Past Grantees

California Climate and Agriculture Network (Fiscal Sponsor: Earth Island Institute)

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the creation of the National Healthy Soils Policy Network to serve as an information clearinghouse, learning laboratory, and aggregator of farmer voices across the country for building power and securing resources that will catalyze a transition to a healthy and just agricultural system while delivering climate solutions and increasing on-farm resilience.

View California Climate and Agriculture Network (Fiscal Sponsor: Earth Island Institute)'s Website

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Rural Affairs)

Awarded $40,000.00

To help us bring our policy expertise to bear at critical climate crisis decision-making spaces in Washington, D.C. and mobilize our grassroots base around a major multi-year campaign on climate change from the field to advance legislation that addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation head-on and places just, regenerative policies at the heart of solutions for agriculture.

View National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Rural Affairs)'s Website

Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative (Fiscal Sponsor: Multiplier)

Awarded $10,000.00

To build a broad, powerful base of organizations across the country from the environmental, independent farmer, sustainable food, labor, civil rights, and animal welfare movements to jointly challenge corporate control of the food system and advocate for better U.S.-based agricultural policies.

View Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative (Fiscal Sponsor: Multiplier)'s Website

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Awarded $10,000.00

To continue their work and build capacity to introduce and center worker voices in local, state, and national policy campaigns in three primary categories: 1) worker health and safety standards for all food workers, and meatpacking workers in particular; 2) national farmworker policy priorities, including members' opposition of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; and 3) continued development and implementation of food procurement policies across the United States as part of the Good Food Purchasing Program.

View Food Chain Workers Alliance's Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To pay for activities required to elevate the voice and priorities of our members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems. This includes staff time, organizational expenses, and cost of travel and stipends for our members to compensate them for any potential loss of income while they are away from their businesses of farming, ranching, or fishing.

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

Union of Concerned Scientists

Awarded $40,000.00

To provide mini-grants to Good Food for All (GFFA) members to support their individual organizational capacity to make progress on collective GFFA priorities and goals. Over the last three years, these mini-grants have become an essential source of financial support for otherwise unfunded or underfunded projects; a valuable capacity building opportunity to develop and evaluate grant making skills; and a way of bringing the collaborative together to share learning.

View Union of Concerned Scientists's Website

Government Accountability Project

Awarded $10,000.00

To enhance overall food integrity by facilitating truth-telling, accountability, and fairness to safeguard food, curtail farm animal abuse, and challenge economic exploitation of farmers and migrant workers through their support of enhanced and modernized corporate whistleblower protections for the agriculture industry.

View Government Accountability Project's Website

National Young Farmers Coalition

Awarded $10,000.00

To create a cohort of young farmers trained to become leaders ready to bring their political know-how home to their agricultural communities, resulting in an expanded network equipped to serve as mentors, advocates, technical assistants, and public officials, resourced to serve without sacrificing their vital work as farmers and land stewards.

View National Young Farmers Coalition's Website

Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)

Awarded $20,000.00

To move towards collaborative action for a network of 60 diverse members, including creating a Communications & Media studio, a grassroots policy strategy at the national and state level, a Financing the Transition strategy, a comprehensive Tracking the Field initiative, and Research series.

View Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)'s Website

Rural Coalition

Awarded $30,000.00

To advance community-based development in rural, persistently poor communities, expand equity in farm and food programs, and transform systems of inequity in USDA and its programs and services to yield foundational changes in Farm Bill legislation, making more resources available to family-sized farmers and rural communities.

View Rural Coalition's Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To shine a light on corporate agricultural monopolies through investigative reporting, in-depth policy research and proposals, proposing legal remedies and rulemaking, and coordinating a coalition for progressive policy and agriculture organizations on challenges in the food and agriculture systems space. Our work in food and agriculture has been focused on two key strategies: reviving antitrust enforcement and promoting fair dealing in food markets, and rebalancing power in political and economic systems.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $40,000.00

To support the project “Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy,” to enhance SAFSF's ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within their membership.

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

State Innovation Exchange

Awarded $20,000.00

The SiX Agriculture Program will prioritize helping state legislators across the nation work more effectively to coordinate and collaborate with grassroots organizations to engage and champion meaningful regenerative agriculture policy that centers food justice, farmer equity, clean air and water, healthy soils and re-establishes healthy local farm economies for our rural communities. While this work is state-based, it is Six's goal to not only impact policy at the state level but to compliment regional and national efforts that are working to advance regenerative and climate-friendly agriculture policy.

View State Innovation Exchange's Website

HEAL Food Alliance (Fiscal Sponsor: Movement Strategy Center)

Awarded $40,000.00

To support the capacity-building and general operations of the Alliance to identify and advance strategic policy campaigns on the Farm Bill and food procurement, as well as protections for food workers and the dismantling of corporate control. HEAL Food Alliance will also cultivate new leaders through the third cohort of their School of Political Leadership, build their members’ capacity for organizing and communications, and coordinate an emerging initiative to increase philanthropic investment in the leadership of BIPOC groups accountable to their communities.

View HEAL Food Alliance (Fiscal Sponsor: Movement Strategy Center)'s Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

Awarded $10,000.00

We are engaged in two, multipart reporting initiatives — The first focuses on creative agricultural solutions to the climate crisis and the impediments such solutions face. The second explores a key aspect of the biodiversity crisis: How agriculture depletes biodiversity, and how, when managed sustainably, it can enhance biodiversity while feeding a growing population. With climate policy a major factor in the current presidential campaign and the biodiversity crisis a subject of international concern, we believe support for this reporting is essential to increasing public pressure on lawmakers and corporations and catalyzing change.

View Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)'s Website

Food and Farm Communications Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation)

Awarded $10,000.00

To provide targeted communications funding and resources to community-based organizations working at the forefront of food and farm systems change. The Fund advances communications initiatives and media projects to help shift narrative and further the goals of the grassroots and their allies. The Fund also seeks to influence increased funding and prioritization of strategic communications and narrative as essential tools in movement-building and systems change.

View Food and Farm Communications Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation)'s Website

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Awarded $10,000.00

To continue their work and build capacity to introduce and center worker voices in local, state, and national policy campaigns in three primary categories: 1) worker health and safety standards for all food workers, and meatpacking workers in particular; 2) national farmworker policy priorities, including members' opposition of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; and 3) continued development and implementation of food procurement policies across the United States as part of the Good Food Purchasing Program.

View Food Chain Workers Alliance's Website

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Rural Affairs)

Awarded $40,000.00

To help us bring our policy expertise to bear at critical climate crisis decision-making spaces in Washington, D.C. and mobilize our grassroots base around a major multi-year campaign on climate change from the field to advance legislation that addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation head-on and places just, regenerative policies at the heart of solutions for agriculture.

View National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (Fiscal Sponsor: Center for Rural Affairs)'s Website

Government Accountability Project

Awarded $10,000.00

To enhance overall food integrity by facilitating truth-telling, accountability, and fairness to safeguard food, curtail farm animal abuse, and challenge economic exploitation of farmers and migrant workers through their support of enhanced and modernized corporate whistleblower protections for the agriculture industry.

View Government Accountability Project's Website

State Innovation Exchange

Awarded $20,000.00

The SiX Agriculture Program will prioritize helping state legislators across the nation work more effectively to coordinate and collaborate with grassroots organizations to engage and champion meaningful regenerative agriculture policy that centers food justice, farmer equity, clean air and water, healthy soils and re-establishes healthy local farm economies for our rural communities. While this work is state-based, it is Six's goal to not only impact policy at the state level but to compliment regional and national efforts that are working to advance regenerative and climate-friendly agriculture policy.

View State Innovation Exchange's Website

Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative (Fiscal Sponsor: Multiplier)

Awarded $10,000.00

To build a broad, powerful base of organizations across the country from the environmental, independent farmer, sustainable food, labor, civil rights, and animal welfare movements to jointly challenge corporate control of the food system and advocate for better U.S.-based agricultural policies.

View Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative (Fiscal Sponsor: Multiplier)'s Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

Awarded $10,000.00

We are engaged in two, multipart reporting initiatives — The first focuses on creative agricultural solutions to the climate crisis and the impediments such solutions face. The second explores a key aspect of the biodiversity crisis: How agriculture depletes biodiversity, and how, when managed sustainably, it can enhance biodiversity while feeding a growing population. With climate policy a major factor in the current presidential campaign and the biodiversity crisis a subject of international concern, we believe support for this reporting is essential to increasing public pressure on lawmakers and corporations and catalyzing change.

View Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)'s Website

Rural Coalition

Awarded $30,000.00

To advance community-based development in rural, persistently poor communities, expand equity in farm and food programs, and transform systems of inequity in USDA and its programs and services to yield foundational changes in Farm Bill legislation, making more resources available to family-sized farmers and rural communities.

View Rural Coalition's Website

HEAL Food Alliance (Fiscal Sponsor: Movement Strategy Center)

Awarded $30,000.00

To support the capacity-building and general operations of the Alliance to identify and advance strategic policy campaigns on the Farm Bill and food procurement, as well as protections for food workers and the dismantling of corporate control. HEAL Food Alliance will also cultivate new leaders through the third cohort of their School of Political Leadership, build their members’ capacity for organizing and communications, and coordinate an emerging initiative to increase philanthropic investment in the leadership of BIPOC groups accountable to their communities.

View HEAL Food Alliance (Fiscal Sponsor: Movement Strategy Center)'s Website

Union of Concerned Scientists

Awarded $40,000.00

To provide mini-grants to Good Food for All (GFFA) members to support their individual organizational capacity to make progress on collective GFFA priorities and goals. Over the last three years, these mini-grants have become an essential source of financial support for otherwise unfunded or underfunded projects; a valuable capacity building opportunity to develop and evaluate grant making skills; and a way of bringing the collaborative together to share learning.

View Union of Concerned Scientists's Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To shine a light on corporate agricultural monopolies through investigative reporting, in-depth policy research and proposals, proposing legal remedies and rulemaking, and coordinating a coalition for progressive policy and agriculture organizations on challenges in the food and agriculture systems space. Our work in food and agriculture has been focused on two key strategies: reviving antitrust enforcement and promoting fair dealing in food markets, and rebalancing power in political and economic systems.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)

Awarded $20,000.00

To move towards collaborative action for a network of 60 diverse members, including creating a Communications & Media studio, a grassroots policy strategy at the national and state level, a Financing the Transition strategy, a comprehensive Tracking the Field initiative, and Research series.

View Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)'s Website

California Climate and Agriculture Network (Fiscal Sponsor: Earth Island Institute)

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the creation of the National Healthy Soils Policy Network to serve as an information clearinghouse, learning laboratory, and aggregator of farmer voices across the country for building power and securing resources that will catalyze a transition to a healthy and just agricultural system while delivering climate solutions and increasing on-farm resilience.

View California Climate and Agriculture Network (Fiscal Sponsor: Earth Island Institute)'s Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To pay for activities required to elevate the voice and priorities of our members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems. This includes staff time, organizational expenses, and cost of travel and stipends for our members to compensate them for any potential loss of income while they are away from their businesses of farming, ranching, or fishing.

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $40,000.00

To support the project “Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy,” to enhance SAFSF's ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within their membership.

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

National Young Farmers Coalition

Awarded $10,000.00

To create a cohort of young farmers trained to become leaders ready to bring their political know-how home to their agricultural communities, resulting in an expanded network equipped to serve as mentors, advocates, technical assistants, and public officials, resourced to serve without sacrificing their vital work as farmers and land stewards.

View National Young Farmers Coalition's Website

Food and Farm Communications Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation)

Awarded $10,000.00

To provide targeted communications funding and resources to community-based organizations working at the forefront of food and farm systems change. The Fund advances communications initiatives and media projects to help shift narrative and further the goals of the grassroots and their allies. The Fund also seeks to influence increased funding and prioritization of strategic communications and narrative as essential tools in movement-building and systems change.

View Food and Farm Communications Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Greater Kansas City Community Foundation)'s Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To shine a light on corporate agricultural monopolies through investigative reporting, in-depth policy research and proposals, proposing legal remedies and rulemaking, and coordinating a coalition for progressive policy and agriculture organizations on challenges in the food and agriculture systems space. Our work in food and agriculture has been focused on two key strategies: reviving antitrust enforcement and promoting fair dealing in food markets, and rebalancing power in political and economic systems.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

California Climate and Agriculture Network

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the creation of the National Healthy Soils Policy Network to serve as an information clearinghouse, learning laboratory, and aggregator of farmer voices across the country for building power and securing resources that will catalyze a transition to a healthy and just agricultural system while delivering climate solutions and increasing on-farm resilience.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Awarded $40,000.00

To provide mini-grants to Good Food for All (GFFA) members to support their individual organizational capacity to make progress on collective GFFA priorities and goals. Over the last three years, these mini-grants have become an essential source of financial support for otherwise unfunded or underfunded projects; a valuable capacity building opportunity to develop and evaluate grant making skills; and a way of bringing the collaborative together to share learning.

View Union of Concerned Scientists's Website

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Awarded $10,000.00

To continue their work and build capacity to introduce and center worker voices in local, state, and national policy campaigns in three primary categories: 1) worker health and safety standards for all food workers, and meatpacking workers in particular; 2) national farmworker policy priorities, including members' opposition of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; and 3) continued development and implementation of food procurement policies across the United States as part of the Good Food Purchasing Program.

View Food Chain Workers Alliance's Website

Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative

Awarded $10,000.00

To build a broad, powerful base of organizations across the country from the environmental, independent farmer, sustainable food, labor, civil rights, and animal welfare movements to jointly challenge corporate control of the food system and advocate for better U.S.-based agricultural policies.

