The JustPax Fund is pleased to announce the organizations and initiatives that received funding in our 2025 application round.
Andando – $25,000 per year for 3 years
Jefferson, OR
Andando is a long-standing nonprofit working in rural Senegal that partners with women’s cooperatives to build self-sustaining, permaculture-based garden systems that increase income, food security, and community resilience. Their proposed project will expand a successful aquaculture pilot by integrating fish farming into additional women-led gardens, providing infrastructure, training, and technical support so communities can raise fish, improve crop yields and strengthen local food systems. This effort addresses the intertwined challenges of malnutrition, environmental degradation, and women’s economic exclusion while reducing pressure on overfished ecosystems and empowering women as leaders in sustainable food sovereignty.
Beyond Boundaries – $25,000 per year for 2 years
Richmond, VA
Beyond Boundaries has spent over a decade expanding access to outdoor recreation for individuals with disabilities and underserved communities in Central Virginia through inclusive, partnership-based programming. With this grant, the organization will collaborate with YMCA Camp Thunderbird to build ADA-compliant cabins and restroom facilities, creating a permanent, fully accessible camp where participants can engage in inclusive day and overnight outdoor experiences supported by subsidized or free programming. Their program will address systemic barriers to outdoor access while fostering community connection, advancing equity and belonging in outdoor recreation for populations long excluded from these spaces.
Border Workers United – $25,000 per year for 3 years
El Paso, TX
Border Workers United is a grassroots organization in the Rio Grande Valley that mobilizes immigrant and low-income residents into leadership roles to advance civic engagement, environmental protection, and labor rights. Through its Tri-Pillar Justice Initiative, the group will train and deploy community promotoras to register and turn out voters, organize resistance to polluting industries, and support workers facing wage theft and unsafe conditions, while also building long-term leadership capacity within the community. By addressing interconnected forms of exclusion and injustice, this work will strengthen democratic participation and economic security, while equipping historically marginalized communities to shape the policies and systems that affect their lives.
Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team (Cambridge HEART) – $25,000
Cambridge, MA
A community-rooted organization working to create non-carceral, care-based alternatives to traditional emergency response systems, grounded in principles of transformative and disability justice, HEART will launch and grow its Mobile Crisis project, enabling trained responders with lived experience to provide in-person, on-the-ground support for individuals in crisis, offering de-escalation, emotional care, and resource connection as an alternative to police intervention. They will meet immediate needs more safely and compassionately, while also modeling a broader shift toward community-led healing, reducing reliance on punitive systems while building long-term capacity for collective care and conflict resolution
Caminos de Agua – $11,000 per year for 2 years
Guanajuato, Mexico
Caminos de Agua is a nonprofit that combines technological innovation with deep community partnership to address water contamination and inequity in Central Mexico. Through this project, the organization will expand its Groundwater Treatment System and, more critically, co-develop a replicable governance model, working alongside local residents to design, test, and share tools that enable communities to own, operate, and sustain these systems independently. By shifting the focus from infrastructure alone to community-led management, the initiative tackles the root causes of water injustice, helping ensure long-term access to safe drinking water while building local capacity, economic resilience, and a scalable model that could benefit millions facing similar contamination challenges.
ChangeMaker Foundation – $25,000
San Juan, Puerto Rico
The Community Butterfly Conservatory is a community-led environmental justice initiative, part of a broader program that includes emergency food distribution, temporary lodging for HIV+ patients, and permanent housing for LGBTQI+ elders. With grant support, the project will convert part of a reclaimed, abandoned school into a butterfly conservatory that functions simultaneously as a site for ecological restoration, therapeutic programming for older adults, and a hub for small-scale, community-driven economic activity such as eco-tourism and craft production. By weaving together biodiversity conservation, mental health support, and local economic development, the effort responds to systemic neglect while offering a replicable model for how communities can transform disinvestment into resilience, dignity, and shared prosperity.
Cooperation LA – $25,000
Los Angeles, CA
Cooperation LA is an economic justice organization that supports immigrant workers in building and owning cooperative businesses as a pathway to stability, self-determination, and protection from exploitative labor systems. In partnership with the Garment Worker Center, this project will pilot Los Angeles’s first worker-owned garment staffing cooperative, providing training, technical assistance, and infrastructure so workers can collectively manage operations, secure fair wages, and connect with ethical employers. The initiative responds to entrenched issues like wage theft and unsafe working conditions while also challenging the environmental and social costs of fast fashion. By shifting ownership and decision-making power to workers themselves, it offers a durable model for transforming both livelihoods and industry practices.
