GreenLatinos Announces the Latest Round of Justicia y Equidad Fund Grantees

WASHINGTON - After several months of reviewing submissions from extremely qualified community climate and environmental programs and organizations, GreenLatinos announces the grantees of the Justicia y Equidad Fund (JyE Fund). The JyE Fund is GreenLatino’s  intermediary grantmaking fund, which provides support for frontline Latino/a/e environmental, conservation, and climate justice organizations and programs serving Latino/a/e communities.

The grantees are:

• The Frontera Land Alliance, El Paso, Texas - Based in El Paso, Texas their mission is to protect and preserve open natural spaces, working farms , and ranches in the Chihuahuan Desert. Frontera strives to ensure everyone connects to the outdoors regardless of their zip-code.

• Valencia Water Watchers, Valencia, New Mexico - Based in Valencia, New Mexico, Valencia Water Watchers work to mobilize a community that will demand equitable and sustainable local water policies to ensure a sustainable future for New Mexico.

• Healthy Community Initiative: Growing Up Healthy, Rice County, Massachusetts - Growing Up Healthy envisions a Rice County in which diverse populations are connected to each other and actively participate in creating a community where families thrive.

• Regeneración Pajaro Valley, Watsonville, California - Regeneración envisions a community that has achieved climate justice so all people in Pajaro Valley. They work with community partners to inspire everyone to respond locally to the global challenge of a changing climate.

• La Maraña, San Juan, Puerto Rico - La Maraña is an organization that promotes a just transition for their communities and towards a more sustainable environment.

• SEEN (SocioEnvironmental and Education Network), San Joaquin Valley, California - SEEN is working to advocate for science-driven methodologies to promote environmental, climate, and socio-economic justice for people and nature.

• Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC), Laredo, Texas - RGISC works to protect the Rio Grande-Rio Bravo, its watershed and environment, through awareness, advocacy, research, education, stewardship, and binational collaboration for the benefit of present and future generations.

These organizations are frontline environmental justice organizations/programs working in their local communities to fight against the climate crisis.

In reaction to the announcement of the grantees, GreenLatinos Founding President and CEO Mark Magaña, releases the following statement:

“GreenLatinos is thrilled to announce the grantees of our latest funding cycle of our Justicia y Equidad Fund. These environmental and climate justice leaders are at the forefront of the daily struggles we are now facing due to environmental degradation and the climate crisis.

By providing funding to these organizations, we are ensuring that funds are being received by communities that have the solutions because they are closest to the problem. In fighting for our environmental liberation, we must provide more resources, access, and information to historically marginalized communities to continue pushing back against the historical injustices that have plagued the environmental movement for decades.”

These organizations are available for interviews to discuss their mission, vision, and goals for the resources awarded via the Justicia y Equidad Fund. After learning about winning the award, they had to say:

“The Justicia y Equidad Fund will significantly increase participation from the Hispanic community and thus substantially benefit community conservation in the Chihuahua Desert. Educating, engaging, and providing outdoor opportunities to Hispanic families and future land stewards would impact the El Paso/Cd. Juarez community tremendously!” - Kathia Gonzalez, Development Director, Frontera Land Alliance

“This award will help us continue to advocate and educate about water issues locally. This advocacy and education will impact our community as we continue to advocate for appropriate uses of our limited water in the desert.” - Valencia Water Watchers

“Support will lead to safer housing and reduced energy burdens for vulnerable Latine families living in older mobile homes. It will ease the challenge of choosing between paying for food or the heating bill, especially during Minnesota's cold winters. Thank you!” - Jennyffer Barrientos, Director, Growing Up Healthy

“Receiving the Justicia y Equidad Award from GreenLatinos was a wonderful surprise for our Regeneración team... this award is an affirmation of the work our team and community partners are doing to develop and advocate for policies and programs that will increase climate change resilience in the hardworking Latino community of the Pajaró Valley in California.” - Eloy Ortiz, Special Projects Manager, Regeneración

“From urban and coastal sustainable economic development to food sovereignty projects- this fund will ensure we can keep up our work collaborating with communities across the island of Puerto Rico in hopes of sharing our participatory and replicable design, planning and construction methodologies. This is our commitment and our way of ensuring a Puerto Rico for our communities in the face of systematic displacement and climate change.” - Cynthia Burgos, Co-Founder and Executive Director, La Maraña

“SEEN focuses on helping vulnerable communities become resilient by supporting the efforts of local leaders, by creating programs for immediate relief, and by empowering children through project-based education. This award will provide a stipend for a community leader who currently volunteers to help the most vulnerable members of their underserved community for free. We intend to amplify their work by making it easier and more efficient.” - SEEN

“Que orgullo to receive this grant from GreenLatinos, an organization that opened my eyes to how our natural world and environmental justice must be intimately linked together. This support will allow us to continue building our new Climate Cohort program that seeks to train college aged students on how to be effective community advocates and fierce environmental and climate activists. Mil gracias!” - Tricia Cortez, Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC) Executive Director

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GreenLatinos is an active comunidad of Latino/a/e leaders, emboldened by the power and wisdom of our culture, united to demand equity and dismantle racism, resourced to win our environmental, conservation, and climate justice battles, and driven to secure our political, economic, cultural, and environmental liberation.