Climate Action Grants Awarded to 13 Local Groups

The fund, a partnership between the City of Minneapolis, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minneapolis Foundation, drives hyper-local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the fund’s 2022 grants will support Tamales y Bicicletas, a nonprofit that nurtures healthy Latino and immigrant communities through bikes, cultural empowerment, and environmental justice. “This great opportunity will allow us to further expand and revitalize our work with Latinx, BIPOC families, and young adults from all backgrounds to decolonize our food systems while encouraging more BIPOC folks to use biking as a means of transportation,” said Jose Luis Villaseñor, the group’s founder and executive director.

Another will fuel work led by Resilient Cities and Communities to cut carbon emissions, build climate resilience, and reduce energy costs for residents and businesses in the Hi-Lake area of South Minneapolis. “We’re excited to convene Hi-Lake neighborhood and community-based groups, renters, property owners, and developers to find ways that more of the new developments along Lake Street can connect into district ground-source heating and cooling,” said Sean Gosiewski, the organization’s executive director.

Photos from Tamales y Bicicletas and Resilient Cities and Communities

• Bilingual Education Collective: $40,000 to launch a holistic environmental coalition across three Spanish dual-language elementary schools in the Northside Green Zone.
• Center for Energy and Environment: $15,000 to partner with Xcel Energy in order to offer participants in workforce training programs the opportunity to complete Home Energy Career trainings that continue into paid internships.
• Comunidades Organizando El Poder Y La Accion Latina: $25,000 to support Latinx civic participation to advocate for policy changes that result in reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Dream of Wild Health: $35,000 to create a sovereign local food system that reduces carbon emissions and sequesters carbon through Indigenous farming practices.
• Friends of Global Market: $10,000 to support Market vendors in reducing waste and increasing recycling of both organic and inorganic materials, and to investigate new compostable products for Market-wide use.
• Hope Community: $10,000 to support an energy-efficient planning project for its rental and multifamily ownership.
• Juxtaposition Arts: $25,000 to promote sustainable community development and clean infrastructure investment along industrial corridors in the Northside Green Zone.
• Lao Assistance Center of Minnesota: $20,000 to shift cultural behaviors and increase awareness and knowledge of recycling, reuse, and waste reduction in the Asian American Pacific Islander community.
• Little Earth Residents Council: $40,000 to incorporate composting education and practices into its workforce program for youth and residents of the Little Earth community.
• MN Renewable Now: $40,000 to help finance 24 solar installations a year in the Northside Green Zone.
• Pillsbury United Communities: $25,000 to support five farm sites and a solar-powered hydroponic Freight Farm that produces 3,000 pounds of healthy produce a year in the Northside Green Zone.
• Resilient Cities and Communities: $10,000 to support planning for a ground-source heating and cooling district for Hi-Lake residential, co-op, and commercial property owners in South Minneapolis.
• Tamales y Bicicletas: $15,000 to support non-carbon-based transportation methods and facilitate winter growing of indigenous foods in South Minneapolis.

In 2022, the fund received just over $1.2 million in funding requests from 30 organizations. A committee comprised of community members from the City of Minneapolis’ North and Southside Green Zones, along with members of the Minneapolis Racial Equity Community Advisory Committee, joined representatives from the City of Minneapolis, the McKnight Foundation, and the Minneapolis Foundation to evaluate applications.

The fund offers grants for place-based, community-driven initiatives and projects that result in a demonstrable reduction in local greenhouse gas emissions. Funding supports proposals that further one or more goals of the Minneapolis Climate Action Plan, which include:

• Increasing energy efficiency
• Encouraging the use of renewable energy
• Reducing vehicle miles traveled
• Promoting efforts to recycle, reuse, and otherwise reduce the community’s waste stream

Funded projects should also advance the City of Minneapolis’ Strategic Racial Equity Action Plan, which seeks to embed racial equity principles throughout the city’s work.

The timing of the fund’s next grant round will be determined soon. Sign up to receive email updates from the Minneapolis Foundation about grant opportunities. Businesses and members of the public can contribute to the fund by going to www.climatempls.org.