BY Tere Figueras Negrete, TFN Senior Communications Director

A local gardening club will lend their decades of expertise to help install rain gardens in a flood-prone neighborhood.

Citizen scientists will be empowered to help keep groundwater safe for drinking.

And low-income families will get welcome upgrades like plug-in air conditioners and electric appliances that will make their homes more livable and climate resilient while reducing their energy costs.

These are just a few of the sustainability projects supported by the latest round of Partners for Places grants, which help fund efforts to create more equitable and resilient communities across the U.S.

In all, seven U.S. communities will receive more than $1.6 million in Partners for Places matching grants that bring together local governments, place-based funders and frontline community groups — fostering collaborative relationships, building trust and driving meaningful impact.

Successful Partners for Places projects advance much-needed climate planning and sustainable solutions in communities both large and small, and across diverse political and geographic landscapes.

Meet the Grantees

The seven communities receiving this latest round of Partners for Places grants are: Binghamton, N.Y.; Burlington City, N.J.; Chicago, Ill.; Denver, Col.; Detroit, Mich.; Memphis, Tenn.; and Orlando, Fla.

 

Partners for Places will help support a community-led composting program in Binghamton, N.Y., that provides nutrient-rich fertilizer for neighborhood food gardens and diverts waste from landfills. Photo credit: Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments (VINES).

 

How will these Partners for Places grants help local sustainability efforts?

In Binghamton, Partners for Places will help create a community composting program that diverts food waste from landfills, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and generates nutrient-rich fertilizer for local food gardens. The program will help neighbors start composting in their own backyards, train volunteers and youth employees to maintain upgraded composting systems in community gardens and set up a composting facility at an urban farm that will eventually process up to 1,000 pounds of food scraps per week.

Orlando will use its Partners for Places grant to help low-income renters, most of whom have recently been homeless or are at risk of homelessness, reduce their utility bills and increase resilience in a state known for its hurricanes, heat and other extreme weather events. The project includes installing energy-efficient “plug in” appliances like window air conditioners and placing portable solar units on rooftops, balconies or yards with battery back-ups that can power lifesaving medical equipment during an outage. Residents also receive an energy efficiency basket containing educational materials, LED lights, aerators and glow-in-the-dark star stickers — intended to encourage kids to turn off lights to see their stars shine.

Denver will also use Partners for Places funds to help low-income residents make their homes more climate resilient and energy efficient while working to improve indoor air quality in the Globeville and Elyria-Swansea neighborhoods — which are often regarded as some of the most polluted neighborhoods in the nation. This includes reducing pollution through electrification of homes, weatherization, and advancing clean energy solutions. The project will also create a shared governance model to oversee the grant and spark collective action around shared priorities like emergency preparedness.

 

Ashley Perez, energy policy coordinator with the City of Orlando, carries one of the energy efficiency baskets that will be distributed to low-income households with the support of Partners for Places funds. Photo credit: City of Orlando.

 

With the support of matching local funders, these projects also help build bridges between city officials and the communities that bear the brunt of environmental injustice but are often left out of decision-making processes.

In Memphis, the grant will be used to train and empower “citizen scientists” and other residents of the Alcy Ball neighborhood to create a community-driven groundwater protection plan. The South Memphis neighborhood is centered on the site of a defunct World War II defense depot where everything from carcinogenic industrial liquids to Nazi mustard gas bombs were buried – directly above a critical aquifer. A massive breach in the confining clay layer protecting the aquifer renders South Memphis’ drinking water particularly vulnerable to contaminants in the ground above. The project includes mapping aquifer vulnerabilities, resident-led environmental testing, and outlining a community-driven plan for aquifer protection and green infrastructure interventions.

In Chicago, decades of disinvestment in the city’s South and West Sides have left residents vulnerable to heightened flooding and sewage issues, depleting community resources and eroding trust in local leadership. Partners for Places funds will be used to support a community-informed framework for identifying and addressing flooding and sewage disparities, including opportunities for residents to co-create a vulnerability assessment and develop recommendations to the city that will help shift infrastructure investments to these marginalized and climate-vulnerable communities.

This latest round of Partners for Places grants includes two projects specifically designed to advance green stormwater infrastructure, which uses nature-based solutions to manage and treat runoff, reduce pollution, and potentially recharge groundwater. 

