City Announces Grant Recipients of the 2025 Community Resilience and Environmental Justice Fund

$300,000 to go to 20 community-based organizations to expand environmental justice impact in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA - The City's Office of Sustainability in partnership with the Philadelphia Environmental Justice Advisory Commission (PEJAC) is excited to announce the 2025 grant recipients of the Community Resilience and Environmental Justice (CREJ) Fund. The awarded projects seek to increase air quality monitoring, clean energy use, climate resilience and emergency preparedness, community gardening and greening, food sovereignty, flood resilience and tree canopy, and reduce illegal dumping. See the Office of Sustainability's blog post for descriptions of each grantee's funded project.

This year, the CREJ Fund is resourcing 20 community-based organizations working to advance their vision of environmental justice with one-year $15,000 grant awards. All organizations are located in Philadelphia and serving Philadelphians facing environmental injustices. The Fund was designed by the PEJAC with commissioners also serving as the selection committee recommending finalists.

"Awarding these funds to neighborhood-based organizations puts resources in the hands of the people who know their communities the best," said Sinceré Harris, Chief Deputy Mayor, Intergovernmental Affairs, Sustainability and Engagement. "The Community Resilience and Environmental Justice fund is a model we hope to learn from, as we invest in the very communities most impacted by climate change."

In addition to grant awards, this year's CREJ recipients will also have access to a suite of wraparound services including strategic planning, project planning, team coaching, conflict mediation, grant writing and more to support organizational capacity building.

This year's 20 grant recipients of the Community Resilience and Environmental Justice Fund include:

• Center in the Park
• Cloud 9 Community Farms
• Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Education Center
• Empowered Community Development Corporation
• Elmwood Eastwick Empowerment - Black Farmer's Co-Op
• Fair Amount Food Forest
• Germantown Residents for Economic Alternatives Together
• Klean Kensington
• Neighborhood Land Power Project
• Nicetown-Tioga Improvement Team Registered Community Organization
• Norris Community Resident Council
• Norris Square Neighborhood Project
• Ollin Yolitztli Calmecac
• Original American Foundation
• Philly Tree People
• Reinhard St Community Farm
• The MasterMind Cooperative
• The U School Inc
• Trash Academy
• YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School

"With the second year of the CREJ Fund, we are continuing our investment into community organizations advancing Philadelphia toward a more environmentally just and resilient future. This year, we are particularly excited to build on our commitment by offering wraparound services to all grantees," said Elizabeth Lankenau, Director of the Office of Sustainability. "These services will provide community leaders with coaching, planning and other crucial skills that bolster their long-term work removing barriers to environmental justice and empowering the next generation of young leaders in their communities."

The CREJ Fund is supported by the William Penn Foundation, Office of Sustainability and Philadelphia Water Department, and is fiscally administered by the Philadelphia City Fund. This is an annual funding opportunity, and the application is expected to open again in Fall 2025 on the Philadelphia City Fund's website.

About the City's Office of Sustainability
The Office of Sustainability (OOS) works with partners around the city to improve quality of life in all Philadelphia neighborhoods, through advancing environmental justice, reducing the city's carbon emissions, and preparing Philadelphia for a hotter and wetter future. The Municipal Energy Office, housed within OOS, is responsible for managing the municipal energy portfolio and its contribution towards carbon reductions. For more information, visit phila.gov/sustainability.

About the Philadelphia Environmental Justice Advisory Commission
The PEJAC established by Executive Order 2-23 strives to empower and resource Philadelphia communities experiencing significant and inequitable environmental burdens, especially communities of color. PEJAC advocates for effective environmental policies, programs, and projects to remediate past and current environmental harms and build resilience against future injustices.

About the Philadelphia City Fund
The Philadelphia City Fund is an independent charitable organization which serves as the dedicated fiscal sponsor for the City of Philadelphia and leverages public-private partnerships in collaboration with the City, the philanthropic community, and the residents of Philadelphia.

About William Penn Foundation
The William Penn Foundation, founded in 1945 by Otto and Phoebe Haas, is committed to expanding access to resources and opportunities that promote a more vital and just city and region for all. We do this through funding programs in the Philadelphia region in arts and culture, children and families, democracy and civic initiatives, environment and public space, and workforce training and services. Learn more at www.williampennfoundation.org.

###