Grants in 2019

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Amazon Watch

$40,000 to support amplifying the voices and solutions of Indigenous peoples in response to the Amazon fires as the best way to prevent the next catastrophe. This grant is supporting 6 Amazon-based organizations for the following: providing emergency aid and supporting Indigenous fire brigades and Indigenous communities marching hundreds of miles to the regional capital in Bolivia in response to the devastating fires in the Amazon region of that country; travel support for Indigenous women that are part of the Women Defenders of the Amazon Against Extraction to participate in the Minga Indígena, an international gathering to promote learning, discussion, and reflection among Indigenous leaders and share updates about how their communities and territories are developing alternative solutions to climate change; and legal and logistical support for the Kichwa people of Sarayaku refiling their historic case that found the Ecuadorian government guilty of rights violations associated with pursuing oil drilling activities without their consent and holding a community-wide assembly on their territory to report back on their work and to begin planning next steps towards securing permanent protection of their rainforest territory

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Fundo Socioambiental CASA

$50,000 to provide longterm support to Indigenous Peoples mobilizing to save their territories, including in response to the Amazon fires and the ongoing threat tied to Brazil’s Bolsonaro government slashing environmental protections, human rights standards, and the rule of law to benefit the very actors destroying the rainforest. Indigenous communities have fought back on many fronts – forming Indigenous fire brigades to directly put out fires, continuing to confront and stop illegal activities on their territories despite the great security risks of doing so, organizing peaceful mass mobilizations in the region, and holding emergency Indigenous assemblies to strategize and plan courses of action. CASA has an existing and robust network of local advisors across different parts of the Amazon and are able to get funds to Indigenous communities that are underfunded, as well as provide rapid response support to address threats to Indigenous leaders.

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Yayasan PUSAKA

$4,000 to support the Papuan Indigenous Peoples Action Week, with various dialogues and actions in Jakarta for communities and civil society organizations related to the lack of proper consultation in the permitting process for industrial plantations, which has resulted in deforestation, impacts on food production and livelihoods, and other human rights violations. Support went towards the overall event as well as travel support for 4 Indigenous Papuans from Sorong to go to Jakarta to participate in week of activities.

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Grassroots Consulting

$4,500 to support travel costs to participate in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) annual meeting and the launching there of an updated report, ‘Who Watches the Watchmen?,’ to continue to publicly pressure the RSPO to enact meaningful change in the palm oil industry towards forest protection and upholding community rights.

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Sunrise El Paso

$5,000 to support a Latino/a youth-led community organizing and movement building strategy to resist a potential JP Morgan Chase buyout of the El Paso Electric Company through a private equity fund, which would likely lead to increased fracking, as well as address the overall threats of a privatized electric utility that only permits 3% renewable energy, a city government that allows for the El Paso refinery’s petroleum apparatus to emit toxic gases, and a new natural gas plant on the horizon. Resisting the JP Morgan buyout also provides an opportunity for a cultural shift towards the development of a localized version of the Green New Deal.

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RISE St. James

$5,000 to support community organizing and a multi-platform media campaign to block construction of a Formosa petrochemical complex in historic St. James parish, LA, which would cause a drastic downgrade in quality of life for a Black community already overburdened by air pollution, while also emitting 13 million tons of greenhouse gases annually, equivalent to three coal-fired power plants.

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Society of Native Nations

$5,000 to support a ‘Pipelines to Plastics’ campaign, including toxic tours and other grassroots activities, opposing ExxonMobil’s planned $10 billion ethane cracker plant near Corpus Christi, Texas, which would export plastic products to the world and produce significant methane emissions, courtesy of fracked gas from West and South Texas.

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SustainUS

$2,500 to support a POC and Native-led youth delegation to attend the World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, D.C. to organize, educate, and advocate for climate justice and pressure the Bank to pass policies in line with the 1.5ºC goal, including measurable commitments to stop the financing of all fossil fuels and fossil fuel related industries and scaling up investments in distributed renewable energy.

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Indigenous Environmental Network

$10,000 to support the Indigenous Just Transition Assembly, including travel support for Indigenous grassroots leaders to attend the regional gathering that will build alignment and provide collaborative opportunities to strategize for Indigenous communities engaged in efforts to stop fossil fuel expansion across North America and to support peer-based learning of Just Transition efforts and frontline community place-based solutions.

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MN350

$10,000 to support two separate but interrelated actions to build the movement to stop the Line 3 pipeline, which if completed would enable the emission of as many greenhouse gasses as 50 new coal plants. The Gichi-gami Gathering to Stop Line 3 is roughly 1,000 person mass mobilization in Duluth, Minnesota and the Frontline March to Stop Line 3 and Protect the Sacred will be led by frontline partners and take place on Indigenous Peoples’ Day.