Burlington City will use the funds to plant shade trees and install rain gardens — sunken landscaped areas that capture rainwater and runoff from hard surfaces like streets — to improve air quality and better capture and cleanse stormwater in a community at risk of flooding due to its proximity to the Delaware River. The plan includes education and training opportunities for residents, as well as activating community volunteers like a local club of veteran gardeners who will lend their expertise to the effort.

Detroit will use Partners for Places funds to build green stormwater infrastructure projects following extensive community input. In a city that has grappled with an aging water infrastructure and frequent flood risks, the project will create a collaborative private-public partnership aimed at fostering community trust, reducing bureaucratic barriers, and developing more sustainable responses to storms and other extreme weather events.

➡️Curious to learn more about green stormwater infrastructure projects? Check out this this fact sheet and video from We the People of Detroit, the community-led group that is partnering with the City of Detroit for their Partners for Places project, about how they transformed an outdoor space into a hub for learning, celebration and environmental stewardship.

 

We the People of Detroit will partner with the City of Detroit to advance green stormwater infrastructure solutions in flood-prone areas. Photo credit: Carolina Gutman

 

Partners for Places, led by The Funders Network (TFN) in partnership with the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), will provide $925,000 in funding to these seven communities through the grant program. With contributions from local matching funders, a total of $1,557,500 will be committed to fund sustainability projects in these selected communities.

To date, Partners for Places has awarded more than $12 million across North America in this successful matching grant program, leading to more than $25 million in investments.

The matching grant program brings national funder investors together with place-based funders to support equitable, sustainable climate action and green stormwater infrastructure projects. The program’s national investors currently include the Freedom Together Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and the Pisces Foundation. One or more local foundations are required to provide at least a 50% matching grant.

The latest Partners for Places grant recipients, project descriptions, frontline community groups and matching funders are: 

  • Binghamton, N.Y. ($115,000): To create a community composting program that reduces waste, lowers emissions, enriches urban agriculture efforts, and engages residents through education and outreach. Frontline community groups: Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments, Inc. and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County. Matching local funder: Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation ($100,000).
  • Burlington City, N.J. ($120,000): To support Greening Burlington City, a plan to empower community members with the resources and tools to apply green stormwater infrastructure to improve health and environmental concerns. Frontline community group: The Opportunity League. Matching local funder: Anonymous ($120,000).
  • Chicago, Ill. ($150,000): To co-develop a flood and sewage vulnerability assessment and policy recommendations that will help shift infrastructure investments to vulnerable communities impacted by historic disinvestment and facing climate risks. Frontline community groups: Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Center for Neighborhood Technology, and Alliance for Great Lakes. Matching local funder: Walder Foundation ($150,000).
  • Denver, Col. ($125,000): To organize with community partners to improve indoor air quality and address extreme heat for Tierra Colectiva CLT homes and build community governance and resilience. Frontline community group: GES Coalition. Matching local funder: The Denver Foundation ($62,500).
  • Detroit, Mich. ($150,000): To create a public-private partnership to advance green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) solutions a more sustainable approach to addressing flooding issues across the City of Detroit. Frontline community group: We the People of Detroit. Matching local funder: Cummins ($75,000).
  • Memphis, Tenn. ($150,000): To pilot a community-driven groundwater protection plan in Alcy Ball, implementing green infrastructure and citizen science to protect the local aquifer and create a scalable model for the city. Frontline community groups: Protect Our Aquifer and Alcy Ball Development Corporation. Matching local funder: Hyde Family Foundation ($75,000).
  • Orlando, Fl. ($115,000): To bring clean energy, energy storage and energy efficiency upgrades to those who are struggling with their energy bills and are most impacted by climate change. Frontline community groups: Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, Grassroots Impact, and The Desire Foundation. Matching local funders: Central Florida Foundation, and Allegany Franciscan Ministries ($50,000).

Partners for Places FAQs

→ Where is Partners for Places making an impact? Read previous grant announcements and explore the Partners for Places Grantee Map here.
→ Where can I learn about completed Partners for Places projects? Visit the Partners for Places Idea Bank to explore what grantees are doing, learning and sharing.

For additional information and media inquiries, contact: Tere Figueras Negrete, Senior Communications Director at The Funders Network, tere@fundersnetwork.org.

 

*Feature image at top: We the People of Detroit | Photo credit: Carolina Gutman