The Office of Sustainability (OOS) is excited to announce the 2026 opening of the Community Resilience and Environmental Justice (CREJ) Fund. The application is available through the Philadelphia City Fund website.
The primary goal of the CREJ Fund is to change the systems and built environment conditions that affect environmental justice (EJ) communities and increase frontline community resilience to climate change. This means investing in systems and infrastructure to ensure long-term change.
The CREJ Fund was established out of recognition that community-based organizations know their neighborhoods’ challenges and opportunities the best; and to advance environmental justice, community leaders and community-led solutions need to be resourced.
The CREJ Fund will award $30,000 grants with a two-year grant agreement to focus on 12 projects across the following tracks:
- Circularity & Waste Reduction
- Climate Emergency Preparedness
- Energy Burden & Heat Resilience
- Food Sovereignty & Land Security
- Indoor Air Quality
These tracks reflect priority environmental burdens and key community assets identified in OOS’ environmental justice community workshops.
CREJ Fund recipients will also have access to a suite of wraparound capacity-building services to support long-term organizational sustainability and development. These will include strategic planning, project planning, team coaching, conflict mediation, grant writing, media development, communications outreach and more.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for a grant from the CREJ Fund, organizations must be:
- Located in Philadelphia and serving Philadelphians experiencing environmental injustices.
- Led by, in partnership with, and/or serving people most affected by the issue that is being addressed.
- A 501(c)3 nonprofit, faith-based institution, childcare center, or senior center; or a community-based organization working with a 501(c)3 fiscal sponsor.
- Working on a project that advances the CREJ Fund goal of changing the systems and built environment conditions that affect EJ communities, and increasing frontline community resilience to climate change.
Applications will remain open until Friday, June 5, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Final decision notifications will go out by the end of July via email.
A virtual information session covering the grant application, eligibility criteria and a Q&A session will take place on Monday, April 20, 2026 at 6 p.m. The information session will also be recorded and available to view later.
Questions about the CREJ Fund can be directed to Justina Thompson at justina.thompson@phila.gov with the subject line “CREJ Fund.”
The CREJ Fund is supported by the Office of Sustainability, Philadelphia Water Department and William Penn Foundation. The Philadelphia City Fund is the fiscal administrator. All grantees will receive grant funding directly from the Philadelphia City Fund.
