Powerful Together
Building Resilience in Challenging Times
For years, grassroots climate movements have been building and exercising power: passing historic legislation, innovating climate solutions, and establishing new leadership models that center those most impacted by the climate crisis.
Photo: APEN
With a change in federal administration, the landscape shifted dramatically: critical environmental justice funding was cut or frozen, and climate equity commitments were rolled back. Our grantee partners reported significant adverse impacts: reduced budgets, millions of dollars in funding lost or at risk, and growing legal and safety threats.
Even amid such a harsh landscape, the climate justice movement persists. This report shows what’s possible when power and resilience come together. It shows how years of organizing and power-building have created the strength to meet this moment, and look beyond to a brighter and more equitable future.
Photo: Poder
Last August, I traveled to New Orleans for the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. There, I saw that the same communities impacted by the climate disaster two decades ago are now leading the way in climate solutions and climate preparedness. For twenty years, they have been showing up for their communities, building lasting power beyond any single political moment.
That is what endures. That is what carries us forward.
2025 was a year of deliberate harm. From day one, the current administration systematically dismantled the infrastructure of environmental justice: freezing and canceling nearly $29B in climate and environment grants, shuttering the EPA’s environmental justice office, and – when courts ordered the funds to be unfrozen – terminating nearly 800 grants outright to skirt the ruling. Frontline organizations that had earned and planned around federal commitments were blindsided. Many were forced to pay project costs out of pocket, with no guarantee of reimbursement. These decisions weren’t budget constraints. These were political choices, made deliberately, targeting communities that already carry the heaviest burden of the climate crisis.
Our grantee partners felt this acutely. 85% expected reduced revenue. Collectively, they reported over $100M in federal funding lost or at risk. Legal and safety threats escalated.
And yet – this is not a story of endurance. It is far more than that. These communities were never waiting on Washington to lead. They showed that the infrastructure they built over decades – the relationships, the alliances and coalitions, the organizing power – belongs to them. No administration can rescind it. That infrastructure is what The Solutions Project invests in, sustains, and amplifies – providing flexible funding and narrative support, cross-movement connections, and long-term partnerships that allow grassroots leaders to focus on their work. In 2025, our grantee partners passed climate action plans, took on polluters, expanded food systems, and protected Indigenous land. A County in Texas adopted the country’s first community-developed climate action plan. New York State continued fighting to make fossil fuel corporations pay for the damage they’ve caused. These are stories of people exercising power they built long before this moment and will carry long past it.
This is why the MacKenzie Scott gift we received at the close of 2025 matters so much – not just for what it makes possible, but for what it affirms. Investment in grassroots leadership is a recognition that the most powerful climate solutions in this country come from the ground up. And those local investments not only endure, but continue to flourish and bear fruit even when the national climate turns, because they are so deeply rooted. The Solutions Project is how visionary and catalytic investment reaches the leaders who know their communities, have earned their trust, and are already delivering results.
The climate crisis will not wait for federal consensus. Frontline communities aren’t waiting either. This is the moment to meet them with the resources their work demands.
Join us. Together, we can create a world where everyone has clean air, water, energy, healthy food, and land.
In solidarity,
Gloria Walton, President + CEO
$5.1M+ granted to 150 grantee partners across 33 states
$660,000 invested in climate disaster response
9 grantee policy wins are expected to unlock $350M + benefit 36M people
400M people potentially reached through narrative campaigns
Frontline Communities Leading Climate Solutions
Our grantmaking resources help grassroots leaders develop long-term organizing strategies, build infrastructure, and scale their impact. With our support, grantee partners are creating a world where everyone has clean air, water, energy, and land—and where communities have the resources to withstand and recover from climate disasters.
Solutions in Action
In 2025, our grantee partners continued to win and expand their impact, proving that community-led solutions create lasting, transformational change, even in the most challenging and volatile moments.