Creation Justice Ministries – $25,000
Washington, DC
Creation Justice Ministries is a national ecumenical organization that connects faith communities with environmental justice efforts, particularly by elevating the voices and traditions of historically marginalized Christian groups. In this initiative, they will design and pilot an online learning platform offering three live courses, while building the faculty network, digital infrastructure, and scholarship support needed to make justice-centered theological education broadly accessible. By opening space for perspectives such as EcoWomanism and liberation ecotheology, the project not only equips participants with tools for climate action rooted in faith, but also helps reshape the wider field of religious environmental education toward greater inclusion, equity, and real-world impact.
Global Land Restoration Fund – $25,000 per year for 2 years
Oceanside, CA
The Global Land Restoration Fund (GLRF) works with Indigenous communities to reclaim and steward ancestral lands by combining conservation expertise with capital strategies and training. In this project, GLRF is supporting the Molokaʻi community in completing the historic acquisition of over 55,000 acres of Molokai Ranch, while also helping design and launch regenerative agriculture, reforestation, and land governance systems rooted in traditional Hawaiian ahupuaʻa practices. Alongside partners, they will develop farmer training pathways, restore native ecosystems, and rebuild local food systems so the land can sustainably support the island’s people. This effort is significant not only for advancing food security and ecological healing on Molokaʻi, but also for demonstrating a powerful, scalable model of Indigenous land return and community-led restoration that could inform similar efforts worldwide.
Habitat for Humanity International – $25,000
Atlanta, GA
Habitat for Humanity Ethiopia advances gender, environmental, and economic justice by promoting women’s land rights as a foundation for climate resilience and poverty reduction. Building on its “Stand for Her Land” campaign, this project will partner with church leaders, community members, and local institutions across five regions to challenge harmful social norms, expand legal awareness, and support women in securing and exercising their land rights. By grounding legal change in culturally trusted systems, particularly faith communities, the initiative aims to translate policy into lived reality, enabling women to participate more fully in agriculture, governance, and climate adaptation efforts.
Imagine Water Works – $25,000
New Orleans, LA
Imagine Water Works is an Indigenous- and trans-led organization in coastal Louisiana that connects climate justice, disaster response, and land stewardship to support communities most impacted by environmental change. Through its Imagination Farmers Project, the group will engage Indigenous youth in a paid, hands-on program at a community urban farm, where participants learn ancestral growing practices, develop their own cultivation projects, and build connections to intergenerational networks of land stewards. Along the way, the farm also serves as a mutual aid hub during climate emergencies, linking land-based knowledge with real-time resilience. In a region losing land at an alarming rate, this work helps preserve cultural traditions, strengthen identity and mental well-being, and equip the next generation with the skills and vision needed to adapt to and shape their environmental future.
Iran Human Rights Documentation Center – $25,000
New Haven, CT
The Iran Human Rights Documentation Center is a U.S.-based organization with two decades of experience documenting abuses and supporting civil society actors working under repression in Iran. Through this initiative, it will partner with women human rights defenders to provide coordinated legal assistance, trauma-informed psychological support, and collaboratively developed advocacy tools that help document violations and elevate their voices on the global stage. By strengthening the safety, resilience, and effectiveness of those directly challenging Iran’s gender apartheid system, the project not only supports immediate well-being and protection but also contributes to broader efforts for accountability and systemic change, with a model that could be adapted in other restrictive contexts.
Kitsuyapi Collective – $20,000
Santa Fe, NM
Harvesting Kinship, Sowing Sovereignty is an intergenerational, Indigenous-led initiative of Kiksuyapi Collective that seeks to transform a long-neglected plot of land on Isleta Pueblo into a vibrant, community-powered garden—complete with traditional growing systems, a greenhouse, seed library, and apiary—while hosting culturally rooted workshops and mentorship that reconnect youth and elders through language, agriculture, and shared care of the land. Restoring ancestral foodways and supporting small-scale economic activity, it strengthens food sovereignty, cultural continuity, and climate resilience, offering a living model of how communities can reclaim both land and self-determination.
Make the Road Nevada – $25,000
Las Vegas, NV
Make the Road Nevada builds power among Latine and immigrant communities through organizing, leadership development, and policy advocacy. Through its MUJER program, the group will convene multilingual workshops, peer trainings, and one-on-one support to help women understand their rights, access reproductive healthcare and economic resources, and step into leadership roles within their communities. Participants will also engage in collective problem-solving and advocacy, generating community-driven solutions and building a sustainable network of peer educators.
Milaan Foundation – $25,000
Elmhurst, IL
The Girl Icon Program, led by Milaan Foundation, is a girl-centered leadership initiative designed to confront systemic gender inequality by equipping adolescent girls in Uganda with the skills, knowledge, and support needed to thrive. Through a cascading model, 75 trained “Girl Icons” will mentor roughly 1,000 peers in areas like reproductive health, education, and rights awareness, while collectively designing and implementing community action projects that address issues such as child marriage and school dropout. In doing so, the program will improve school retention, health outcomes, and safety for participants, while shifting community norms by positioning girls as visible leaders and advocates.