View Animal Agriculture Reform Collaborative's Website

Rural Coalition

Awarded $30,000.00

To advance community-based development in rural, persistently poor communities, expand equity in farm and food programs, and transform systems of inequity in USDA and its programs and services to yield foundational changes in Farm Bill legislation, making more resources available to family-sized farmers and rural communities.

View Rural Coalition's Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To pay for activities required to elevate the voice and priorities of our members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems. This includes staff time, organizational expenses, and cost of travel and stipends for our members to compensate them for any potential loss of income while they are away from their businesses of farming, ranching, or fishing. View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To help us bring our policy expertise to bear at critical climate crisis decision-making spaces in Washington, D.C. and mobilize our grassroots base around a major multi-year campaign on climate change from the field to advance legislation that addresses climate change mitigation and adaptation head-on and places just, regenerative policies at the heart of solutions for agriculture.

View National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

Awarded $10,000.00

We are engaged in two, multipart reporting initiatives — The first focuses on creative agricultural solutions to the climate crisis and the impediments such solutions face. The second explores a key aspect of the biodiversity crisis: How agriculture depletes biodiversity, and how, when managed sustainably, it can enhance biodiversity while feeding a growing population. With climate policy a major factor in the current presidential campaign and the biodiversity crisis a subject of international concern, we believe support for this reporting is essential to increasing public pressure on lawmakers and corporations and catalyzing change.

Funders for Regenerative Agriculture

Awarded $20,000.00

To move towards collaborative action for a network of 60 diverse members, including creating a Communications & Media studio, a grassroots policy strategy at the national and state level, a Financing the Transition strategy, a comprehensive Tracking the Field initiative, and Research series.

View Funders for Regenerative Agriculture's Website

State Innovation Exchange

Awarded $25,000.00

The SiX Agriculture Program will prioritize helping state legislators across the nation work more effectively to coordinate and collaborate with grassroots organizations to engage and champion meaningful regenerative agriculture policy that centers food justice, farmer equity, clean air and water, healthy soils and re-establishes healthy local farm economies for our rural communities. While this work is state-based, it is Six's goal to not only impact policy at the state level but to compliment regional and national efforts that are working to advance regenerative and climate-friendly agriculture policy.

View State Innovation Exchange's Website

HEAL Food Alliance

Awarded $30,000.00

To support the capacity-building and general operations of the Alliance to identify and advance strategic policy campaigns on the Farm Bill and food procurement, as well as protections for food workers and the dismantling of corporate control. HEAL Food Alliance will also cultivate new leaders through the third cohort of their School of Political Leadership, build their members’ capacity for organizing and communications, and coordinate an emerging initiative to increase philanthropic investment in the leadership of BIPOC groups accountable to their communities.

View HEAL Food Alliance's Website

National Young Farmers Coalition

Awarded $10,000.00

To create a cohort of young farmers trained to become leaders ready to bring their political know-how home to their agricultural communities, resulting in an expanded network equipped to serve as mentors, advocates, technical assistants, and public officials, resourced to serve without sacrificing their vital work as farmers and land stewards.

View National Young Farmers Coalition's Website

Food and Farm Communications Fund

Awarded $10,000.00

To provide targeted communications funding and resources to community-based organizations working at the forefront of food and farm systems change. The Fund advances communications initiatives and media projects to help shift narrative and further the goals of the grassroots and their allies. The Fund also seeks to influence increased funding and prioritization of strategic communications and narrative as essential tools in movement-building and systems change.

View Food and Farm Communications Fund's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $40,000.00

To support the project “Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy,” to enhance SAFSF's ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within their membership.

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

Government Accountability Project

Awarded $10,000.00

To enhance overall food integrity by facilitating truth-telling, accountability, and fairness to safeguard food, curtail farm animal abuse, and challenge economic exploitation of farmers and migrant workers through their support of enhanced and modernized corporate whistleblower protections for the agriculture industry.

View Government Accountability Project's Website

Union of Concerned Scientists

Awarded $30,000.00

To support the activities of the Good Food For All (GFFA) initiative with the ultimate goal of improving the well-being of communities whose contributions are essential for the food and agriculture system to work but whose interests and priorities are seldom considered in federal policy.

View Union of Concerned Scientists's Website

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To support a three-year effort to engage NSAC's members, allies, and their collective grassroots base around major opportunities to advance climate change legislation and farm and food policy reform.

View National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network

Awarded $10,000.00

To support two multipart reporting initiatives — one on climate and agriculture and another on biodiversity and agriculture. The first is inspired by the fact that there is no climate “solution” that does not include agriculture and food production.  The second explores a key aspect of the biodiversity crisis: How agriculture depletes biodiversity, and how, when managed sustainably, it can enhance biodiversity while feeding a growing population. 

View Food and Environment Reporting Network's Website

Food and Farm Communications Fund

Awarded $10,000.00

To support communications funding and resources to community-based organizations working at the forefront of food and farm systems change, and to advance communications initiatives and media projects that help to shift public narrative and further the goals of grassroots organizations and their allies.

View Food and Farm Communications Fund's Website

Rural Coalition

Awarded $30,000.00

General operating support to secure just and sustainable food systems that bring fair returns to diverse small farmers and ranchers, tribal and other communities; fair working conditions and dignity for farmworkers and food chain workers; protection of mother earth now and for our children’s children; safe, adequate and healthy food for all, especially the elders, youth, and most vulnerable of us. RC engages in an integrated program of public policy monitoring, technical assistance, capacity-building, participatory collaborative research, and education so that together they may secure the best possible federal policy outcomes and forge innovative, community-driven solutions with the grassroots communities they serve. 

View Rural Coalition's Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To support OMI's vision for fair and sustainable agriculture policy through work that includes 1) publishing policy papers and briefs, 2) conducting cutting-edge research, and 3) building broad coalitions to influence rulemaking.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

Food Chain Workers Alliance

Awarded $20,000.00

To support policy work that will fall into three primary categories: 1) worker health and safety standards for all food workers, and meatpacking workers in particular; 2) national farmworker policy priorities, including members' opposition of the Farm Workforce Modernization Act; and 3) continued development and implementation of food procurement policies across the United States as part of the Good Food Purchasing Program.

View Food Chain Workers Alliance's Website

HEAL Food Alliance

Awarded $30,000.00

General operating support to mobilize the alliance to bolster capacity-building activities that grow the sector for long-term transformational change.  HEAL members now represent 2 million rural and urban farmers, ranchers, fisherfolk, farm and food chain workers, scientists, indigenous groups, public health advocates, policy experts, community organizers, and activists.

View HEAL Food Alliance's Website

State Innovation Exchange

Awarded $25,000.00

To support the work of the SiX’s Agriculture Program which prioritizes helping state legislators across the nation work more effectively to coordinate and collaborate with grassroots organizations to engage and champion meaningful regenerative agriculture policy that centers food justice, farmer equity, clean air and water, healthy soils and re-establishes healthy local farm economies for our rural communities.

View State Innovation Exchange's Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To pay for activities required to elevate the voice and priorities of our members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems.

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $50,000.00

To support the project “Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy,” to enhance SAFSF's ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within their membership.

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

ActionAid USA

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the advance of research, communications, and movement building around new federal policy solutions for a climate-friendly, economically just, and sustainable food and farm system in the US.

View ActionAid USA's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $75,000.00

“Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy” will enhance our ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within our membership.

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To raise public awareness of the impact of monopoly power in the food system, and to support the creation of regional resilient food systems where farmers and food chain workers have support and dignity and consumers can access a wide variety of affordable, healthy, and culturally relevant foods.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

ActionAid USA

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the advance of research, communications, and movement building around new federal policy solutions for a climate-friendly, economically just, and sustainable food and farm system in the US.

View ActionAid USA's Website

Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All

Awarded $30,000.00

This project will enable members of communities that have been historically excluded from federal food and agriculture negotiations to generate, refine, and advocate for their policy priorities and innovations. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) facilitates the activities of the Good Food For All (GFFA) initiative with the ultimate goal of improving the well being of communities whose contributions are essential for the food and agriculture system to work but whose interests and priorities are seldom considered in federal policy.

View Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All's Website

State Innovation Exchange

Awarded $25,000.00

To support the work of the SiX’s Agriculture Program which prioritizes helping state legislators across the nation work more effectively to coordinate and collaborate with grassroots organizations to engage and champion meaningful regenerative agriculture policy that centers food justice, farmer equity, clean air and water, healthy soils and re-establishes healthy local farm economies for our rural communities.

View State Innovation Exchange's Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network

Awarded $10,000.00

To support multi-part reporting initiatives on climate and biodiversity in agriculture.

View Food and Environment Reporting Network's Website

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To support a three-year effort to engage NSAC's members, allies, and their collective grassroots base around major opportunities to advance climate change legislation and farm and food policy reform.

View National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's Website

Food and Farm Communications Fund

Awarded $10,000.00

To support communications funding and resources to community-based organizations working at the forefront of food and farm systems change, and to advance communications initiatives and media projects that help to shift public narrative and further the goals of grassroots organizations and their allies.

View Food and Farm Communications Fund's Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $0.00

To support elevating the voice and priorities of NFFC members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems.

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

Food and Environment Reporting Network, Inc.

Awarded $10,000.00

To support a multi-part, multi-platform investigation and reporting into rural conflicts between large-scale animal production facilities (CAFOs) and local communities. 

View Food and Environment Reporting Network, Inc.'s Website

Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All

Awarded $30,000.00

This project will enable members of communities that have been historically excluded from federal food and agriculture negotiations to generate, refine, and advocate for their policy priorities and innovations. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) facilitates the activities of the Good Food For All (GFFA) initiative with the ultimate goal of improving the well being of communities whose contributions are essential for the food and agriculture system to work but whose interests and priorities are seldom considered in federal policy. 

View Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All's Website

National Family Farm Coalition

Awarded $20,000.00

To support elevating the voice and priorities of NFFC members who primarily live in rural America, advocate for policy changes that enrich their lives, and raise the profile of community-based and controlled food systems.

View National Family Farm Coalition's Website

ActionAid USA

Awarded $15,000.00

To support the advance of research, communications, and movement building around new federal policy solutions for a climate-friendly, economically just, and sustainable food and farm system in the US. 

View ActionAid USA's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $100,000.00

“Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy” will enhance our ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within our membership.  

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

Open Markets Institute

Awarded $30,000.00

To help policymakers and the public understand America’s monopoly problem in food and farming and take action to reverse it. We use investigative journalism, op-eds, grassroots alliances, and policymaker education to raise awareness of the consequences of concentrations of power in food and farm markets, and work directly with policymakers to develop solutions.

View Open Markets Institute's Website

Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All

Awarded $30,000.00

This project will enable members of communities that have been historically excluded from federal food and agriculture negotiations to generate, refine, and advocate for their policy priorities and innovations. The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) facilitates the activities of the Good Food For All (GFFA) initiative with the ultimate goal of improving the well being of communities whose contributions are essential for the food and agriculture system to work but whose interests and priorities are seldom considered in federal policy. 

View Union of Concerned Scientists - Good Food For All's Website

Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders

Awarded $100,000.00

“Catalyzing Action: Building philanthropic knowledge and capacity to impact food and farm policy” will enhance our ability to contribute to more effective investments and accelerated learning within our membership.  

View Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Funders's Website

Prairie Flower Montessori School

Awarded $5,000.00

to support the construction of raised beds for outdoor activities and nature-based learning to empower students with practical knowledge of sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship.

View Prairie Flower Montessori School's Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $30,000.00

to help the organization through a period of growth that includes making investments in administrative staff and software for financial, donor, and CSA management as well as facilitating the expansion of the farm onto new land.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website

Fresh Taste - Chicago Regional Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $50,000.00

continuing to support the resilience of agricultural producers and organizations working toward food system resilience through the Chicago Region Food System Fund operated by the Fresh Taste Initiative.

View Fresh Taste - Chicago Regional Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Vermilion Association for Special Education

Awarded $24,985.00

for staff time and the purchase of greenhouse supplies to teach the students skills in problem-solving, behavior management, coping strategies, and self-regulation through horticultural therapy techniques.

View Vermilion Association for Special Education's Website

Lincoln Log Cabin Foundation

Awarded $50,000.00

for the construction of a natural playscape at the Lincoln Log Cabin site that will provide children with the opportunity to experience nature and stimulate creativity and imagination, promote environmental responsibility and physical activity, while also offering lessons on local history and conservation.

View Lincoln Log Cabin Foundation's Website

Sierra Club Foundation

Awarded $30,000.00

for continued support of the ‘Partners for Clean Water Campaign’ to leverage public and stakeholder involvement in plans for publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities to reduce nutrient pollution and improve the water quality in five East Central Illinois watersheds.

View Sierra Club Foundation's Website

Empowerment Opportunity Center

Awarded $35,000.00

to support the addition of a 46’ x 46’ labyrinth to the facility’s interactive garden walk directly north of the building. The area provides gardening opportunities, balancing during movement, and musical experiences while walking in the outdoor environment.

View Empowerment Opportunity Center's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $40,000.00

to support the organization’s continued growth and development in their work with a diverse group of partners to foster land management practices and policies that protect the land, air, water, and biodiversity of Illinois while educating local and state decisionmakers and regulators on conservation issues.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Awarded $40,000.00

to support the organization’s goals to identify, recruit, and train farmers to engage with and participate in member caucuses and coalitions, work closely with policymakers and their staff, communicate stories, and produce reports on food system issues in Illinois.

View Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Website

Buckeye Friends School (fiscal sponsor, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation)

Awarded $5,000.00

toward funding a revitalized “Garden the Great” program to teach students how to not only care for the land and grow their own food, but also how to connect with the community through selling excess produce at farmers markets and to local restaurants.

