CONSERVATION ALLIANCE GRANTS
Confluence Program
As a Conservation Alliance member since 2005, we’ve helped fund grants to grassroots environmental organizations that protect the special wild lands and waters in our backyards. We're proud to intentionally extend that support to groups that self-identify as being led by Asian, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color working to protect natural places.
WHY THE CONFLUENCE PROGRAM?
The Conservation Alliance developed the Confluence Program in 2021 to intentionally connect to historically racially marginalized people for the protection of natural places. After 32 years of conservation grant making, they recognized that their network of grantees and business partners did not represent a coalition of everyone working to protect natural places. The Confluence Program is a first step in those efforts to help create new systems and structures that bring together all of the groups, businesses, and people committed to this work. Each of the four groups below will receive $100,000 in grant funding, as well as two years of resource sharing and communications support.
2021/2022 Confluence Program Grantees
Apache Stronghold: Protect Chi’Chil Bildagoteel (Oak Flat)
Located in San Carlos, Arizona, Apache Stronghold builds community through neighborhood educational programs and opportunities for civic engagement, connects with Native and non-Native allies worldwide, and works with conservation organizations and all those who share a love for natural places.
Monumental SHIFT Coalition: BIPOC leaders protecting our public lands
Based in the southwest, the Monumental SHIFT coalition is a collaborative network of BIPOC-led groups working together to grow the traditional conservation movement to better represent and honor lands and places sacred to its communities. The organization is currently running two National Monument Endorsement Campaigns: Avi Kaw Ame, or Spirit Mountain, in Nevada and Castner Range in Texas.
Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission: Saving Our Way of Life
The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) is a consortium of 15 federally recognized Tribal governments that formed in 2014 to protect their customary and traditional ways of life throughout Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Their mission is to protect Tribal lands and waterways for future generations.
Valentine Conservation Community Project: Valentine Park and Nature Trail
The Valentine Conservation Community (VCC) is a group of 30 residents, led by a multi-generational Black family, who have maintained land ownership in the Valentine Street neighborhood of East St. Louis, Illinois, for more than 74 years. VCC is seeking to imbue a historical culture of conservation and love for nature in their neighborhood, which is located within a mile of the Mississippi River.