Harris County in southeastern Texas is one of the nation’s most climate-vulnerable locations due to its susceptibility to flooding, heat waves, and hurricanes. In 2025, it made history by adopting the country’s first community-developed climate action plan. This groundbreaking achievement was the result of years of organizing by The Solutions Project grantee partner Coalition for Environment, Equity, and Resilience (CEER), as well as other coalition partners, who brought frontline communities together with county officials to envision and design Harris County’s climate future.
The community-led plan centers the voices of those most impacted by climate disasters—particularly residents in Black, Latine, and low-income neighborhoods who have repeatedly faced devastating floods, extreme heat, and infrastructure failures.
The success in Harris County demonstrates how long-term investment in community organizing prepares communities for climate disasters and addresses the urgency of the climate crisis.
For twenty years, Urban Tilth has transformed vacant land in North Richmond, in the East Bay Area of California, into thriving green spaces that cultivate community and create economic opportunity. They farm, feed, train, and employ local residents, including young people, to advance climate and economic justice.
In 2025, even as $19M in federal funding for North Richmond was rescinded (part of $40B in frozen grants), Urban Tilth’s decades of organizing meant they could continue their work. They mobilized their community to advocate for the grant’s restoration while continuing to build sustainable, healthy, and equitable local food systems.
Urban Tilth proved that community-led climate solutions don’t wait for government permission to thrive; communities already have power that no administration can take away.
In December 2024, New York enacted the Climate Change Superfund Act, a landmark policy that requires major fossil fuel corporations to pay for the climate damage they have caused. The law is designed to generate an estimated $3B annually for 25 years (for a total of $75B in funding for the Program brought in from the state’s worst polluters). The program is intended to fund climate resilience and mitigation projects across the state.
The Climate Change Superfund Act is currently facing legal challenges amplified by the current federal administration and fossil fuel companies. But grassroots organizations like our partner NY Renews will continue to persist—fighting and defending legislation that holds polluters accountable to improve our health and protect our future.
In 2025, NY Renews continued fighting to ensure these resources were realized. This has become ongoing and challenging work in the light of escalated legal challenges. NY Renews and its partners continue to advocate for the full implementation of the Climate Superfund, and for state budget funds to be directed to the frontline communities most impacted by the climate crisis.
Powerful Voices + Stories
In 2025, we amplified stories of collective power that moved hearts, shifted understanding, and demonstrated that communities are not just surviving climate threats—they’re solving them through systemic transformation.
Through four powerful narrative campaigns, we centered the voices and leadership of those most impacted by climate change, including women and communities of color, and highlighted the solutions they are growing. When communities tell their own stories, they are not victims but visionaries, rewriting the narratives from vulnerability to power and from disaster to determination.
Through four powerful narrative campaigns, we centered the voices and leadership of those most impacted by climate change, including women and communities of color, and highlighted the solutions they are growing. When communities tell their own stories, they are not victims but visionaries, rewriting the narratives from vulnerability to power and from disaster to determination.
Photo: Nathaniel Smith
1.5M views on our feature videos
400M people potentially reached through press coverage and social media across four major campaigns
Over 650 media stories featuring our narrative campaigns
In 2025, The Solutions Project celebrated its 5th annual Black Climate Week, an award-winning campaign designed to raise awareness about the vital role of Black leaders in combating the climate crisis. By amplifying their voices and showcasing innovative solutions, Black Climate Week fosters learning, inspires activism, and garners support for climate justice. Together, we are building a future where justice, sustainability, and equity set the standard for a thriving society.
Across the country, Black-led climate solutions took center stage, proving once again that the leadership, wisdom, and innovation of frontline communities are key to tackling the climate crisis.
Last year, we saw exciting momentum, with more organizations and creators joining in. The cities of Newark and Baltimore also joined in with their own events and storytelling. Featuring The Solutions Project board member Don Cheadle, Brian Jointer of SCOPE LA, Dawn Wells-Clyburn of PUSH Buffalo, and Ena Coleman and Gloria Walton of The Solutions Project, we released a video about how Black communities are disproportionately affected by climate change and dirty energy. The video has been viewed over half a million times.