View Buckeye Friends School (fiscal sponsor, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation)'s Website

Decatur Parks Foundation

Awarded $7,500.00

to utilize the sound system at the Devon Lakeshore Amphitheater to supplement the Park District’s free summer yoga series, Moonlight Yoga. The monthly event is attended by residents of Decatur and Macon Counties to strengthen muscles, boost cardiovascular health, and reduce stress.

View Decatur Parks Foundation's Website

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund

Awarded $40,000.00

for general operations support to continue their work to educate lawmakers and introduce them to real businesses and farmers in the sustainable, local food movement, with a focus on leaders in East Central Illinois, as well as building the ‘Illinois is Beautiful’ coalition to protect conservation spaces.

View Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund's Website

UIUC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Economics

Awarded $50,000.00

for the development of a Policy Design Lab at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) that applies research, data, and computational resources to add context and perspective to challenging public policy matters while also seeking innovation and creativity in policy design.

View UIUC Department of Agriculture & Consumer Economics's Website

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Awarded $40,000.00

for general operating funds to produce in-depth stories focused on water agriculture, and environmental issues in partnership with the University of Missouri’s Mississippi River Ag and Water Desk.

View Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting's Website

Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)

Awarded $35,000.00

to bring culturally sensitive advocacy, community outreach, education, social, and official services to low-income Latine immigrant laborers and their families living and working in the food supply chain in East Central Illinois.

View Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)'s Website

Mid-Illinois Big Brothers Big Sisters

Awarded $5,000.00

to help recruit, background check, train, and support ten community-based mentoring relationships for at-risk youth from Nov. 2023-Oct. 2024.

View Mid-Illinois Big Brothers Big Sisters's Website

Coles County Mental Health Association (LifeLinks)

Awarded $16,720.00

to provide the organization’s employees addressing the ongoing and growing need for mental health care in Coles County with a day-long wellness retreat to reconnect with themselves and nature.

View Coles County Mental Health Association (LifeLinks)'s Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $36,000.00

to fund programs that include: increasing farmer knowledge on sustainable farming practices, growing beginner farm businesses, providing the community access to healthy, locally grown foods, and expanding public awareness of the importance of a local food system.

View The Land Connection's Website

Mattoon CUSD #2 – Mattoon High School

Awarded $50,000.00

to expand the school’s courtyard space into an outdoor hands-on learning environment for the agriculture department and area Future Farmers of America members.

View Mattoon CUSD #2 – Mattoon High School's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $25,000.00

to fund ongoing programs that increase farmer knowledge on sustainable farming practices; grow beginner farm businesses; provide the community access to healthy, locally grown foods; and expand public awareness of the importance of a local food system.

View The Land Connection's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $30,000.00

to fund operating expenses in FIP's work with faith congregations across East Central Illinois in adopting healthy, sustainable, and money-saving practices.

View Faith in Place's Website

Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $30,000.00

to serve as a catalyst, rather than an implementing organization, to systemically change the way food is produced and consumed in the Chicago region promoting healthy land, healthy people, and healthy communities.

View Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Izaak Walton League of America

Awarded $20,750.00

To build a network of farmland owners in East Central Illinois working together to speed the adoption of soil health practices shown to conserve soil and water, reduce polluted runoff, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, store carbon in the soil, reduce farm input costs, and make farmland more resilient to flooding and drought. The funds will support network education through a series of six online and in-person workshops on soil health and resources for conservation planning as well as technical and financial assistance.

View Izaak Walton League of America's Website

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Awarded $35,000.00

To support staff in identifying, recruiting, and training farmers to engage in ISA work through their member-only caucuses, participate in coalitions working with policymakers and their staff, communicate stories and produce reports on food system issues, and provide opportunities for engagement online and in-person.

View Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $30,000.00

For administrative staff and customer relationship management (CRM) software to improve efficiency and effective communication with partners, members, volunteers, and donors. The additional staff will allow the Director and support staff to focus on other areas of growth and development identified in their Strategic Plan.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website

Forefront - Fresh Taste

Awarded $32,500.00

To contribute to the pooled funding of the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) to generate research into regenerative agriculture and build new collaborative partnerships engaging stakeholder and academic communities in sustained two-way dialogs about research and education, and challenges to adoption and measuring impact.

View Forefront - Fresh Taste's Website

American Farmland Trust

Awarded $45,000.00

To support the outreach efforts of American Farmland Trust (AFT) to local landowner, nonprofit, and farmer champions of farmland protection in Sangamon, Champaign, and Coles Counties. AFT will offer a farmland transition workshop to complement the engagement and capacity-building for permanent farmland protection in the region by engaging landowners in the importance of planning for the future of their land.

View American Farmland Trust's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the continued growth and development of the IDEA Farm Network (IFN), a farmer-led learning community that is rooted in East Central Illinois, plus two annual gatherings for the ReGenerate Illinois (RI) Network and food system related projects.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $36,000.00

For general operating support for their project, Increasing Capacity to Build Strong and Resilient Local Food Systems. The project is designed to increase farmer knowledge on building and growing sustainable farming businesses to provide the local community with access to healthy, locally grown and raised foods. The project also aims to increase public awareness of the importance of a strong, resilient, local food system by increasing the number of programs and events offered to the general public.

View The Land Connection's Website

Friends of Lake Shelbyville

Awarded $5,000.00

To fund the creation and activities of the Lake Shelbyville Youth Ambassador program, a monthly series of hands-on habitat and recreation projects for area youth that will enhance the local community's use of project lands to enjoy the outdoors and subsequently increase fitness and enjoyment of nature. The projects will also instill in the participants a sense of pride and ownership in public lands and lead to an increased interest in natural resource management careers.

View Friends of Lake Shelbyville's Website

Charleston High School - Charleston Community School District #1

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the newly constructed, student-run Trojan Greenhouse through the purchase of plant plugs, greenhouse tools, and garden equipment. Charleston High School horticulture students will grow spring annuals and garden crops to help beautify the landscapes within the Charleston-area community and provide access to affordable garden crops for local gardens.

View Charleston High School - Charleston Community School District #1's Website

University of Illinois Extension

Awarded $25,000.00

To cover the cost of meat processing for the East Central Illinois Deer Donation program, an effort to provide hunter-donated venison to low-income and food insecure families in Clay, Coles, Cumberland, DeWitt, Douglas, Effingham, Fayette, Jasper, Macon, Moultrie, Piatt, and Shelby Counties.

View University of Illinois Extension's Website

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Awarded $40,000.00

To produce in-depth stories focused on agriculture, climate change and water, including data analysis of publicly available federal and state data, reports, graphics, and other data visualizations. The results will be shared through their collaborative network and media partners to inform and educate the communities, public officials, advocates, and critics who may have the resources to influence constructive change.

View Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting's Website

Champaign County Environmental Stewards

Awarded $36,840.00

For the purchase and installation of a mechanical lift system to aid in the collection of heavy food scrap waste containers for the Commercial Food Scrap for Composting Pilot Project in Urbana, IL. The additional equipment will improve operator safety and allow the waste collector to expand the collection route to include additional restaurants and businesses.

View Champaign County Environmental Stewards's Website

Faith In Place

Awarded $30,000.00

To continue the “Connecting Communities for Faith Environmental Leadership and Collaboration” project - building on significant successes in 2018-2021 to engage East Central Illinois (ECI) people of faith to help protect the environment; strengthen grassroots leadership capacity; and increase connections among ECI communities in five program areas: sustainable food & land use; energy & climate change; water preservation; advocacy; youth leadership.

View Faith In Place's Website

Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $30,000.00

To support the study of regenerative agriculture to advance productivity, profitability, and environmental health by actionable research, designed and conducted collaboratively with stakeholders, at the interface of agronomy, crop science, ecology, computer science, economics, and social dimensions.

View Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Elevate CICC, Inc.

Awarded $15,000.00

To provide funding for the Regional Growth Initiative, development of partnerships across the rural communities of East Central Illinois and the nation to work collaboratively to cultivate entrepreneurial and leadership skills in area youth and citizens.

View Elevate CICC, Inc.'s Website

Eastern Illinois University Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteerism

Awarded $5,215.00

To support the EIU Campus Food Pantry in offering milk, eggs, bread, and fresh produce to compliment the nonperishable items meeting student hunger and food insecurity needs.

View Eastern Illinois University Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteerism's Website

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)

Awarded $25,000.00

To fund the general operations of IECEF to increase their work on sustainable agriculture and conservation in East Central Illinois by promoting policies that conserve natural areas and educating decision makers through hands-on experiences with conservation areas in their districts.

View Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)'s Website

Trail Recreation Effingham County

Awarded $50,000.00

To fund the TREC Phase VI Project, including the development of a nature park on TREC owned property, clearing brush for the trails, and construction of elevated walkways and pipe culverts to cross streams and waterways with access to sandbars along the Little Wabash River.

View Trail Recreation Effingham County's Website

Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)

Awarded $30,000.00

To conduct community outreach and labor rights education in East Central Illinois to low-income Latinx workers and their households in the cannery, farms, greenhouse, landscaping, meat, nursery, packinghouse, poultry, restaurants, and snow plowing industries.

View Farmworker & Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)'s Website

Fresh Taste - Chicago Regional Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $50,000.00

To contribute funding toward the collaborative Chicago Region Food System Fund, focusing on COVID-19 related response and building resilience in the local food system, an area approximately 200 miles from Chicago. Priority has been given to organizations producing food in, and supplying food to, communities of color.

View Fresh Taste - Chicago Regional Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $30,000.00

To systemically change the way food is produced and consumed in the Chicago region to promote healthy land, healthy people, and healthy communities by creating an effective funder and practitioner collaboration in the Upper Midwest to promote a resilient food system in the region. This work includes supporting the evolution of local foods to include greater emphasis on diversified, regenerative agriculture through small grains, perennial agriculture, and livestock.

View Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $35,000.00

For general operating support for Prairie Rivers Network’s organizational capacity and development while strengthening ongoing and emerging agricultural programming to foster the adoption of agricultural practices and policies that regenerate and protect the land, air, water, and biodiversity of communities from the northeast to the southern tip of Illinois, with a strong focus in East Central Illinois

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $25,000.00

To develop and launch a comprehensive farmland access program for Illinois, drawing on work from partners at The Conservation Fund and Liberty Prairie Foundation who have worked to identify challenges to farmers seeking land and landowners seeking conservation-minded farmers and the additional support services that would make those connections possible.

View The Land Connection's Website

Fit-2-Serve

Awarded $20,000.00

For organizational capacity building and expansion of Fit-2-Serve's current programs targeting youth through agriculture and rural development activities to create a stronger social fabric grounded in good health and sustainability.

View Fit-2-Serve's Website

Sierra Club Foundation

Awarded $30,000.00

For the Illinois Partners for Clean Water Campaign to engage community members in efforts to improve water quality through improved farming practices and wastewater treatment in five East Central Illinois watersheds—the Vermilion, Sangamon, Embarras, and Little Wabash rivers; and Shoal Creek (Kaskaskia River tributary).

View Sierra Club Foundation's Website

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund

Awarded $25,000.00

To amplify the voices of IECEF partners in East Central Illinois and beyond through the organization's Conservation Program to promote local ordinances which allow citizens greater autonomy in converting portions of their properties into natural landscapes and demonstrate to decision makers the value of natural areas as a strong mitigation tool in the fight against the impacts of climate change.

View Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund's Website

Eastern Illinois University

Awarded $30,000.00

For continued funding of the Squash Hunger through Partners in Produce project and additional community outreach and networking capabilities while providing more students with hands-on community public health nutrition experience.

View Eastern Illinois University's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $20,000.00

For general operating support for their project, Increasing Capacity to Build Strong and Resilient Local Food Systems. The project is designed to increase farmer knowledge on building and growing sustainable farming businesses to provide the local community with access to healthy, locally grown and raised foods. The project also aims to increase public awareness of the importance of a strong, resilient, local food system by increasing the number of programs and events offered to the general public.

View The Land Connection's Website

American Farmland Trust

Awarded $29,991.00

To fund the efforts of American Farmland Trust to build interest in and capacity for farmland protection within county governments and Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) in targeted regions of Illinois, including virtual training for elected officials and SWCD representatives on successful farmland protection programs and available funding.

View American Farmland Trust's Website

Champaign County Environmental Stewards

Awarded $35,000.00

To establish facilities and commercial relationships as part of the Commercial Food Scrap Compost Pilot Project to divert pre-consumer food scraps from landfills to a composting facility that will make salable screened garden compost.

View Champaign County Environmental Stewards's Website

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Awarded $35,000.00

Funding to support staff as they identify, recruit, and train farmers to engage in their work through the member-only caucuses, participate in coalitions, work closely with policymakers and their staff, communicate stories and produce reports on food system issues, and provide opportunities for personal engagement.

View Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $33,000.00

To support the continued growth and development of the IDEA Farm Network (IFN), a farmer-led learning community that is rooted in East Central Illinois, plus two annual gatherings for the ReGenerate Illinois (RI) Network and food system related projects.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $30,000.00

For administrative staff and customer relationship management (CRM) software to improve efficiency and effective communication with partners, members, volunteers, and donors. The additional staff will allow the Director and support staff to focus on other areas of growth and development identified in their Strategic Plan.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website

Buckeye Friends School (Fiscal Sponsor: Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation)

Awarded $4,678.00

In support of the school's Garden the Great Project to inspire students with a hands-on experience growing sustainable food as they study the impact of industrial food production on climate change and cultivating regenerative agriculture systems.

