Resources and Funding

The ECJaC is looking forward to supporting projects and initiatives that address the impacts of environmental issues on marginalized communities in New York City and other urban areas. 

You can find partners for your project by:

  • Connecting with affiliates to the Environmental and Climate Justice at Columbia Project by browsing our membership.
  • Email the Project and request support for your project.

List of grants and funding opportunities:

  • Fordham University’s Flourishing in Community initiative, Fordham (orig. sponsor: EPA): This landmark program will distribute $40 million to support community-led environmental justice projects across New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and eight federally recognized Indian nations. Funding Available: Subgrants will range from $75,000 to $350,000 for projects and initiatives focused on addressing climate change, pollution, and environmental stressors in frontline communities, among others. This is a 3-year grantmaker, accepting applications on a rolling basis, with quarterly evaluations.

  • Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: This funding is geared toward studies about “upstream” causes of health inequities, such as the systems, structures, laws, policies, norms, and practices that determine the distribution of resources and opportunities, which in turn influence individuals’ options and behaviors. Research should center on the needs and experiences of communities exhibiting the greatest health burdens and be motivated by real-world priorities. It should be able to inform a specific course of action and/or establish beneficial practices, not stop at characterizing or documenting the extent of a problem.

  • Clean Energy to Communities Expert Match, DOE: This program provides communities with expertise and tools to achieve their clean energy goals. Based on specific needs, the C2C Expert Match brings together program applicants with researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and other DOE national laboratories to provide input to technical areas of interest – from clean power, mobility, buildings, and grid to cross-cutting topics such as financing, resilience, and environmental justice. Representatives of academic institutions are eligible to apply. 

  • Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change, EPA: These grants will fund community-driven projects that address climate challenges and reduce pollution while strengthening communities through thoughtful implementation. Due Nov 21, 2024

  • Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES), National Science Foundation: The DISES Program supports research projects that advance basic scientific understanding of integrated socio-environmental systems and the complex interactions (dynamics, processes, and feedbacks) within and among the environmental (biological, physical and chemical) and human ("socio") (economic, social, political, or behavioral) components of such a system.  The program seeks proposals that emphasize the truly integrated nature of a socio-environmental system versus two discrete systems (a natural one and a human one) that are coupled.  DISES projects must explore a connected and integrated socio-environmental system that includes explicit analysis of the processes and dynamics between the environmental and human components of the system. Due: November 15, 2024

  • Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grants Program, EPA: This grant funds environmental and climate justice activities to benefit disadvantaged communities through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience, and build community capacity to address environmental and climate justice challenges. These place-based investments will be focused on community-driven initiatives to be responsive to community and stakeholder input. They are designed to deliver on the transformative potential of the IRA for communities most adversely and disproportionately impacted by climate change, legacy pollution, and historical disinvestment. Due: November 21, 2024

  • Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Initiative, NSF: The Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative is a comprehensive, national effort to enhance U.S. leadership in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) discovery and innovation, focused on NSF’s commitment to ensuring accessibility and inclusivity in STEM fields. Due October 22, 2024

Last updated: 9/30/2024