*Potential audience reach refers to the estimated number of times content could have been viewed across media channels, based on follower counts, subscribers, and website traffic, as calculated by Meltwater
123M estimated potential reach
15,000 people engaged online
130 groups participating
During the Stronger Together: Solidarity Summer campaign, 63 organizations participated in the week-long effort, sharing stories about how communities can care for each other and innovate climate solutions.
The campaign featured Texas climate organizers supporting communities before, during, and after disasters; Miami frontline groups protecting communities through hurricanes, floods, and extreme heat; and other partners sharing solutions on using solar power and mutual aid networks to support one another.
The campaign created an ongoing hub of collective knowledge and information for all communities working to prepare for and recover from climate disasters.
*Potential audience reach refers to the estimated number of times content could have been viewed across media channels, based on follower counts, subscribers, and website traffic, as calculated by Meltwater
95M potential reach
500,000+ videos views spotlighting the work of Miami grantees Smile Trust and Catalyst Miami
As attacks on environmental and climate justice policies intensified this year, we organized a public letter where non-profits, businesses, foundations, and cultural figures pledged a renewed commitment to protecting and advancing climate solutions.
This campaign met the moment by galvanizing supporters of the climate justice movement when visible support was critically needed. Over 164 organizations and leaders signed on, including community organizations, businesses, philanthropic institutions, cultural leaders, and more, with signatories including Just Transition Northwest Indiana, Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, Reverb, TED, Seventh Generation, Kresge, Surdna Foundations, Bill McKibben, Baratunde Thurston, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal. The campaign showed that our movement and its support base are strong, growing, and resilient. We also worked with Hawaiian artist Shar Tuiasoa to create powerful artwork for the campaign.
The letter demonstrated a groundswell of support for climate action even in the face of federal rollbacks and attacks. This collective effort continues to serve as a testament to our collective power when we join forces to solve the climate crisis.
*Potential audience reach refers to the estimated number of times content could have been viewed across media channels, based on follower counts, subscribers, and website traffic, as calculated by Meltwater
102M total potential reach
139 press hits
From national and international conferences to philanthropic gatherings and major media platforms, The Solutions Project elevated the resilience and power of grassroots climate solutions.
We also expanded our community to over 100,000 followers and subscribers, reaching new audiences with stories of community-led action and solutions.
The Solutions Project has really been more than just a funder for GASP. They’ve shown up as a partner in this work. They trust our leadership, believe in our vision, and invest in us in ways that actually let us build power in our communities over the long term. At a time when the stakes are high and frontline communities are being asked to do more with less while responding to increasing environmental and public health challenges with fewer resources and less support, having a partner like The Solutions Project means we’re able to build the programs and solutions we know our communities need.
Jilisa Milton, Executive Director at GASP
Okta for Good is proud to support The Solutions Project because we believe community-led climate solutions are key to a sustainable world. With the majority of global risks rooted in environmental challenges, climate action is a security imperative. We’re committed to shifting how renewable energy is funded by investing in grassroots leaders who understand their communities’ needs and are positioned to drive solutions. Every dollar we invest generates scalable impact, ensuring those most affected by climate change benefit from practical, effective solutions. This is how climate philanthropy should work.
Victor Cordon, Director, Social Impact at Okta
Deepening Resilience in Critical Times
As federal climate commitments are rolled back and public funding becomes increasingly uncertain, frontline climate leaders are facing growing challenges with fewer resources.
Yet this is not a moment to retreat; it is a moment to accelerate.
A recent transformative gift from MacKenzie Scott accelerated The Solutions Project’s progress towards our $100M milestone. As we double down on our mission in this critical moment, we are working to ensure that frontline leaders have the resources they need to scale their innovations and build long-term resilience.
In the coming year, The Solutions Project remains committed to centering frontline leadership, scaling community solutions, and resourcing grassroots organizing and cross-movement power.
Photo: Soulardarity
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