View Buckeye Friends School (Fiscal Sponsor: Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation)'s Website

Sierra Club Foundation

Awarded $30,000.00

For the Illinois Partners for Clean Water Campaign to engage community members in efforts to improve water quality through improved farming practices and wastewater treatment in five East Central Illinois watersheds—the Vermilion, Sangamon, Embarras, and Little Wabash rivers; and Shoal Creek (Kaskaskia River tributary).

View Sierra Club Foundation's Website

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)

Awarded $25,000.00

To fund the general operations of IECEF to increase their work on sustainable agriculture and conservation in East Central Illinois by promoting policies that conserve natural areas and educating decision makers through hands-on experiences with conservation areas in their districts.

View Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)'s Website

Camp New Hope

Awarded $25,000.00

To spruce up Camp New Hope to provide an inviting, welcoming and an educational atmosphere with butterfly and pollinator gardens, walking paths, benches, bird baths, signage, and plaques to distinguish the various garden areas and plant or tree species for those enjoying the scenery.

View Camp New Hope's Website

Fresh Taste - Chicago Region Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $50,000.00

To contribute funding toward the collaborative Chicago Region Food System Fund, focusing on COVID-19 related response and building resilience in the local food system, an area approximately 200 miles from Chicago. Priority has been given to organizations producing food in, and supplying food to, communities of color.

View Fresh Taste - Chicago Region Food System Fund (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Forefront - Fresh Taste

Awarded $30,000.00

To systemically change the way food is produced and consumed in the Chicago region to promote healthy land, healthy people, and healthy communities by creating an effective funder and practitioner collaboration in the Upper Midwest to promote a resilient food system in the region. This work includes supporting the evolution of local foods to include greater emphasis on diversified, regenerative agriculture through small grains, perennial agriculture, and livestock.

View Forefront - Fresh Taste's Website

Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $30,000.00

To build leadership capacity in Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Illinois by catalyzing collaboration among units on campus with relevant, complementary expertise and supporting the education of graduate students at the University of Illinois who choose to work on research topics relevant to promoting the key metrics of regenerative agriculture.

View Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Shelbyville Community Garden

Awarded $5,000.00

To purchase lumber for additional raised beds at the community garden, plus fruit trees, hoses and tools, a portable green house, and supplies for educational classes for children and adults.

View Shelbyville Community Garden's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $25,000.00

To develop and launch a comprehensive farmland access program for Illinois, drawing on work from partners at The Conservation Fund and Liberty Prairie Foundation who have worked to identify challenges to farmers seeking land and landowners seeking conservation-minded farmers and the additional support services that would make those connections possible.

View The Land Connection's Website

University of Illinois Extension

Awarded $15,961.00

To purchase refrigeration units for local food pantries participating in the Squash Hunger Through Partners in Produce project, a collaboration between Eastern Illinois University and the University of Illinois Extension to address food insecurity in East Central Illinois by obtaining produce donations from farmers and distributing them to local food pantries, providing fresh produce to resource-limited populations.

View University of Illinois Extension's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $30,000.00

To continue the “Connecting Communities for Faith Environmental Leadership and Collaboration” project - building on significant successes in 2018-2021 to engage East Central Illinois (ECI) people of faith to help protect the environment; strengthen grassroots leadership capacity; and increase connections among ECI communities in five program areas: sustainable food & land use; energy & climate change; water preservation; advocacy; youth leadership.

View Faith in Place's Website

Douglas-Hart Foundation

Awarded $30,000.00

To support the Wishes for Whiteside project to update, beautify, and expand the Whiteside Garden and interpretive center to offer public tours and educational exhibits to promote recreation and increase conservation practices in East Central Illinois.

View Douglas-Hart Foundation's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $35,000.00

For general operating support for Prairie Rivers Network’s organizational capacity and development while strengthening ongoing and emerging agricultural programming to foster the adoption of agricultural practices and policies that regenerate and protect the land, air, water, and biodiversity of communities from the northeast to the southern tip of Illinois, with a strong focus in East Central Illinois.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Awarded $20,000.00

For in-depth investigative journalism concerning the overall carbon sequestration efforts in Central Illinois and their potential impact on climate change as well as our food and fuel systems, while also providing well-reported and contextual information so citizens can be fully informed in their assessments of these projects.

View Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting's Website

Fit-2-Serve

Awarded $20,000.00

For organizational capacity building and expansion of Fit-2-Serve's current programs targeting youth through agriculture and rural development activities to create a stronger social fabric grounded in good health and sustainability.

View Fit-2-Serve's Website

Savanna Institute

Awarded $35,000.00

To expand its program into East Central Illinois to work directly with farmers, landowners, agencies, and local organizations to make agroforestry adoption easier at the farm and community level through educational opportunities, state and local agricultural policy development, and one-on-one technical support.

View Savanna Institute's Website

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Awarded $47,000.00

To support staff as they identify, recruit, and train farmers to engage in their work through the member-only caucuses, participate in coalitions, work closely with policymakers and their staff, communicate stories and produce reports on food system issues, and provide opportunities for personal engagement. The funding also covers the completion of a feasibility study for a small and diversified farm loan program in Illinois.

View Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $60,000.00

For general operating support of ReGenerate Illinois (RI), a collaborative partnership that unites farmers, organizations, researchers, institutions, and food entrepreneurs seeking to expand regenerative agriculture, the availability of regenerative-grown local foods, and rebuild local food economies across Illinois. Funding will also benefit the IDEA Farm Network (IFN), a farmer-led learning community of over 430 farmers, researchers, NGOs, and educators.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $7,500.00

To improve soil fertility and plant health on newly acquired and existing acreage through increased and targeted soil testing and plant sap analysis, consultation with a soil health expert, and investment in equipment, nutrients, mycorrhizal fungi, and cover crop seeds.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website

Eastern Illinois University School of Technology

Awarded $48,450.00

To increase the understanding of the scientific and commercial foundations for a profitable, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly alternative crop rotation for farmers in East Central Illinois through industrial hemp fiber by investigating the barriers and opportunities for its development from the crop to energy feedstocks and other sustainable products.

View Eastern Illinois University School of Technology's Website

The Land Connection

Awarded $20,000.00

For general operating support to fund the Increasing Capacity to Build Strong and Resilient Local Food Systems project in Champaign County to provide farmers with the necessary networks, training, and education focused on improving environmental and ecological outcomes for the community and economic and quality of life outcomes for farmers.

View The Land Connection's Website

Faith In Place

Awarded $20,000.00

To continue the expansion of Green Teams within congregations in East Central Illinois and to facilitate projects in the areas of sustainable food and land use, energy and climate, and water preservation.

View Faith In Place's Website

Grand Prairie Friends

Awarded $22,200.00

To fund a feasibility study regarding the building of a bridge to connect the natural area of Lake Charleston to those of Grand Prairie Friends, across the Embarras River in southern Charleston, IL.

View Grand Prairie Friends's Website

Fit-2-Serve

Awarded $20,000.00

For organizational capacity building and expansion of Fit-2-Serve's current programs targeting youth through agriculture and rural development activities to create a stronger social fabric grounded in good health and sustainability.

View Fit-2-Serve's Website

Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $30,000.00

To build leadership capacity in Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Illinois by catalyzing collaboration among units on campus with relevant, complementary expertise.

View Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)

Awarded $25,000.00

To support the general operations of IECEF and enable them to increase their work to promote policies that conserve natural areas and promote sustainable agriculture by educating decision makers through hands-on experiences with conservation areas in their districts.

View Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund (IECEF)'s Website

City of Mattoon

Awarded $16,250.00

To plant 50 trees throughout the city along streets, boulevards, in parks, and at the Lake Mattoon Pavilion during the fall of 2020 and the spring of 2021; Watering and maintenance will continue for approximately two years or until the trees are established.

View City of Mattoon's Website

Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $25,000.00

In contribution to the Chicago Food System Emergency Response Fund, intended to support response to the COVID-19 crisis in the Chicago region food system while preparing for recovery and greater resilience in the future.

View Fresh Taste (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Sierra Club Foundation

Awarded $30,000.00

To provide organizing and technical support to volunteers and East Central Illinois residents so they have a basic understanding of what a meaningful watershed Nutrient Assessment and Reduction Plan (NARP) contains, feel comfortable speaking up in these planning efforts, and are well-equipped to contribute to the development of the plans to improve water quality in area watersheds.

View Sierra Club Foundation's Website

Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District Foundation

Awarded $1,500.00

To rent the Illinois Natural History Survey Traveling Science Center, a mobile classroom featuring informative, engaging exhibits on biodiversity and natural resources, for the conservation district's annual educational event for Coles County public school students at the Lincoln Log Cabin State Historic Site in early May.

View Coles County Soil and Water Conservation District Foundation's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $35,000.00

For general operating support for Prairie Rivers Network’s organizational capacity and development while strengthening ongoing and emerging agricultural programming to foster the adoption of agricultural practices and policies that regenerate and protect the land, air, water, and biodiversity of Illinois and beyond.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Forefront - Fresh Taste

Awarded $30,000.00

To systemically change the way food is produced and consumed in the Chicago region to promote healthy land, healthy people, and healthy communities by creating an effective funder and practitioner collaboration in the Upper Midwest to promote a resilient food system in the region. This work includes supporting the evolution of local foods to include greater emphasis on diversified, regenerative agriculture through small grains, perennial agriculture, and livestock.

View Forefront - Fresh Taste's Website

Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation

Awarded $10,000.00

To build a greenhouse to expand the availability and consumption of healthy food through year-round local food production and educational programs in alignment with school schedules in Champaign County.

View Champaign Urbana Schools Foundation's Website

The Organic Center

Awarded $10,000.00

To develop training modules for agricultural professionals in East Central Illinois to help improve the economic and environmental conditions of local farms through increased access to trained and trusted, science-based organic agronomic support.

View The Organic Center's Website

Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Awarded $20,000.00

For an in-depth investigative look at the overall carbon sequestration efforts in Central Illinois and their potential impact on climate change as well as our food and fuel systems while also providing contextual information so citizens can be fully informed in their assessments of these projects.

View Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting's Website

Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District Foundation

Awarded $15,000.00

To improve the ability of Embarras agriculture educators and farmers to implement and support regenerative grazing by offering two full-day workshops demonstrating the benefits of regenerative grazing principles and practices.

View Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District Foundation's Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $10,000.00

to support the revitalization of Unity Park in North Lawndale and help create a place of recreation, respite, and community building in a West Side neighborhood.

View NeighborSpace's Website

SOS Children's Villages Illinois

Awarded $10,000.00

to support the Urban Grower’s Club project to improve health outcomes for Chicago’s most vulnerable youth and families through instruction in nutrition, cooking, and urban gardening in community gardens and learning kitchens at SOS Illinois’ sites around Chicagoland.

View SOS Children's Villages Illinois's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $50,000.00

to enable Chicago schools to provide students with a healthy school environment where they can learn, eat, grow healthy food, and engage with the outdoors.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

People Matter

Awarded $10,000.00

for the Garden Youth Program, serving low-income Black, Brown, and Asian youth ages 11-18 to build leadership and environmental organizing skills and expand the organization’s environmental and gardening networks in the community.

View People Matter's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $10,000.00

for the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative to improve health with a focus on increasing access to local, fresh foods through community-operated green spaces and neighborhood markets.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

One Earth Collective

Awarded $25,000.00

to expand and develop the One Earth Film Festival model to allow Chicago-area partners to autonomously manage film events and other initiatives aimed at young filmmakers.

View One Earth Collective's Website

Academy for Global Citizenship

Awarded $20,000.00

to support the creation of a community-designed, nature-immersed convening space alongside walking trails to provide a nexus for neighborhood gathering, recreation, and nature-based play.

View Academy for Global Citizenship's Website

Just Roots Chicago

Awarded $20,000.00

to support the Growing Young Leaders program, providing job training and leadership development for south suburban youth between the ages of 16-24 at their three-acre peri urban farm in Sauk Village.

View Just Roots Chicago's Website

Foundation of Little Village

Awarded $25,000.00

to continue the development of the first Food Clinic in Chicago to improve health outcomes by 15-30% and make better lifestyle behavior choices for program participants in Little Village. Phase 2 adds healthcare professionals to provide guidance and resources on how to improve the study & evidence-based intervention.

View Foundation of Little Village's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $10,000.00

to fund Chicago FarmWorks’ community garden, broadening its reach and deepening its impact by supporting staff and food production costs associated with implementing the program and expanding community engagement.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Star Farm Chicago

Awarded $20,000.00

to expand outdoor garden programming and improve the long-term health outcomes of community residents by sharing local, nutritious produce and health cooking demonstrations in the Back of the Yards area of Chicago.

View Star Farm Chicago's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $30,000.00

to support their team of growers and educators who continue growing food on their largest production site for at-risk Chicago residents.

View Gardeneers's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

to inform teachers of the benefit of using the school garden as an extension of the classroom and to encourage parents and community members to develop a sense of ownership of the school garden through workshops offered in English and Spanish.

View Openlands's Website

Experimental Station

Awarded $10,000.00

to build upon the work of its 61st Street Farmers Market by expanding educational programming in the Woodlawn neighborhood in Chicago to rebuild local knowledge of the nutritional benefits of fresh and healthy foods

View Experimental Station's Website

Stein Learning Gardens at St. Sabina

Awarded $15,000.00

for general operating costs to support the Barbara’s Market farm stand in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago.

View Stein Learning Gardens at St. Sabina's Website

Forest Preserve Foundation

Awarded $20,000.00

to fund programs introducing conservation practices and career development for young people of color.

View Forest Preserve Foundation's Website

Urban Autism Solutions

Awarded $10,000.00

for the hiring of an assistant farmer and purchasing supplies for the Growing Solutions Farm that supports young adults with autism.

