establish our Youth Organizing Project to create the next generation of EJ community organizers, and influence emerging climate policy to ensure it is meaningful and equitable for EJ communities.
Progreso: Latino Progress | Seattle and Yakima, WA
Progreso’s mission is to ensure that Latino communities are fairly represented in Washington State’s social, economic and political systems to improve the quality of life for all Washingtonians. The purpose of this grant is to support community organizing, research, advocacy, and civic engagement around climate change and environmental justice, focusing on Latinos and other communities of color, particularly in Central and Eastern Washington.
Wind River Native Advocacy Center | Riverton, WY
Wind River Native Advocacy Center’s (WRNAC) mission is to empower Native Americans of the Wind River Indian Reservation and Wyoming through leadership development and community organizing to effectively advocate for equity, health care, economic justice and environmental justice. Using organizing, advocacy and community education, WRNAC will develop recycling programs by the Wind River Native Advocacy Center on the Wind River Indian Reservation for the benefit of current and future generations.