Every September, New York City becomes the epicenter of the climate world during Climate Week NYC. Boardrooms, event venues, and stages fill up with pledges, panels, and ambitious commitments for climate action. But solutions that last don’t start in those rooms, they start in neighborhoods, in frontline communities, with the people who live with the impacts of the climate crisis every day.
Since The Solutions Project became the first Environmental Justice Partner of Climate Week in 2021, we’ve been making it our mission to continue to show up and center frontline communities – whether on stage or in closed door sessions to build deep relationships.
Our President & CEO Gloria Walton joined Solitaire Townsend (Chief Solutionist, Futerra), Marissa McGowan (Chief Sustainability Officer, L’Oréal North America), and Jennifer Pipa (Vice President, American Red Cross Disaster Programs) for a powerful conversation about what effective corporate community collaboration actually looks like on the ground. The panel didn’t shy away from the hard questions: How do these partnerships get started? Where do they become difficult? What can other companies learn from partnerships that are already working?
Gloria emphasized that real partnership means listening to frontline communities, following their lead, and showing up in solidarity, not as saviors. It means understanding that the communities most impacted by the climate crisis are the most capable of solving it.
We also partnered with The Guardian at an intimate gathering; Gloria sat down with extreme weather correspondent Gabrielle Canon of The Guardian for a candid look at where climate journalism, frontline disaster response, and philanthropic capital must meet to build lasting community power.
Throughout the week, we joined forces with our grantees and allies to amplify a message that often gets lost in big rooms: real change isn’t created top down in a board room, it’s created through solidarity and authentic partnerships, with resources going to the people closest to the crisis.
In partnership with the Tishman Environment and Design Center and MediaJustice, we co-hosted an event centering the fight against data center expansion and how communities can organize to win. Grantee partners Andrea Pierce (Deputy Director of Programming, Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition), Jilisa Milton (Executive Director, Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution (GASP)), and Ryan Madden (Indigenous Solidarity Director, NY Renews) shared the strategies they’ve developed on the frontlines, strategies that can help communities in New York, Alabama, Michigan, and across the country remain in the decision making seat as they confront unchecked AI development.
Our Chief Programs + Operating Officer, Clare Winterton, joined Steven Renderos (Executive Director, MediaJustice) for a critical conversation on the role of philanthropy and the media supporting offensive organizing to disrupt “tech determinism” and advance more sustainable futures.
Watch the full event
Our team also had a fabulous time at the L’Oreal headquarters for a special recording of Steward Media’s podcast on what biomimicry and healthy ecosystems can teach us about how companies, nonprofits, communities, creators, and consumers work together. Clare joined Marissa McGowan (Chief Sustainability Officer, L’Oréal North America), Dawn Rodney (Chief External Affairs Officer, National Park Foundation), and Sophia Li (Co-Founder, Steward) to discuss what business can learn from organizations and communities already doing transformative work, and how meaningful partnerships can catalyze wider change.
Across the city, our grantee partners hosted events centering frontline voices and community-led solutions. From challenging data center expansion to leading climate resilience, our partners showed us what climate leadership rooted in equity and justice looks like: real strategies, real victories, and real power built by frontline communities.
Our grantee partner, UPROSE, hosted their 60th anniversary gala, celebrating six decades of Puerto Rican climate justice, environmental justice, and community organizing rooted in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It was a night to honor history through art, music, stories, and community, in a room full of the people who make this movement possible, from longtime organizers who’ve been fighting for their community for decades to the next generation stepping up to lead. For 60 years, UPROSE has been building power, demanding accountability, and creating climate solutions rooted in the needs and wisdom of their community. We can’t wait to see what they create next.
AI was everywhere this year, and our partners brought the view from the ground. LaTricea Adams (Founder & CEO, Young, Gifted & Green) took Memphis to Climate Desk Live, a program opened by Zohran Mamdani (Mayor, New York City). There she dug into AI’s hidden toll with Manish Bapna (President & CEO, NRDC) and Kate Gallego (Mayor, City of Phoenix). She also made time for the Frontline Resource Institute’s Climate Justice Hub to talk about grassroots leadership.
While world leaders met at the UN, Casa Pueblo took to the water. Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá (Executive Director, Casa Pueblo) joined a delegation of Boricua activists and Caribbean allies to sail the East River on the Que Chévere!, making a big visual statement for energy sovereignty. Behind it are more than 400 community solar installations they’ve built across Puerto Rico since Hurricane María.
We also partnered with Just Solutions on their Climate Week Special podcast episode to speak with leaders in the climate justice movement who were in New York City to ask, “What will it take for us to win?”
From panel stages to the deck of a boat on the East River, one thing was clear all week long: frontline communities aren’t waiting for permission to lead. They’re already building community solar, organizing against unchecked data center development, and holding decision makers accountable. The question for philanthropy, business, and government isn’t whether these solutions work, it’s whether we’re willing to resource them at the scale this moment demands.
As always, we were so energized and inspired by what we saw from the grassroots this Climate Week! We are more committed than ever to continue resourcing and amplifying frontline leaders creating durable and equitable climate solutions.