View Urban Autism Solutions's Website

Chicago Lights

Awarded $5,000.00

for Farm Camp supplies and to support the salary costs of staff members who will provide 67.5 hours of youth development programming.

View Chicago Lights's Website

Refugee Education and Adventure Challenge (REACH)

Awarded $10,000.00

to support refugee youth leaders and their peers in their authentic connections to health and sustainable lifestyles through the REACH adventure camp. Programming includes peer mentoring training.

View Refugee Education and Adventure Challenge (REACH)'s Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $10,000.00

To support comprehensive stewardship activities in 120+ NeighborSpace community gardens and neighborhood farms, including ongoing maintenance and training garden/farm leaders and other volunteers.

View NeighborSpace's Website

Foundation of Little Village

Awarded $15,000.00

To expand the participation of the Cocina Rx preventive care food clinic pilot program based on personalized nutrition through medically tailored meals w/advanced microbiome testing (University of Chicago), tele-nutrition, health coaching, and culinary arts training.

View Foundation of Little Village's Website

Academy for Global Citizenship

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Cultivate Collective’s urban agriculture start-up costs associated with the launch of their three-acre farm and associated programs. The farm is located in Southwest Chicago at the site of a former Chicago Housing Authority community, approximately 1.5 miles from Midway Airport.

View Academy for Global Citizenship's Website

The Good Food Catalyst

Awarded $10,000.00

To provide training and education for ‘good food’ entrepreneurs to achieve scale, sustainability, and financial stability, with a focus on women and minority-owned businesses that may lack traditional access to training and business education opportunities.

View The Good Food Catalyst's Website

One Earth Collective

Awarded $25,000.00

To continue the One Earth Film Festival (OEFF), its youth initiatives, and to develop a branded, turnkey model to allow our extensive Chicago-area partner network to autonomously manage film events at a quality consistent with those offered directly by OEFF.

View One Earth Collective's Website

Growing Home, Inc.

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Food Access program, designed to improve the health of the local community through food delivery and outreach showing residents of all ages that nutritious choices can be affordable, easy, and accessible.

View Growing Home, Inc.'s Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $50,000.00

For continued funding of HSC's work ensuring that Chicago students have access to healthy school environments where they can learn and thrive, eat and grow healthy food, and engage with the outdoors. This work contributes to sustainable food systems and environmental practices throughout the region.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Friends of the Chicago River

Awarded $5,000.00

For continued support of the Chicago River Schools Network (CRSN) program, providing K-12 teachers and students with free virtual and in-person resources for immersing students in the history, ecology, and improving health of the Chicago River watershed, a 673-square-mile region that encompasses the City of Chicago and much of Cook County, plus portions of Lake County and beyond.

View Friends of the Chicago River's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative, which supports resident-led food access programs through local gardens and community events to improve health outcomes and build economic opportunities in the Garfield Park neighborhood of Chicago.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $10,000.00

To fund the rebuilding of the on-site greenhouse at HHCS' main farm in East Garfield Park. The greenhouse will increase crop production, minimize plant disease, and provide additional space for learning and skill set training for Transitional Jobs participants.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Chicago Lights Urban Farm

Awarded $10,000.00

For the purchase of Farm Camp supplies and to support the salary costs of staff members who will provide five weeks of positive youth development opportunities for children ages six through eleven residing in the Cabrini Green public housing development at no cost to their families.

View Chicago Lights Urban Farm's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Chicago FarmWorks, which grows food on several urban agricultural sites, formerly vacant or blighted areas of our community, and provides residents with farm-totable, hyper-local produce. In addition to increasing access to healthy food, FarmWorks expands individuals’ economic opportunities by offering job training and transitional employment at their main farm site and community-based employment partner sites.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $15,000.00

For general operations support to build healthy and sustainable communities, with the primary focus on equitable sustainability and driving greenhouse gas emissions reductions through projects with Chicago Public Schools and policies that ensure equitable outcomes and support the development of the renewable and circular economy.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $30,000.00

To support Gardeneers' network of partner schools, primarily on the West and South slides of Chicago, in low-income, under-resourced communities of color that face barriers to fresh, healthy food access. Their school farm and garden programs contribute positively to the larger food system by building students’ awareness, knowledge, and skills to directly address food inequality and become leaders who care for themselves, their communities, and their environment.

View Gardeneers's Website

People Matter

Awarded $20,000.00

For general operations support for building organizational capacity to advance their mission through projects and leadership development work that nurtures and cultivates community leaders to protect and improve their communities in addressing environmental justice and sustainability.

View People Matter's Website

Just Roots Chicago

Awarded $15,000.00

To support two of our core educational initiatives at the It Takes A Village Community Farm in Sauk Village —Youth Education and Fresh Food Farmacy. These programs serve students 6th-12th grade and families with chronic and/or diet related health conditions to provide access to farm fresh food, hands-on gardening and cooking education, and opportunities to build relationships with their neighbors.

View Just Roots Chicago's Website

Forest Preserve Foundation

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Forest Preserve Experience, a paid summer jobs program for youth served by the Housing Authority of Cook County, to engage participants in team building exercises, job skills and financial literacy training, environmental education, and conservation efforts in local preserves throughout south and west Cook County.

View Forest Preserve Foundation's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Building School Gardens (BSG) program to share expertise, resources, and encouragement in spending time outdoors learning about and working with the natural world in two distinct ways: workshops and in-garden support for 91 schools and their surrounding communities.

View Openlands's Website

Trinity UCC Child Care Centers, Inc.

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Trinity Eats Education program, focused on helping children and their parents become more knowledgeable about nutrition and enabling them to make healthy choices every day.

Growing Home, Inc.

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Growing Home's Food Access Program with activities designed to improve the health of the entire community by showing residents of all ages that nutritious choices can be affordable, easy, and accessible. Funds will go towards new initiatives in food delivery and outreach in light of COVID-19.

View Growing Home, Inc. 's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $25,000.00

To support OEFF as they continue their mission-based work by evolving their organizational model, strengthening their youth programs for building advocacy and resiliency of the next generation, and continuing to provide rich film programs that demonstrate how healthy, sustainable food systems can solve problems relating to human and environmental health.

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $50,000.00

To support HSC's local and national work that ensures that Chicago students have access to healthy school environments where they can learn and thrive, eat and grow healthy food, and engage with the outdoors.  This work contributes to sustainable food systems and environmental practices throughout the region.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative, which supports resident-led food access programs through local gardens and community events to improve health outcomes and build economic opportunities in Garfield Park.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Friends of the Chicago River

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the Chicago River Schools Network which provides K-12 teachers the training and personalized assistance they need to immerse their students in the turbulent history, evolving ecology, and improving health of the Chicago River.

View Friends of the Chicago River's Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $10,000.00

To support comprehensive stewardship activities in the more than 120 NBSP community gardens and neighborhood farms.

View NeighborSpace's Website

Plant Chicago, NFP

Awarded $20,000.00

To support building out a center for circular economy programming in a former firehouse on the southwest side of Chicago.

View Plant Chicago, NFP's Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $15,000.00

To support general operations, with a particular focus on advancing solar energy installations and procurement, advancing food recovery and composting through the Wasted Food Action Alliance, and expanding the It’s Our Future program to new metro area communities.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Building School Gardens (BSG) program.  In fall 2021, BSG will support 91 schools, nearly 50,000 enrolled students, and their surrounding communities with similar demographics. BSG supports students, teachers, and community members by sharing expertise, resources, and encouragement in spending time outdoors learning about and working with the natural world in two distinct ways: workshops and in-garden support.

View Openlands's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Faith in Place’s Chicago Eco-Ambassadors program which provides youth, ages 14-18, with enriching opportunities to learn about environmental justice and sustainability; engage in the natural world through camping and habitat stewardship; and grow their leadership, communications, and career skills.

View Faith in Place's Website

Star Farm Chicago

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Star Farm's bi-monthly Family Garden Days. Each 4-hour session will be held either at the Star Farm Community Garden or the Star Farm Incubator Farm. The programs will include a garden workshop led by one of the Star farm incubator growers, one of the Star Farm outreach staff, and/or a guest speaker or artist.

View Star Farm Chicago's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $40,000.00

To support Gardeneers' network of partner schools, primarily on the West and South slides of Chicago, in low-income, under-resourced communities of color that face barriers to fresh, healthy food access. Their school farm and garden programs contribute positively to the larger food system by building students’ awareness, knowledge, and skills to directly address food inequality and become leaders who care for themselves, their communities, and their environment.

View Gardeneers's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Chicago FarmWorks which grows food on several urban agricultural sites, formerly vacant or blighted areas of our community, and provides residents with farm-totable, hyper-local produce. In addition to increasing access to healthy food, FarmWorks expands individuals’ economic opportunities by offering job training and transitional employment at their main farm site and community-based employment partner sites.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital

Awarded $10,000.00

To support “Healthy Food, Healthy Kids, Healthy Planet” which will be a digital curriculum for organizations serving youth ages 12-18. The curriculum will link healthy eating and physical activity to climate change, food justice, and health equity and emphasize opportunities for youth.

View Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital's Website

Forest Preserve Foundation, Inc.

Awarded $15,000.00

To support The Forest Preserve Experience, a summer internship program that provides paid conservation work to youth served by the Housing Authority of Cook County. Taking place in local preserves throughout South and West Cook County, this program intends to introduce underserved youth to conservation and the environment while providing work experience and professional development opportunities.

View Forest Preserve Foundation, Inc. 's Website

Growing Home, Inc.

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Growing Home's Food Access Program with activities designed to improve the health of the entire community by showing residents of all ages that nutritious choices can be affordable, easy, and accessible.  Funds will go towards new initiatives in food delivery and outreach in light of COVID-19.

View Growing Home, Inc.'s Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $10,000.00

To support revitalization of Unity Park in North Lawndale. The project will create a place of recreation, respite, and community building in a West Side neighborhood that lacks accessible, intergenerational public green space for outdoor activities and community gatherings that promote physical and emotional health and well-being.

View NeighborSpace's Website

Plant Chicago

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Plant Chicago’s nutrition and STEM education work with K -12 students, with a particular focus on their partner schools in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and the Southwest Side of Chicago.

View Plant Chicago's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $50,000.00

To support Healthy Schools Campaign's work to ensure that Chicago students have access to healthy school environments where they can learn and thrive, eat and grow healthy food, and engage with the outdoors. This work contributes to sustainable food systems and environmental practices throughout the region.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative, which supports resident-led food access programs through local gardens and community events to improve health outcomes and build economic opportunities in Garfield Park.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $15,000.00

To support general operations, with a particular focus on advancing solar energy installations and procurement, advancing food recovery and composting through the Wasted Food Action Alliance, and expanding the It’s Our Future program to new metro area communities.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $25,000.00

To support OEFF as they continue their mission-based work by evolving their organizational model, strengthening their youth programs for building advocacy and resiliency of the next generation, and continuing to provide rich film programs that demonstrate how healthy, sustainable food systems can solve problems relating to human and environmental health.

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival's Website

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Awarded $15,000.00

To support AUA's coordinated technical assistance initiative that will produce a series of deliverables designed to help Chicago area farmers expand their capacity to both produce and distribute locally grown food and value added products, addressing a growing demand for healthy, local food.

View Advocates for Urban Agriculture's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $30,000.00

To support their team of growers and educators who continue growing food on their largest production sites for at-risk Chicago residents with plans to grow nearly 10,000 pounds of produce to be safely donated in these communities in 2020.

View Gardeneers's Website

Angelic Organics Learning Center

Awarded $15,000.00

To support On-Farm program scholarships to subsidize children who attend the Learning Center’s day camp, custom programs, and school programs. 

View Angelic Organics Learning Center's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To inform teachers of the benefit of using the school garden as an extension of the classroom and to encourage parents and community members to share the sense of ownership of the school garden through workshops that will also be offered in Spanish.

View Openlands's Website

Catholic Bishop of Chicago - Stein Learning Gardens

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Grow Your Groceries Campaign at St. Sabina's Stein Learning Gardens.  Grow Your Groceries is a collaborative effort of four non-profit urban agriculture organizations and three Chicago university contributors to deliver home garden kits to food insecure families starting on the south side of Chicago in Auburn-Gresham, Back of the Yards, Englewood, and Chicago Lawn.

View Catholic Bishop of Chicago - Stein Learning Gardens's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $12,500.00

To support Chicago FarmWorks’ community garden, broadening its reach and deepening its impact by supporting staff and food production costs associated with implementing the program and expanding community engagement.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the expansion of their Growing School Gardens program across their network of 20 partner schools.

View Gardeneers's Website

Big Green

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the staff, training, and materials needed to bring their Learning Gardens to life. 

View Big Green 's Website

Chicago Academy of Sciences

Awarded $2,500.00

To support Chicago Conservation Corp which strengthens volunteer leaders to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods across Chicago through self-determined service projects that address environmental sustainability issues in their own communities.

View Chicago Academy of Sciences's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To inform teachers of the benefit of using the school garden as an extension of the classroom and to encourage parents and community members to share the sense of ownership of the school garden through workshops that will also be offered in Spanish.

View Openlands's Website

Heartland Human Care Services

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Chicago FarmWorks’ new community garden, ensuring that the program is able to maximize growing capacity, as well as support program operations at the East Garfield Park and Harvest Commons sites.

View Heartland Human Care Services's Website

Catholic Bishop of Chicago - Stein Learning Gardens

Awarded $20,000.00

To support “Phase II Production Expansion Project” at Stein Learning Gardens, which aims to greatly expand their programming by developing a double-wide lot near the Saint Sabina Church campus.