Nadia Initiative – $25,000
Washington, DC
Nadia’s Initiative is a survivor-led organization founded by Nobel laureate Nadia Murad that focuses on rebuilding communities and restoring dignity in Sinjar following the devastation of the ISIS genocide. Through this project, the organization will train and equip around 50 returning women, many of them survivors, to establish and manage small tree nurseries, providing them with climate-resilient livelihoods while supporting local reforestation and agricultural recovery. By enabling participants to grow and sell seedlings and restore degraded land, the initiative simultaneously addresses economic marginalization and environmental decline. The effort matters because it links healing and reintegration with long-term ecological resilience, offering a pathway for survivors to rebuild both their lives and the sustainability of their homeland.
Project GROWS – $20,000 per year for 2 years
Staunton, VA
Project GROWS is a community-rooted nonprofit that works to strengthen local food systems by connecting farmers and residents while centering equity and access. Through its “Nourishing Justice” initiative, the organization will expand a mobile market that delivers locally grown food directly to underserved neighborhoods, using a sliding-scale “Fair Pricing” model and community-led outreach to ensure affordability and dignity for families facing food insecurity. By sourcing entirely from regional farmers and reinvesting in the local agricultural economy, the project supports small producers while increasing access to fresh, nutritious food. The initiative will address the intertwined challenges of poverty, health disparities, and limited food access while building a more resilient, community-driven food system.
Renew Rocktown – $30,000
Harrisonburg, VA
Renew Rocktown, in partnership with the Shenandoah Valley Black Heritage Project, is a community-driven effort focused on advancing environmental and energy justice for low- to moderate-income households in Virginia’s Central Shenandoah Valley. This pilot project will combine trusted local outreach with hands-on energy efficiency improvements to reduce household energy costs, lower emissions, and help residents navigate complex assistance systems. By directly improving conditions in at least 25 homes while testing a scalable, locally grounded model, the initiative aims to build long-term capacity to address energy burden in the region. The initiative tackles both economic injustice and environmental inequity, offering practical relief to families while strengthening community resilience in the face of rising energy costs and climate pressures.
SAGE Foundation – $25,000
Fort Yates, ND
SAGE Development Authority is an Indigenous-led entity formed by the Standing Rock Nation to advance economic sovereignty and environmental justice through community-owned energy solutions. Its flagship project, Anpetu Wi, will develop a 235 MW wind farm fully owned and governed by the Tribe, generating long-term revenue, creating workforce pathways, and reinvesting profits into priorities like housing, education, and climate resilience. This project demonstrates how renewable energy can be built on terms defined by Indigenous communities rather than extractive systems, instead rooted in justice, cultural stewardship, and self-determination.
Strategies for International Development – $22,667 per year for 3 years
Washington, DC
Strategies for International Development is an organization focused on helping smallholder farmers overcome systemic barriers to productivity and income through locally driven, knowledge-based agricultural programs. In Tanzania’s Kagera region, the project will equip thousands of coffee-farming families with practical, farmer-defined techniques to increase yields, improve processing for higher market prices, and adopt conservation practices while providing targeted support to women to build leadership skills and launch additional income-generating businesses.
Talking Rivers – $3,600
Dexter, NY
Talking Rivers is a storytelling and environmental initiative that blends art, science, and community dialogue to deepen how people understand and relate to ecosystems. Through its “Through the Eyes of Rivers” project, it will create illustrated narratives and an interactive website that present the health and experiences of Adirondack rivers from the rivers’ own perspectives, supported by scientific research and community-sourced data. These stories will anchor a series of in-person “storytelling circles,” where participants reflect on their relationship to local watersheds and commit to concrete actions such as advocating for rights-of-nature policies or adopting more ecosystem-centered decision-making practices. By shifting the lens from human-centered thinking to one that recognizes rivers as living entities with needs and rights, the project seeks to inspire more ethical, interconnected approaches to environmental stewardship at both the community and policy level.
Wi’am – $10,000
Lansing, MI
Wi’am is a Palestinian peace and reconciliation organization based in Bethlehem that works on conflict mediation, global education, and strengthening local civil society, particularly for women. Its proposed project will install a solar energy system to reduce dependence on the Israeli electrical grid, generate several thousand dollars in annual savings, and stabilize the organization’s finances during periods of economic and political uncertainty. In a context where energy access is both politically controlled and economically precarious, this initiative helps build institutional resilience while modeling a small but meaningful step toward self-determination and sustainability.
Working Classroom – $25,000
Albuquerque, NM
Working Classroom advances economic and social justice by providing marginalized youth with access to creative, educational, and leadership opportunities. Through its youth program, participants will engage in paid creative apprenticeships, earning income while producing public art, building professional and financial skills, and taking on leadership roles in community-driven projects. The program integrates mentorship, civic engagement, and wellness support, helping young people develop confidence, resilience, and pathways into sustainable careers.