There were ideas for reducing food waste, expanding rooftop and large-scale solar, training young workers, increasing composting, and making homes more energy efficient. And each idea benefited Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in low-income communities in Georgia.
Community leaders across our state have creative and thoughtful ideas about how climate solutions can lift up their neighbors and benefit the places they live and love.
We are proud to announce the five grant recipients of the inaugural Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant. And we are humbled by the many amazing projects that were not funded this time.
Why Focus on Climate Solutions x Equity?
The disparities that different communities face around climate change are the reasons why the climate justice movement was born, which calls upon all of us to solve for equity and climate at the same time.
When done right, climate solutions can lift people up and advance community priorities. Focusing on equity requires community concerns to be addressed and benefits to be widely shared.
The Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant
Earlier this year, we introduced the Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant, which aims to advance climate solutions and prioritize equity in Georgia.
Using the Drawdown Georgia research as a framework, five Georgia-based family foundations committed to funding a collective $1 million over the next two years for work in our state that is focused on advancing climate solutions, including:
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Composting
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Conservation Agriculture
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Energy Efficiency Improvements
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Food Waste Reduction
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Large-Scale Solar
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Rooftop Solar
Funding for this inaugural round of grants was provided by the R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation and its Dobbs Fund, The Wilbur & Hilda Glenn Family Foundation, The Kendeda Fund, The Ray C. Anderson Foundation’s NextGen Committee, and The Sapelo Foundation.
Announcing the 2023-2024 Grantees
After reviewing almost 100 submissions, we're proud to announce that five, two-year grants of $100,000 per year will be awarded to fund the following projects from 2023-2024:
Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture
Based in Atlanta’s Westside, Truly Living Well focuses on urban agriculture as a place-based strategy to address food injustice. Through this grant, the organization will partner with Think Green, Inc. and Historic Westside Gardens to upgrade and expand Truly Living Well’s Community Compost Lab, support training for local residents to engage their neighbors in composting, and train new urban growers.
Truly Living Well projects these efforts will increase their annual amount of composted material by 300%.
Georgia Organics
Working in close partnership with McIntosh SEED, these two organizations are partnering to create a Climate-Smart Farmer Cohort project in Southeast Georgia. Georgia Organics and McIntosh SEED will conduct outreach and education to Black farmers in the Southeastern part of the state, focusing on conservation agriculture and rooftop solar.
They will also develop climate-smart action plans and work to connect Black farmers in Southeast Georgia with resources to implement climate-smart strategies.
Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund
This grant will support Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund’s statewide EMC Organizing Campaign, a project working to advance sustainability and drive a transition to clean energy production among Georgia’s 41 member-owned electric membership corporations (EMCs).
Through this work, GCV aims to educate and activate EMC member-owners around programs that support energy efficiency and residential solar, sustainable practices in power distribution, and the need to dramatically increase the share of renewable energy in generation portfolios.
Gwinnett Housing Corporation
Alongside the Georgia Hispanic Construction Association and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, the Gwinnett Housing Corporation will develop a comprehensive federal investment and workforce development plan to benefit communities in State House District 98 - the most diverse and under-resourced part of Gwinnett County.
They will ultimately create a roadmap for investing federal funds in energy-insecure communities that will expand access to weatherization and build energy efficiency and clean energy minority job pipelines.
In addition, the partners will assess roadblocks to minority business enterprise participation in energy efficiency services and work with local contractors to provide training and resources for BIPOC contractors.
Athens Land Trust
This grant will support Athens Land Trust’s work in the West Broad neighborhood as well as communities in North Athens. This includes programs to deliver home repair, weatherization, and energy efficiency improvements; expand workforce development capacity through their Young Urban Builders program; assist low-income homeowners in applying to the state Weatherization Assistance Program for deep energy retrofits; and build community leadership capacity for implementation of climate solutions by supporting the establishment of Neighborhood Advisory Boards.
Learn More About the Work of our Grantees
Over the next two years, we will share updates on the inspiring work of each of the inaugural Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grantees. Don’t miss any of these exciting updates - subscribe to our blog now to be notified when new posts are published.