View Catholic Bishop of Chicago - Stein Learning Gardens's Website

Angelic Organics Learning Center

Awarded $15,000.00

To support On-Farm program scholarships. Scholarships subsidize children who attend the Learning Center’s day camp, overnight camp, custom, and school programs.

View Angelic Organics Learning Center 's Website

Opportunity Knocks

Awarded $2,500.00

 To support the Knockout Farm which is operated by more than 75 young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities from Oak Park/River Forest and surrounding communities.

View Opportunity Knocks's Website

Just Roots

Awarded $3,000.00

To support construction of three raised garden beds for teaching students gardening skills in their Community Learning Gardens in Bronzeville and Englewood.

View Just Roots's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $5,000.00

 To support improvements to the Garfield Park Neighborhood Market, which sells produce harvested through the Garfield Park Garden Network.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Enlace Chicago

Awarded $5,000.00

To support the development of resident-run garden spaces in the Little Village community.

View Enlace Chicago 's Website

Plant Chicago

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Plant Chicago’s nutrition and STEM education work with K -12 students, with a particular focus on their partner schools in the Back of the Yards neighborhood and the Southwest Side of Chicago.

View Plant Chicago's Website

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Awarded $15,000.00

To support AUA's coordinated technical assistance initiative that will produce a series of deliverables designed to help Chicago area farmers expand their capacity to both produce and distribute locally grown food and value added products, addressing a growing demand for healthy, local food.

View Advocates for Urban Agriculture's Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $15,000.00

To support general operations, with a particular focus on advancing solar energy installations and procurement, implementing GreenTown Climate Crisis 2020, advancing food recovery and composting through the Wasted Food Action Alliance, and expanding the It’s Our Future program to new metro area communities.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $10,000.00

To support activities associated with designing a nature play area at the newly acquired Harambee Community Garden in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, developing community leaders, and plans for stewarding and programming the garden site.

View NeighborSpace's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $50,000.00

To support work ensuring that 361,000 Chicago students have access to healthy school environments where they can learn and thrive, including the change to eat and grow healthy food and engage with the outdoors.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Oak Park River Forest School Green Teams Collaborative

Awarded $5,000.00

To support Joey FineRhyme Assemblies and Workshops for K-8 schools through the Oak Park and River Forest School Green Teams Collaborative.

View Oak Park River Forest School Green Teams Collaborative's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $25,000.00

To support OEFF as they continue their mission-based work by evolving their organizational model, strengthening their youth programs for building advocacy and resiliency of the next generation, and continuing to provide rich film programs that demonstrate how healthy, sustainable food systems can solve problems relating to human and environmental health.

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival's Website

Green City Market

Awarded $8,000.00

 To support Edible Education: Farm, School, and Home in 2019, providing interactive food-based learning for Chicago students and increasing local food access to Chicago families.

View Green City Market's Website

Enlace Chicago

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Enlace’s Community Garden Initiative which supports the development of resident-run garden spaces in the Little Village community.

View Enlace Chicago's Website

Growing Home

Awarded $10,000.00

To support A New Farm for Englewood  which is a 16,500 square foot farm in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.  This will add a third site to their farm campus and grow an additional 8,000 pounds of produce per year--all of which they will keep in Englewood through affordable sales or donations.

View Growing Home's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $25,000.00

To support One Earth Film Festival: Collaboration for Healthier People and Planet which provides expanded programming, engagement and impact in the greater Chicagoland region, through their annual 10-day Festival in March 2019, and innovative programming that has evolved from, and enhanced the reach of, the Festival.

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival 's Website

Girls in the Game

Awarded $5,000.00

To support Girls in the Game's After School program, which is provided at no cost to girls or their families in communities with high rates of poverty and violence including Englewood, Humboldt Park, and North Lawndale.  Girls in the Game runs weekly programming that encourages physical activity and physical and emotional health at 35 Chicago sites for three 10-week seasons as well as events on days of non-school attendance. 

View Girls in the Game's Website

Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange

Awarded $5,000.00

To support an "End of School Year Donation Drive" in Spring 2019 that engages suburban and city schools in creative reuse, aiding them in their "green" efforts to go beyond recycling to include redistributing and reuse. 

View Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $60,000.00

To support Change for Good, an effort to transform Chicago schools and classrooms so children have the opportunity to eat well, grow food, be physically active and spend time outdoors. 

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative, in which the GPCC aims to improve access to local, fresh food and use the local food movement as a tool for economic and community development.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Oak Park River Forest School Green Teams Collaborative

Awarded $11,000.00

To support bringing educational and motivational school assemblies to Oak Park and River Forest Schools that will increase K-8 student knowledge of environmental issues and community sustainability efforts and provoke individual action.

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods

Awarded $6,000.00

To support the Curious Little Bee / La Pequeña Abeja Curiosa program which invites participants to build a personal relationship with the natural world, our local food systems, and the importance of bee and other pollinator life to environmental sustainability.

View Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods's Website

The WasteShed

Awarded $5,000.00

To support environmental education about “creative reuse” and preventing waste, with a focus on children and youth, teacher support, and school programming.

View The WasteShed's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $15,000.00

To expand programming at 4 partner schools North Lawndale and to serve each of the partner schools twice per week and double the students directly served in the school garden programs to total 520 students.  To also implement a Student Run Community Farm stand each week for parents and neighbors of each school.

View Gardeneers's Website

Grow Greater Englewood

Awarded $5,000.00

GGE will provide an infrastructure and assist local urban farmers to create economically viable community-based farm enterprises along the elevated rail viaduct between 58th and 59th Streets in Chicago. Englewood Community Farms will provide land, shared equipment, and entrepreneurship training for 4-5 for-profit or cooperative farming operations on contiguous parcels of land.

View Grow Greater Englewood's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To support Building School Gardens which works with 58 Chicago Public Schools to care for and maintain their school garden as both an outdoor classroom during school and a neighborhood park after school and on the weekends. The program aims to foster the next generation of environmental stewards by building awareness of and respect for the natural world while improving the quality of life for the entire community.

View Openlands's Website

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Awarded $15,000.00

To support a new individualized training initiative to help growers scale and professionalize their operations, as well as expanded outreach that will deliver education, mentoring, and resources to existing and potential growers in some of Chicago's most distressed communities. 

View Advocates for Urban Agriculture's Website

Plant Chicago

Awarded $15,000.00

To support Closed Loop in the Classroom, an initiative of Plant Chicago, which educates K-12 students in Chicago about closed loop food systems and healthy, sustainable food practices. In addition to education, the initiative will increase community participation in Plant Chicago’s year-round farmers market, Cooking Matters, and new Community Learning Circle.

View Plant Chicago's Website

Big Green

Awarded $10,000.00

To support two programmatic activities within our Learning Garden schools:  Edible Garden Initiative and Garden-Based Education Initiative which ensure integration and implementation of Learning Garden programming in the classroom and school culture, and teach the teachers to use their Learning Garden to its fullest extent across grade levels and subjects. 

View Big Green's Website

Enlace Chicago

Awarded $20,000.00 To support the development of resident-run garden spaces in the Little Village community with environmental and health-related programming in the gardens.  View Enlace Chicago 's Website

Purple Asparagus

Awarded $15,000.00 To support the Delicious Nutritious Adventures program and Family Cooking Program, which helps students explore a new healthy ingredient each month by learning about it, tasting it, and cooking with it to schools in Austin, North Austin, Galewood, Back of the Yards, Canaryville, New City, and Humboldt Park communities.  View Purple Asparagus's Website

Chicago Academy of Sciences

Awarded $2,500.00 To support the Chicago Conservation Corps (C3) to improve the quality of life in neighborhoods across Chicago through self-determined service projects that address environmental sustainability issues in their own communities.  View Chicago Academy of Sciences 's Website

Chicago Youth Centers

Awarded $5,000.00 To support the Lean and Green Project to provide fresh produce, support urban farming and aquaponics education, and to teach youth and their families how to prepare healthy meals as they develop a lifestyle focused on health, wellness, nutrition, and environmental sustainability.  View Chicago Youth Centers's Website

Erie Elementary Charter School

Awarded $1,000.00 To support the Health and Wellness Initiative, which increases students' knowledge and understanding of nutrition and healthy eating, as well as their participation in physical activity. They will also offer parent workshops focusing on nutrition and culinary education to make healthy food choices on a limited budget. View Erie Elementary Charter School 's Website

Institute of Cultural Affairs

Awarded $4,000.00

To support the Nourish Comm(unity) series to coordinate four cross-cultural events exploring various ways Chicago communities employ sustainability to enhance their community, culture, and connections to address the challenge of siloed efforts and competition within the field of sustainability and climate change.

View Institute of Cultural Affairs's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $15,000.00 To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative develop its staff team and programs as they use the production of fresh, local food as a tool for rebuilding social and economic infrastructure on Chicago's West Side.  View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00 To support the Building School Gardens program which works with 58 Chicago Public Schools across the city to use their school garden as an extension of the classroom, impacting more than 38,000 students daily. View Openlands's Website

The Kitchen Community

Awarded $5,000.00

To support school Learning Gardens with Edible Garden and Garden-Based Education Initiatives.  These initiatives ensure that school leaders are prepared to utilize the Learning Garden to its fullest extent, broadening their skills in outdoor, experiential education and giving them tools with which to engage students.

View The Kitchen Community's Website

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Awarded $5,000.00 To support the "Educating the Next Generation of Great Lake Stewards in the Chicago Area" program which works to advance Great Lakes stewardship and restoration efforts.  View Alliance for the Great Lakes's Website

Plant Chicago, NFP

Awarded $15,000.00

To support Closed Loop in the Classroom which is an initiative of Plant Chicago that educates K-12 students in Chicago about closed loop food systems and healthy, sustainable food practices. In addition to education, the initiative will increase community participation in the year round farmers market run by Plant Chicago. Plant Chicago operates out of the Back of the Yards neighborhood, a low-income community located on the southside of Chicago.

View Plant Chicago, NFP's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $60,000.00 To support the Change for Good program which seeks to transform Chicago schools and classrooms into environments that ensure children have the opportunity to eat well, be physically active and spend time outdoors.  View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

The WasteShed

Awarded $7,500.00

To support environmental education about “creative reuse” and preventing waste, with a focus on children, teacher support, and school programming.

View The WasteShed's Website

Peterson Garden Project

Awarded $7,500.00 To support programs that offer lifelong learning opportunities which give at-risk families, youth, and seniors access to fresh, homegrown food and skills to prepare it.  View Peterson Garden Project's Website

Advocates for Urban Agriculture

Awarded $10,000.00 To support expansion and capacity of community gardens and farms in at-risk Chicago neighborhoods.  View Advocates for Urban Agriculture's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $60,000.00

To support Change for Good, an effort to transform Chicago schools and classrooms into environments that ensure children have the opportunity to eat well, be physically active and spend time outdoors.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Chicago Horticultural Society (dba Chicago Botanic Garden)

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Windy City Harvest (WCH), a program that trains at least 170 Chicago youth and adults, including ex-offenders, in sustainable urban agriculture and creates access to 55000 servings of fresh produce for low-income residents in the Chicago region’s food insecure communities, such as North Lawndale, Austin, Pilsen, and Washington Park.

View Chicago Horticultural Society (dba Chicago Botanic Garden)'s Website

Openlands

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Building School Gardens program which works with Chicago Public Schools across the city to use their school garden as an extension of their classroom.

View Openlands's Website

Peterson Garden Project

Awarded $5,000.00

To support a community-based food education program to ensure that everyone in their community has access to healthy food that is both affordable and sustainably produced. Education in organic gardening and home cooking classes at PGP’s network of 8 community gardens, a high school garden, and the Community Cooking School, all in neighborhoods with a high percentage of at-risk families, will be part of the program.

View Peterson Garden Project's Website

NeighborSpace

Awarded $9,025.00

To support the Jardincito Community Stewardship Project which will result in effective stewardship and meaningful engagement at the Jardincito nature play garden in Little Village, the Chicago neighborhood with the least amount of open green space per capita.

View NeighborSpace's Website

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Garfield Park Community Wellness Initiative, an effort that is using the production of fresh, local food as a means of rebuilding social and economic infrastructure on Chicago's West Side.

View Garfield Park Community Council's Website

Growing Home, Inc.

Awarded $20,000.00

To support Growing Home’s project “Expanding Local Food in Englewood” which aims to encourage the development of a robust food system and thriving green corridor in Greater Englewood.

View Growing Home, Inc.'s Website

Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods

Awarded $5,390.00

To support the Caminando con Cuentos project which will help bilingual 1st to 5th grade students from Highwood, Round Lake and Waukegan, IL, be physically active in a welcoming, natural environment, become more aware of local nature, and establish a stronger sense of place through story and writing.

View Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods's Website

Purple Asparagus

Awarded $8,000.00

To support the Family Cooking Program (FCP) as a supplement to its Delicious Nutritious Adventures (DNA) programming in 14 schools located in the following Chicago communities: Austin, Hermosa, Irving Park, Lincoln Square, Lakeview, West Town, New City (Back of the Yards), Armour Square, Near South Side, Humboldt Park, West Town, Dunning, and Portage Park. .

View Purple Asparagus's Website

Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry

Awarded $10,000.00

To support the Surplus Project, an innovative collaboration developed to reduce food waste; increase access to healthy, convenient meals; and reduce food insecurity in our community.

View Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry's Website

FamilyFarmed

Awarded $10,000.00

General Support for FamilyFarmed which is based in Chicago and serves farmers and Good Food communities all over the United States.

