FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 11, 2024
Rapid City, SD – NDN Collective has been selected as an outreach partner for two regions within the Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program (EJ TCGM) by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). NDN Collective is tasked with conducting outreach to tribal and Indigenous communities in the Great Lakes Region, Western United States, and Pacific Territories – which covers over 400 federally recognized tribes – to support the distribution of over $200 million to environmental justice communities in those areas.
Altogether, the EPA selected 11 grantmaker collaboratives to service 11 geographic regions – each consisting of multiple organizations – that will administer $600 million total as funding intermediaries through the EJ TCGM’s cooperative agreements. Each grantmaker collaborative will receive $50 million to distribute to communities in a specific geographic region. The grantmakers will provide subgrants to community-based nonprofits and other eligible subrecipients, alleviating much of the burden that the federal grants process often places on resource-constrained community organizations.
“The Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program is the result of decades of advocacy by climate justice advocates to protect our environment and the communities directly impacted by the climate crisis,” said Davis Price, Climate Justice Initiative Director at NDN Collective. “This funding is urgently needed to confront environmental and public health issues in communities experiencing disproportionate burdens of environmental hazards, and will provide frontline communities with necessary support in adapting to the climate crisis.”
“NDN Collective is committed to ensuring this program is executed with its intended purpose – to provide federal resources to historically underserved communities – while continuing our own grantmaking to resource Indigenous-led solutions to the climate crisis,” said Nick Tilsen, president and CEO of NDN Collective. “We see this program as a robust tool to protect people and the planet, and look forward to working with our grantmaker collaborative to get communities the resources they need.”
As an outreach partner, NDN Collective will be serving four of the eleven regions across Turtle Island and the Pacific. More information on the four regions NDN Collective will be serving can be found below:
Region 5: IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, and WI and 36 federally recognized Tribal Nations
Grantmaker website: Great Lakes TCGM (Application Open)
Region 8: CO, MT, ND, SD, UT, WY, and 28 federally recognized Tribal Nations
Grantmaker website: Mountains and Plains EJ Grants Hub (Application Open)
Region 9: AZ, CA, HI, and NV, Pacific Territories and 148 federally recognized Tribal Nations
Grantmaker website: Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (Application Expected to Open Soon)
Region 10: AK, ID, OR, WA, and 271 federally recognized Tribal Nations
Grantmaker website: Philanthropy Northwest (Application Open)
Other regional grantmakers can be found here.
Grants will support projects that focus on issues including but not limited to:
- Environmental health
- Air, soil, and water quality
- Healthy homes
- Access to healthy food
- Stormwater and green infrastructure
- Emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency
- Environmental job training
Visit the Thriving Communities Webpage for More Information & How to Apply
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NDN Collective is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power. Through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building, and narrative change, we are creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms.