2021 Rise Up Scholarship Campaign

Environmental injustices, including climate change, have a disproportionate impact on communities of color and low-income communities in the United States and around the world.  The NAACP ECJ Program was created to provide resources and support community leadership in addressing this human and civil rights issue by advocating for these three objectives: Reduce Harmful Emissions, Particularly Greenhouse Gases, Advance Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy and Strengthen Community Resilience and Livability. 

Q&A: NAACP climate justice organizer on ‘black to green’ employment pipe line

Renewable Energy Partners (REP) is a certified Minority Business Enterprise that develops solar and clean energy projects, and is leading the effort to establish the Regional Apprenticeship Training Center (RATC) in North Minneapolis. RATC will provide low-cost, accessible training to students and adults from under-served, low-income communities. Training will include skills and career paths in renewable energy, energy efficiency, building science, energy storage, electric vehicles, and other sustainable technologies that allow urban neighborhoods to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. 

Soulardarity is a democratic membership organization building energy democracy in Highland Park, MI and neighboring communities through education, organizing, and community clean energy. The organization was formed in response to the repossession of over 1000 of Highland Park’s streetlights by DTE Energy, the investor-owned monopoly utility in SE Michigan, working to install community-owned solar powered streetlights to replace those removed by the utility. Soulardarity’s four main program areas include: 1) Organize for sustainability and self-determination through the Highland Park Campaign, rooted in the Blueprint For Energy Democracy released in 2019, 2) Co-Lead the Work For Me, DTE Campaign with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, which targets the Michigan Public Service Commission to secure health, affordability, and clean energy for our communities, 3) Incubate Polar Bear Sustainable Energy, a cooperative energy enterprise that will provide holistic energy services to households facing barriers to access for clean energy, energy efficiency, and other household services, and 4) Build an engaged Membership that is practicing democracy, leadership development, and collaborative work across the community. 

Located in the heart of the Lindsay Heights neighborhood, Walnut Way Conservation Corp. is a resident-led neighborhood organization that is committed to sustaining an economically diverse and abundant community through civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and creating venues for prosperity. Chartered by neighborhood residents in 2000, Walnut Way challenges the cycle of poverty by engaging, educating, and employing community members to take leadership roles in comprehensive revitalization strategies. Walnut Way works from strengths-based programming and is called to a vision of abundance. Since its purposeful beginnings, Walnut Way has reclaimed its neighborhood with compassionate and involved residents. 

Listen to Walnut Way’s Climate Resiliency Story on 89.7 FM

Wisconsin Green Muslims is a grassroots environmental justice group formed in 2005 connecting faith, environmental justice, sustainability, and healing through education and service. Wisconsin Green Muslims is partnering with MREA on our Rise Up scholarship program to offer solar training scholarships for women of color.

Wisconsin Green Muslims coordinates the Faith Communities for Equitable Solar Initiative. This interfaith program centers on the unifying power of solar energy to bring people of faith, spirituality, and goodwill together to address the climate crisis, care for Earth and each other, save money to reinvest in their missions, and move toward an equitable 100% renewable energy future. Learn more about their Faith and Solar initiative.

The Need of the Hour: An Equitable Climate Action Plan