View FamilyFarmed's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $40,000.00

To support the 2017 One Earth Film Fest - Building Impact through Community Engagement, Phase 2

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival's Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $45,000.00

 To support SGA's comprehensive portfolio of program work and general operations.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival

Awarded $18,600.00

To subsidize first-time film events in hard-to-reach communities, and to support the development of an improved system to measure our impact.

View Green Community Connections/One Earth Film Festival's Website

Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC)

Awarded $2,000.00

To support AGC's unique initiatives, including their food program, community engagement and expanded learning opportunities, and International Baccalaureate Programme.

View Academy for Global Citizenship (AGC)'s Website

Universidad Popular

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the Parent And Children Together (PACT) project which will provide fitness, nutrition and cooking lessons to families in the Pilsen/Little Village Community of Chicago.

View Universidad Popular's Website

Alliance for the Great Lakes

Awarded $10,000.00

To support Educating the Next Generation of Great Lakes Stewards in Chicago Area which will recruit 5000 plus volunteers to work 60 coastal sites in IL, work with 150 educators in IL on Great Lakes in My World curriculum, link stewardship efforts to expanded on-the-ground projects, as well as local and regional policies, and evaluate the impact on the citizens and youth.

View Alliance for the Great Lakes's Website

Chicago Arts Orchestra

Awarded $2,000.00

To support Paisajes Musicales, a music education program bringing young people, especially from low-income families and communities of color, into direct contact with professional classical musicians. .

View Chicago Arts Orchestra's Website

Growing Home, Inc.

Awarded $2,000.00

To reach more individuals by extending their farm stand hours, offering their workshops to new audiences through organizational partnerships, and increasing the amount of their organic produce that reaches low-income individuals.

View Growing Home, Inc.'s Website

Seven Generations Ahead

Awarded $12,500.00

General support for SGA. The desired outcomes include positive changes with respect to core sustainability indicators that we measure including community and institution energy consumption; renewable energy procurement; greenhouse gas emissions; waste diverted from landfill; total waste generated; community and institution potable water consumption; vehicle miles traveled; public transit use; miles of bike lanes; new green infrastructure additions; and other project-specific process measures.

View Seven Generations Ahead's Website

Purple Asparagus

Awarded $15,000.00

To deliver the Delicious Nutritious Adventures (DNA) programming to an entire grade level during the 2016/17 school year in Chicago Public Schools. Students will gain an interest in whole fruits and vegetables, learn how to make healthy food choices, learn how to talk about food, and increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Their families will receive simple and healthy recipes and be motivated to cook more at home.

View Purple Asparagus's Website

Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry

Awarded $3,000.00

To support The Surplus Project, an innovative collaboration developed to reduce food waste, increase access to healthy, convenient meals, and reduce food insecurity in our community.

View Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry's Website

Plant Chicago, NFP

Awarded $15,165.00

To educate K-12 students in Chicago about closed loop food systems and healthy, sustainable food practices. The initiative will also increase community participation in the year round farmers market run by Plant Chicago.

View Plant Chicago, NFP's Website

City of Mattoon

Awarded $20,000.00

For continued support of the City of Mattoon’s tree planting and replacement along roads, parks, lakes, and cemeteries.

View City of Mattoon's Website

Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)

Awarded $50,000.00

to build leadership capacity in Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Illinois by catalyzing collaboration among units on campus with relevant, complementary expertise.

View Fresh Taste - Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (Fiscal Sponsor: Forefront)'s Website

Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District Foundation

Awarded $40,000.00

to gather information from grazers in the Embarras Watershed and surrounding areas to develop relationships with stakeholders and create relevant educational resources to support the implementation of successful regenerative grazing in the region.

View Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District Foundation's Website

Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever

Awarded $25,000.00

to assist with funding a Precision Ag Conservationist (PAC) Position in East Central Illinois in order to develop solutions that will encourage producers to adopt new practices that will improve their environmental impact.

View Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $20,000.00

to expand the monitoring of herbicide drift on forests, prairies, and public lands as well as train farmers, land managers and agency staff on symptom identification.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

The Land Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

to explore opportunities to help Illinois growers leverage native nitrogen-fixing legumes, like Illinois bundleflower, and prairie grasses as perennial groundcovers (i.e., perennial cover crops), which do not need to be replanted each year and provide permanent soil cover and protection.

View The Land Institute's Website

Grand Prairie Friends

Awarded $40,000.00

to supplement general operations of the non-profit including staffing, maintenance, and other essential expenses to continue their natural area restoration projects and increase their community outreach capacity.

View Grand Prairie Friends's Website

EIU Department of Biological Sciences

Awarded $20,000.00

to develop native plant landscapes and increase the engagement and participation of the community with nature through interpretive sessions and citizen scientist training workshops.

View EIU Department of Biological Sciences's Website

Delta Institute

Awarded $25,000.00

to support the development of an economic tool that integrates soil health indicators when calculating property value to promote practices with the potential to assess land managed with sustainable agriculture practices at a higher value over conventional agriculture.

View Delta Institute's Website

Re-AMP Network (Fiscal Sponsor: The Minneapolis Foundation)

Awarded $20,000.00

for general operating funds to support the equitable decarbonization of the Midwest through a systems-based collaboration of over twenty non-profit organizations.

View Re-AMP Network (Fiscal Sponsor: The Minneapolis Foundation)'s Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $53,000.00

to develop the farm’s active practices, demonstration, and education of nature-based solutions to climate change and climate resiliency for the public, peer farmers and researchers while showcasing urban regenerative farming techniques, agroforestry, and green stormwater management.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website

The Nature Conservancy

Awarded $50,000.00

to support outreach efforts to transition 40,000 acres of Illinois farmland to regenerative grazing management by 2025. Funds will also go toward strategic development plans to expand partner relationships and provide technical assistance to IL grazers.

View The Nature Conservancy's Website

Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)

Awarded $20,000.00

to support the organization and implementation of programs that accelerate the emergence of regenerative agriculture, healthy soil, and working lands systems that support people and the planet.

View Funders for Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)'s Website

Savanna Institute

Awarded $35,000.00

for general operating funds to support agroforestry education and outreach programs in Illinois through the launch of an Illinois Agroforestry Partner Farm Network and creation of impactful, engaging educational experiences with agroforestry for diverse public audiences.

View Savanna Institute's Website

American Rivers

Awarded $60,000.00

to build capacity to advance nature-based climate adaptation and floodplain restoration throughout Illinois with the goal of establishing integrated floodplain management programs that prioritize equitable and nature-based floodplain restoration solutions in all 50 states.

View American Rivers's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $50,000.00

to increase faith-community-owned acreage used for nature-based climate solutions as well as increase the project’s educational outreach to houses of worship so as to expand public awareness and support for climate action.

View Faith in Place's Website

Children’s Museum of Illinois

Awarded $13,315.00

to construct a small walking meditation garden and restore approximately 1 acre of prairie adjacent to Lake Decatur as part of their ongoing work to educate museum visitors about the benefits of native plants and pollinators.

View Children’s Museum of Illinois's Website

Savanna Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

to establish and maintain 250 acres of agroforestry in Champaign and Piatt Counties. Will focus on alley cropping and windbreaks, two of nature-based climate solutions and will be implemented across 2-3 privately owned farms under long-term leases by the Savanna Institute.

View Savanna Institute's Website

Champaign Parks Foundation

Awarded $9,000.00

for tree planting along the Johnston Park walking path to provide shade, shelter walkers from wind and rain, reduce storm runoff, and absorb atmospheric pollutants from the nearby interstate highway.

View Champaign Parks Foundation's Website

Grand Prairie Friends

Awarded $12,851.00

to restore 8-acres of forest and grassland community at Ambraw Woods Land & Water Reserve along the Embarras River (Coles County) through tree plantings, invasive brush removal, and cover crop seeding. Funding will also support community outreach and public education efforts.

View Grand Prairie Friends's Website

Champaign Parks Foundation

Awarded $6,400.00

For the establishment of a tree canopy over the Greenbelt Bikeway, a dedicated corridor through Dodds Park for Parkland Community College students and other residents who commute by bicycle, rather than by car. The new trees will also reduce storm runoff and help to lower water temperature in the Copper Slough to the east, improving its ability to support aquatic life.

View Champaign Parks Foundation's Website

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $20,000.00

For continued support to expand the monitoring of herbicide drift on forests, prairies, and public lands as well as train farmers, land managers and agency staff on symptom identification.

View Prairie Rivers Network's Website

Delta Institute

Awarded $35,000.00

To develop an economic tool that integrates soil health indicators when calculating property value, thereby promoting economic practices that have the potential to assess land managed with sustainable agriculture practices at a higher value over conventional agriculture across greater Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa.

View Delta Institute's Website

Savanna Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To establish and maintain 250 acres of agroforestry in Champaign and Piatt Counties. The plantings will focus on alley cropping and windbreaks, two of the top nature-based climate solutions identified for the US. Implementation will occur across 2-3 privately owned farms under long-term leases by the Savanna Institute.

View Savanna Institute's Website

EIU Department of Biological Sciences

Awarded $47,038.00 View EIU Department of Biological Sciences's Website

Douglas-Hart Nature Center

Awarded $140,000.00

To expand and restore the nature center's habitat by 15%, expanding trails, and adding educational signage. The habitat land project will be implemented by purchasing a skid steer with attachments and plants native to oak/hickory forest and prairie.

View Douglas-Hart Nature Center's Website

American Rivers

Awarded $40,000.00

To further the Illinois Floodplains Work Program – a public-private framework for multi-benefit floodplain development projects to address flood-related climate disruption, social and racial injustice, and biodiversity loss in a holistic way.

View American Rivers's Website

The Nature Conservancy

Awarded $50,000.00

To fund implementation of the Illinois Grazing Lands Coalition's (IL GLC) Illinois Regenerative Grazing Roadmap, which identified opportunities and challenges for regenerative grazing in Illinois and developed a set of nine recommendations for increasing the number of acres in the state under regenerative grazing management with the goal of transitioning 40,000 acres of Illinois farmland by 2025.

View The Nature Conservancy's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $70,000.00

To engage houses of worship and other faith-based organizations throughout East Central Illinois (ECI) to implement nature-based climate action (NBCA) projects such as tree planting and prairie restoration on their properties and increase community education, awareness, and support for nature-based climate solutions.

View Faith in Place's Website

The Land Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To explore opportunities to help Illinois farmer collaborators leverage native nitrogen-fixing legumes and prairie grasses as perennial cover crops to provide permanent soil cover and erosion protection.

View The Land Institute's Website

Funders of Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)

Awarded $20,000.00

To support the organization's core work engaging its network to provide introductory pathways for funders to learn about regenerative agriculture, and centering the pursuit of strategic initiatives in a collaborative way, where members learn, act, and invest together.

View Funders of Regenerative Agriculture (FORA)'s Website

Charleston High School - Charleston Community Unit School District #1

Awarded $15,000.00

To fund the landscaping restoration and improvement at the district's seven facilities through the purchase of new trees, shrubs, and native grasses.

View Charleston High School - Charleston Community Unit School District #1's Website

Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever

Awarded $25,000.00

To assist with funding a Precision Ag Conservationist (PAC) Position in East Central Illinois to develop solutions that will encourage producers to adopt new practices that will improve their environmental impact.

View Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever's Website

City of Mattoon

Awarded $20,000.00

For the continued beautification of Mattoon streets and greenspaces by planting new trees and replacing boulevard trees removed in the past year from residential areas. The City of Mattoon Tree Commission will coordinate the program.

View City of Mattoon's Website

Re-AMP Network (fiscal sponsor, The Minneapolis Foundation)

Awarded $20,000.00

In contribution to the funding collaborative tackling climate change through ongoing systems analysis to identify and align impactful strategies across eight states to equitably eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in the Midwest by 2050.

View Re-AMP Network (fiscal sponsor, The Minneapolis Foundation)'s Website

Evergreen Climate Innovations

Awarded $100,000.00

For continuing support of the expansion of Evergreen Climate Innovation's 501vc® Platform, which catalyzes climate innovations by finding, funding, and growing startups in the Greater Midwest that are commercializing impactful solutions for clean energy, decarbonization, and environmental sustainability.

View Evergreen Climate Innovations's Website

The Land Institute

Awarded $96,000.00

To explore opportunities to help Illinois growers leverage native nitrogen-fixing legumes, like Illinois bundleflower, and prairie grasses as perennial groundcovers (i.e., perennial cover crops), which do not need to be replanted each year and provide permanent soil cover and protection.

Fresh Taste (fiscal agent Forefront)

Awarded $20,000.00

To build leadership capacity in Regenerative Agriculture at the University of Illinois by catalyzing collaboration among units on campus with relevant, complementary expertise. Additional $20K for educational outreach coordinator position.

Global Philanthropy Partnership/Artisan Grain Collaborative

Awarded $25,000.00

For the "Take a Shot at Climate Change" marketing and branding campaign concept that invites regional brewers and distillers to be part of advancing carbon sequestration on the landscape in East Central Illinois.

Savanna Institute

Awarded $20,000.00

To establish and maintain 250 acres of agroforestry in Champaign and Piatt Counties. Project will focus on alley cropping and windbreaks, two of nature-based climate solutions, and will be implemented across 2-3 privately owned farms under long-term leases by the Savanna Institute.

Faith in Place

Awarded $65,000.00

To increase faith-community-owned acreage used for nature-based climate solutions as well as increase the project’s educational outreach to houses of worship so as to expand public awareness and support for climate action.

Prairie Rivers Network

Awarded $20,000.00

To expand the monitoring of herbicide drift on forests, prairies, and public lands as well as train farmers, land managers and agency staff on symptom identification.

