CEC EJ4Climate Grant Program Awards $2.4M for North American Environmental Justice Projects

Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), 2 May 2024 — The North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) has announced 13 climate-focused projects that will each receive up to C$200,000 under the CEC’s EJ4Climate (Environmental Justice and Climate Resilience) Grant Program for empowering urban communities for extreme climate events.

Initiated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan in 2021, the EJ4Climate Grant Program provides funding directly to community-based organizations for projects that target underserved and vulnerable communities, and Indigenous communities, in Canada, Mexico and the United States, to help prepare them for climate-related impacts.

“This year we received compelling and inspiring applications from across North America and we’re so excited to see the EJ4Climate grant recipients drive this vital work to build climate resilience on the ground and directly in and with local communities. We look forward to collaborate with them in this journey,” said Violaine Pronovost, Community Grant Programs Lead at the CEC. “The projects will advance work on a number of critical issues, from developing community emergency plans and networks to the reappropriation of gardening skills and other traditional practices related to food production through community members and youth brigades involved in restoration and greening initiatives in their community.”

The EJ4Climate selection committee selected the 13 grant recipients from more than 240 proposals. The projects were evaluated on specific criteria, such as the degree of community involvement and partnerships, implementation planning and measurable objectives over the course of the project life cycle.

Building on the strong and successful results of the 2022-23 cycle, here are the 2023-24 EJ4Climate grant recipients:

Canada

• Organization: Environmental Youth Alliance
  Project name: Community-led Indigenous Food Land and Wetland Biodiversity Corridor in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside
  Location: British Columbia
• Organization: Food Producers Forum
  Project name: Provincial Food Network
  Location: Newfoundland and Labrador
• Organization: Gorge Waterway Action Society
  Project name: Community Saltmarsh Restoration for Climate Resilience
  Location: British Columbia
• Organization: Manitoba Métis Federation – National Government of the Red River Métis
  Project name: Red River Métis Emergency Management Planning
  Location: Manitoba

Mexico

• Organization: Conservación de la Biodiversidad del Usumacinta, A.C.
  Project name: Implementation of Strategies to Increase Climate Resilience Along the Urban Rivers of Villahermosa
  Location: Tabasco
• Organization: Medio Ambiente y Comunidad CEDO, A.C.
  Project name: Coastal Communities Resilient to Extreme Hydrometeorological Events in the Upper Gulf of California
  Location: Sonora
• Organization: Fondo de Conservación El Triunfo, A.C.
  Project name: Innovation Network for Adaptation to Extreme Weather Events in Urban Environments in Chiapas
  Location: Chiapas
• Organization: Juárez Limpio, A.C.
  Project name: Community Environmental Education as An Environmental Justice and Climate-resilience Strategy in Ciudad Juárez
  Location: Chihuahua

United States

• Organization: Boston Food Forest Coalition
  Project name: Community-led Food Forest Development for Climate Resilience in Boston
  Location: Massachusetts
• Organization: Green Columbus
  Project name: Cool Franklin County Schools
  Location: Ohio
• Organization: Texas Health and Environment Alliance
  Project name: Empowering Vulnerable Communities to Prevent Toxic Chemical Exposure from Climate Change Events
  Location: Texas
• Organization: Americas for Conservation + the Arts
  Project name: Fostering Lifelong Climate Champions – Building a Climate Stewardship Pipeline through Education and Workforce Development
  Location: Colorado
• Organization: Watershed Management Group
  Project name: Urban Rainwater Harvesters in the Upper Santa Cruz River Basin, Ambos Nogales, Sonora, and Arizona
  Location: Arizona and Sonora, Mexico

Learn more about the EJ4Climate Grant Program, all grant recipients and the work they are doing to address the impacts of climate change by visiting our website.

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