Climate justice groups receive $9.6 million for communications efforts
January 24th 2023
The Climate Justice Alliance, the Center for Story-based Strategy, and the Solutions Project have announced the launch of a program aimed at addressing racial and gender disparities in climate philanthropy and media coverage.
According to the coalition partners, justice-centered groups receive just 1.3 percent of grants awarded to environmental groups. In a recent survey of 40 BIPOC-led grassroots organizations, 90 percent said they don’t have full-time communications staff, and 50 percent said they don’t have an active social media presence or a functional website.
To help remedy the situation, the $9.6 million Communicating Our Power program has awarded funding to 20 frontline climate justice organizations across 16 states to enable them to hire a full-time communications staff person, who will participate in a two-year grassroots-centered and expert-facilitated fellowship program focused on developing communications strategies and building narrative power. In addition, they will collaborate and learn from other frontline climate justice organizations.
“As the climate crisis accelerates, frontline climate justice organizations led by people of color—and especially women of color—are ramping up their work to meet the urgency of this moment and protect their communities,” said Ozawa Bineshi Albert, co-executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance. “Given the most recent UN report on climate, we know that real solutions that center the interests of humanity and Mother Earth above corporate interests will be few and far between unless they are prioritized by governments around the world. This reality makes it all the more necessary for frontline communities to have the communications support they need to tell their stories, advocate for solutions and policies that address the root causes of the crisis, and engage their neighbors.”
(Photo credit: Getty Images/Leo Patrizi)
Credit to Philanthropy News Digest
https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/
According to the coalition partners, justice-centered groups receive just 1.3 percent of grants awarded to environmental groups. In a recent survey of 40 BIPOC-led grassroots organizations, 90 percent said they don’t have full-time communications staff, and 50 percent said they don’t have an active social media presence or a functional website.
To help remedy the situation, the $9.6 million Communicating Our Power program has awarded funding to 20 frontline climate justice organizations across 16 states to enable them to hire a full-time communications staff person, who will participate in a two-year grassroots-centered and expert-facilitated fellowship program focused on developing communications strategies and building narrative power. In addition, they will collaborate and learn from other frontline climate justice organizations.
“As the climate crisis accelerates, frontline climate justice organizations led by people of color—and especially women of color—are ramping up their work to meet the urgency of this moment and protect their communities,” said Ozawa Bineshi Albert, co-executive director of the Climate Justice Alliance. “Given the most recent UN report on climate, we know that real solutions that center the interests of humanity and Mother Earth above corporate interests will be few and far between unless they are prioritized by governments around the world. This reality makes it all the more necessary for frontline communities to have the communications support they need to tell their stories, advocate for solutions and policies that address the root causes of the crisis, and engage their neighbors.”
(Photo credit: Getty Images/Leo Patrizi)
Credit to Philanthropy News Digest
https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/
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