University of Illinois Springfield

Awarded $35,000.00

To enable small Illinois communities to collect and analyze community needs and priorities, then access a resource network to address local high priority projects related to water, energy, and climate change resilience.

Clean Energy Trust

Awarded $100,000.00

To support the expansion of CET’s 501vc® Platform, which catalyzes climate innovations by finding, funding, and growing startups in the Greater Midwest that are commercializing impactful solutions for clean energy, decarbonization, and environmental sustainability.

Friends of Williamsville Public Library

Awarded $4,000.00

To lead a community project called Trees for Tomorrow aimed at engaging the public to plant trees as nature-based tools to fight climate change.

American Rivers

Awarded $40,000.00

To further the Illinois Floodplains Work Program – a public-private framework for multi-benefit floodplain development projects to address flood-related climate disruption, social and racial injustice, and biodiversity loss in a holistic way. 

Pheasants Forever & Quail Forever

Awarded $30,000.00

To assist with funding a Precision Ag Conservationist (PAC) Position in East Central Illinois to develop solutions that will encourage producers to adopt new practices that will improve their environmental impact.

Savanna Institute

Awarded $170,000.00

To establish and maintain 250 acres of agroforestry in Champaign and Piatt Counties. The plantings will focus on alley cropping and windbreaks, two of the top nature-based climate solutions identified for the US. Implementation will occur across 2-3 privately owned farms under long-term leases by the Savanna Institute.

City of Mattoon

Awarded $32,500.00

To plant 100 trees in 2021 and 2022 (50 trees per year) on City boulevards.  Tree replacements will be offered to residents who have had boulevard trees removed in the past year with plans to make the project an annual event. The City of Mattoon Tree Commission will coordinate the program.

Urban Forest Carbon Registry/City Forest Credits

Awarded $95,000.00

To create a carbon credit program for small communities and landowners in Central IL – something possible but never done before. CFC brings to this project the knowledge and national experience, carbon protocols, and carbon registry to build out the project framework to issue credits to projects in smaller communities and landowners.

Delta Institute

Awarded $25,000.00

To advance agroforestry goals at Zumwalt Acres by developing a nursery for fruit shrubs and nut trees, which will ultimately be transplanted into an agroforest with wind breaks, alley cropping, and multi-story cropping. And to build upon Zumwalt's current production of biochar--a form of carbonized organic material that helps sequester carbon and increase soil fertility--by integrating it with compost and basalt rock to create a carbon-capturing soil amendment. 

City of Urbana

Awarded $37,000.00

To build upon past work and expand their portfolio of Nature & Urban Biodiversity efforts, including the Lumpkin Family Foundation funded Midwest Grows Green program. To understand where gaps exist in the street tree specific canopy and the total community canopy. Additionally, the City seeks to understand where vacant tree sites co-occur with urban heat concentrations as determined by satellite thermal imaging. Finally, the City seeks to understand where vacant tree sites and/or urban heat co-occur with Environmental Justice (EJ) Zones as determined by Illinois Solar For All program. Tree plantings will be determined in accordance with study findings.

Greenleaf Communities

Awarded $20,000.00

To build a network of farmers in central Illinois connected to others in the Midwest who practice regenerative agriculture to generate productive yields while sequestering carbon.

Illinois Environmental Council Education Fund

Awarded $25,000.00

To amplify the voice of partners in East Central Illinois and beyond to promote local ordinances which allow citizens greater autonomy in converting portions of their properties into natural landscapes. IECEF’s Conservation Program demonstrates to decision makers the value of natural areas as a strong mitigation tool in the fight against the impacts of climate change and utilizes our robust communications platforms and local media to share impactful stories to protect our planet and improve the health of East Central Illinois.

North Lake Community Development

Awarded $84,000.00

To begin the first phases of Project Green Tree: to partner with a conservation engineer to generate a plan for native plantings around and on the banks of Asa Creek to reduce agricultural runoff and improve the quality of water draining into Asa Creek, part of the Kaskaskia River watershed; to develop a 10-acre native tree nursery on a City-owned area currently in row crops which will be taken out of production; and to add prairie grass/pollinator plantings and educational signage to the developing trail and wildlife corridor around Asa Creek.

The Conservation Fund

Awarded $150,000.00

To collaborate with Delta Institute to engage farmers in East-Central Illinois in carbon drawdown through nature-based agricultural practices. The elements include a carefully designed outreach strategy in partnership with Soil and Water Conservation Districts; an incentive payment framework using science from the new Soil Enrichment Protocol; and quantification of soil carbon sequestered.

Faith in Place

Awarded $50,000.00

To engage houses of worship throughout East Central Illinois to implement nature-based climate action, e.g., tree planting and prairie restoration. In addition to increasing faith-community-owned acreage for nature-based climate action purposes, this project’s educational outreach to houses of worship offers strong potential for ripple-effect outcomes, e.g., faith community (congregation) members adopting nature-based strategies on their private properties as well as expanded public awareness and support for climate action.

Gardeneers

Awarded $130,000.00

Funding for school garden programs in the North Lawndale community with Holy Family Ministries, Homan Rails Farm, and North Lawndale College Prep, and for expansion of their reach to support programs at Roswell B. Mason Mathematics & Science Academy. These school garden programs provide students with knowledge, skills, and tools to become food justice leaders in their communities and bring fresh produce to local residents.

View Gardeneers's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $150,000.00

Support for the Faith Community Action partnership with Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church which advances North Lawndale’s Quality of Life Plan by supporting community health and building the local economy. Fruit trees will be planted at the neighborhood green space, James Stone Freedom Square, and a licensed shared kitchen will be completed to provide nutrition classes and food entrepreneurial opportunities to local residents.

View Faith in Place's Website

Chicago Grows Food

Awarded $25,000.00

For the continuation of the 'Grow Your Groceries' and 'Home Garden' programs which aim to address food insecurity and barriers to gardening in low food access areas by providing residents with grow kits and a variety of educational resources for maintaining their gardens and increasing their knowledge of how to grow their food.

View Chicago Grows Food's Website

Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)

Awarded $450,000.00

To continue supporting the North Lawndale 'Garden to Table Pipeline' and the operation of its food and distribution hubs — NL Greening Committee, Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church, YMEN, The Firehouse Community Art Center, and Street Vendors Association of Chicago — that distribute locally grown produce, prepared meals, and donated/rescued food reaching North Lawndale’s most isolated residents.

View Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)'s Website

Common Threads

Awarded $28,000.00

To expand the 'Growing Farm-to-School Learning Opportunities' collaborative program with the Sumner Academy, which provides cooking and nutrition education programs with local ingredients to increase students’ and families’ food literacy, cooking skills, and access to healthy snacks and meals. The program will bring on the CYC - Sidney Epstein Youth Center as a collaborative partner.

View Common Threads's Website

Food Access Project

Awarded $100,000.00

For the 'Food is Medicine Delivery Pilot for People with Chronic Disease' in collaboration with Mt. Sinai Hospital, which will connect the healthcare system with the local charitable food infrastructure to provide deliveries of medically-tailored groceries and supplemental produce to food-insecure neighbors managing chronic health conditions in North Lawndale.

View Food Access Project's Website

North Lawndale Greening Committee

Awarded $94,000.00

To support the transformation of vacant lots into beautiful and productive community gardens in partnership with NeighborSpace.

View North Lawndale Greening Committee's Website

Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)

Awarded $495,000.00

continuing support for the North Lawndale Garden to Table Pipeline, which operates three food hubs—Stone Temple Church, YMEN, and The Firehouse Community Art Center—that distribute locally grown produce, prepare meals, and donated/rescued food. This grant will help identify and add a new hub and equip drivers to expand to reach the most isolated residents and reduce the distance residents have to travel for food.

View Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)'s Website

Chicago Grows Food

Awarded $25,000.00

for the Grow Your Groceries and Home Garden programs which aim to address food insecurity and barriers to gardening in low food access areas by providing residents with grow kits and a variety of educational resources for maintaining their gardens and increasing their knowledge of how to grow their food.

View Chicago Grows Food's Website

North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC)

Awarded $485,000.00

continuing the Lawndale Gateway development project which aims to increase healthy food access in the West Side. This second investment will support staffing, as well as architecture, engineering, and design of the affordable, full-line grocery store.

View North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC)'s Website

Common Threads

Awarded $28,000.00

to support the Growing Farm to School Learning Opportunities collaborative program with Summer Academy which provides cooking and nutrition education programs with local ingredients to increase students’ and families’ food literacy, cooking skills, and access to healthy snacks and meals.

View Common Threads's Website

Gardeneers

Awarded $95,000.00

to expand community events and production at the Homan Rails Farm and the garden at North Lawndale College Prep which provide fresh produce, resources, and knowledge to families and local residents through farm stands or garden workshops.

View Gardeneers's Website

Chicago Horticultural Society

Awarded $50,000.00

This grant will support the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Windy City Harvest (WCH) requests for critical upgrades to the point-of-sale system at its North Lawndale headquarters, the Farm on Ogden (FOO). These upgrades respond to growing demand at FOO, alleviating wait times and improving overall customer experience. This investment and additional efforts by the Farm on Ogden team will steadily enhance and increase North Lawndale customer participation.

View Chicago Horticultural Society's Website

North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (Fiscal Sponsor, New Covenant Development Corporation)

Awarded $672,000.00

To support the NLCCC Food Collaborative's expansion of healthy food options for community residents and build the North Lawndale economy through food-related enterprises by expanding a successful food distribution initiative (with Top Box Foods) and supporting Black-owned, local grocery businesses. NLCCC member organizations include Boxing Out Negativity, Firehouse Community Arts Center, Foundation for Homan Square, Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, North Lawndale Employment Network and Sweet Beginnings LLC, and Sinai Chicago, among others.

View North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (Fiscal Sponsor, New Covenant Development Corporation)'s Website

Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)

Awarded $500,000.00

This grant will support the North Lawndale Garden to Table Pipeline, which creates a sustainable food system that connects proven community organizations to combine locally grown, nutrient rich food with available food. Prepared meals and food packages will be distributed in community settings and delivered to elderly and isolated.

View Young Men's Educational Network (YMEN)'s Website

Douglas-Hart Foundation

Awarded $2,500.00

To plan and carry out team-building and independent relaxation days throughout the year to include an authentic farm-to-table experience, team-building art and mindfulness activities, yoga, as well exploring self-care activities at a spa and inclusive staff retreat center.

View Douglas-Hart Foundation's Website

Urban Autism Solutions

Awarded $2,500.00

To organize and fund a series of mental health and physical well-being activities throughout the year to rejuvenate their staff and Young Adult Advisory Council and equip them with the resilience and unity needed to continue to support the vulnerable community they serve. The activities will include a day hike at Starved Rock, 5k/10k team building events, and a dedicated wellness outing designed to support individuals from the advisory council who have autism.

View Urban Autism Solutions's Website

Fit-2-Serve

Awarded $2,500.00

To further the Fit-2-Serve team's development into a strong group of servants through relaxing team building opportunities to enjoy time together outside work responsibilities.

View Fit-2-Serve's Website

Faith in Place

Awarded $2,500.00

To support a rejuvenating staff retreat experience in Waukegan, IL designed to provide wellness activities that help us strengthen bonds, rest, prevent isolation, and mitigate work burnout. All of these benefits enhance organizational cohesion and increase the organization’s retention rate.

View Faith in Place's Website

One Family Illinois

Awarded $2,500.00

For the organization's annual Winter Party, an opportunity to gather staff from all five of their Chicagoland sites at one festive gathering with no business agenda. Funds will support an off-site venue, catering, and activities to promote staff wellness.

View One Family Illinois's Website

Illinois Stewardship Alliance

Awarded $2,500.00

For a two-day retreat at Starved Rock Lodge for female leaders of four Illinois farm and food organizations to focus on relationship-building, self-care, and celebration. Funds will also support a larger lunch gathering for 8 other Chicago-area farm and food nonprofit directors.

View Illinois Stewardship Alliance's Website

Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)

Awarded $1,250.00

To support a two-day leadership and strategy retreat at Starved Rock Lodge & Conference Center in Oglesby, IL. This period of rest and rejuvenation will empower FLAP’s leaders to return to their roles with renewed energy, clarity, and motivation, ultimately enhancing their capacity to fulfill FLAP’s mission to improve working conditions and opportunities for low-wage workers.

View Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP)'s Website

Heart of Illinois Community Foundation

Awarded $2,500.00 To fund a series of wellness initiatives for staff of the community foundation to include an employee Wellness Day, folding treadmills for the office, and a group trip to attend a performance of 'Hamilton' in St. Louis.
View Heart of Illinois Community Foundation's Website

Stein Learning Gardens at St Sabina

Awarded $750.00

To fund a three-day staff hiking retreat and a team rock climbing class at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois and Kettle Moraine State Forest in Wisconsin. During the retreats, staff plans to: reflect on programmatic outcomes for 2024; conduct strategic planning for calendar years 2025 and 2026; build team bonding; and reflect on personal goals.

View Stein Learning Gardens at St Sabina's Website

Healthy Schools Campaign

Awarded $2,500.00

To provide staff three-month memberships to ClassPass, a program that allows participants to attend fitness, meditation, and other wellness classes available in both virtual and in-person formats from thousands of providers nationwide, which is well-suited to HSC’s hybrid work structure and staff that hail from multiple states.

View Healthy Schools Campaign's Website

Sola Gratia Farm

Awarded $2,500.00

To purchase safety equipment, shade, hydration, and ergonomic workplace items for staff wellness and to provide seasonal chair massage sessions with a local therapist.

View Sola Gratia Farm's Website