The Office of Sustainability (OOS) is excited to announce the 2026 recipients of the Community Resilience and Environmental Justice (CREJ) Fund.
Thirteen community groups will each receive $30,000 to change the systems and built environment conditions that affect environmental justice communities and increase frontline community resilience to climate change. They will receive awards across the following tracks:
- Circularity & Waste Reduction
- Climate Emergency Preparedness
- Energy Burden & Heat Resilience
- Food Sovereignty & Land Security
CREJ Fund recipients will have access to a suite of wraparound capacity-building services to support long term organizational sustainability and development. Recipients will also have access to complimentary energy assessments through a new partnership with PECO and PGW.
The CREJ Fund is supported by the Office of Sustainability, Philadelphia Water Department and William Penn Foundation. It is fiscally administered by the Philadelphia City Fund.
2026 CREJ Fund grantees
Track: Circularity and Waste Reduction
1. Bartram’s Garden
Founded in 1728, the 50 acres of Bartram’s Garden serve as an outdoor learning space, gathering place, and vehicle for community food sovereignty through the Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden. The 4-acre African Diaspora-centered farm, founded in 2011, grows and distributes over 15,000 pounds of produce annually. The farm also resources community-based food sovereignty through on-site community garden beds, a home garden program, local school and recreation center partnerships, a free workshop series for growers and gardeners, and a greenhouse that grows seedlings for distribution through Philadelphia Horticultural Society’s City Harvest program. The CREJ Fund will support new infrastructure to permanently increase compost production and distribution.
2. Neighborhood Bike Works
Neighborhood Bike Works (NBW) is a West Philadelphia-based nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to bicycling and bicycle repair through education, recreation, and workforce development. Their mission is to inspire youth and strengthen communities by providing equitable access to bicycles, safe riding, and hands-on mechanical skills. NBW envisions a city where all residents – regardless of income – have the tools, knowledge, and confidence to use bicycles as a reliable, sustainable means of transportation. NBW provides opportunities for individuals to earn or access bicycles at low or no cost, learn essential repair skills, and participate in a culture of reuse and shared resources. Across all programs, NBW diverts 700-900 bicycles per year from the waste stream and recycles significant volumes of unusable materials. The CREJ Fund will support strengthening salvage and redistribution systems, purchasing equipment, increasing refurbishing capacity, expanding Bike Church hours (free, tool-access DIY repair space), and scaling adult repair classes.
Track: Climate Emergency Preparedness
3. The MasterMind Cooperative
The MasterMind Cooperative is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization founded in 2019. Through programs focused on economic development, wellness, reentry, and workforce development, the organization equips youth and adults with skills and resources to strengthen their communities and address challenges affecting neighborhood health and well-being. Previously, the CREJ Fund supported The MasterMind Cooperative to establish resilience hubs which shared resources and knowledge around climate-related events, provided sustainability and green infrastructure education, and supported the development of tailored emergency preparedness plans. This year, the CREJ Fund will support implementation of an Extreme Heat Emergency Preparedness Project in North Philadelphia. The project will engage residents through heat safety workshops, outreach campaigns, and youth-led education on emergency preparedness. This includes implementing neighborhood cooling initiatives, providing residents with information about City heat resources and cooling centers, and promoting strategies for staying safe during extreme heat events.
Track: Energy Burden & Heat Resilience
4. Phase 3 Training Corporation
Phase 3 Training Corporation was founded in 2021 to equip underserved individuals, especially youth and returning citizens, with the skills, support, and pathways needed to enter and thrive in high-demand careers such as construction, electrical, alternative energy, and advanced manufacturing. They collaborate with workforce boards, schools, local employers, community-based organizations, and public agencies to connect program participants to training, supportive services, and career opportunities. Phase 3 Training Corporation envisions a world where every individual has the opportunity, resources, and support to build a sustainable career and contribute to inclusive, resilient communities powered by equity, innovation, and economic justice. The CREJ Fund will support Phase 3 Training Corporation’s Energy Resilience Trades Readiness Pilot to deliver hands-on workshops on energy burden, indoor heat risks, weatherization, efficient cooling practices, and clean energy career pathways.
5. The Lighthouse Inc.
The Lighthouse Inc. is a Philadelphia-based nonprofit that works at the intersection of recreation, violence prevention, youth development, and urban renewal. Through its Recreation Over Violence (ROV) initiative, the organization provides structured programming to more than 1,200 youth annually while creating pathways to economic mobility through entrepreneurship training and community-based workforce development in North Philadelphia. The CREJ Fund will support The Lighthouse Inc.’s Expansion of Shade & Greenery initiative at its 15-acre sports complex. The initiative will include tree planting, green stormwater infrastructure, and other landscape improvements designed to increase shade, reduce extreme heat, and improve stormwater management. The initiative will also provide hands-on training for youth and young adults in urban forestry, climate resilience, and green infrastructure maintenance.
6. Nueva Esperanza Housing and Economic Development (NEHED)
Nueva Esperanza Housing and Economic Development was founded in 1999 with the primary purpose to improve the physical, economic, and social environment of Philadelphia’s Hunting Park neighborhood. Last year, they facilitated the planting and distribution of over 200 trees to schools, residences, local business, and churches to help fight extreme heat in Hunting Park. They regularly convene community members to discuss environmental justice and climate resilience topics and learn and serve together through projects including caring for their community garden, composting, planting spring flowers, and more. The CREJ Fund will support their ongoing climate resilience planning process, including block-level heat mitigation design charettes and implementation of block-level cooling strategies.
7. VietLead, fiscally sponsored by Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund
Founded in 2016, VietLead serves the Vietnamese and Southeast Asian communities in Philadelphia, addressing the compounded traumas often faced by descendants of refugees, through direct service, culturally grounded outreach, and community-led organizing. Over the years, their work has centered public benefits navigation, civic empowerment, worker rights, youth leadership, immigration defense, and food sovereignty. Driven by the frontline realities of soaring utility costs and extreme heat, VietLead is expanding their focus to include energy burden and heat resilience to continue protecting their most vulnerable residents. The CREJ Fund will support the expansion of VietLead’s trusted multilingual direct services and community organizing infrastructure into a targeted Energy Burden & Heat Resilience Initiative. VietLead is fiscally sponsored by Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund.
8. Women in Dialogue
Women in Dialogue was founded in 1982 to bring communities together by convening women to address their common concerns. They are committed to getting all women’s work, waged and unwaged, valued in policies and resource allocation. Women in Dialogue established the Crossroads Women’s Center in Germantown in 1998 to provide expansive services addressing legal issues, fitness, domestic violence, mental health, and more. The Center is homebase for the Crossroads Kitchen, which provides healthy meals using local produce, the Crossroads Community Rummage, which provides affordable used clothing, and the Wages for Housework Community Archives, sharing a 50-year history of grassroots campaigning for recognition and payment of caregiving work. The CREJ Fund will support energy efficiency upgrades for the Crossroads Women’s Center.
Track: Food Sovereignty & Land Security
9. African Cultural Alliance of North America
The African Cultural Alliance of North America (ACANA) is a community development corporation operating out of Southwest Philadelphia. Founded in 1999, ACANA’s mission is to empower refugees, immigrant families, and all residents of Philadelphia through access to legal, health, and social services, with a special focus on women, children, youth, and the elderly. The CREJ Fund will support ACANA to establish a Community Orchard and activate the Africatown Green Hub. The Hub will serve simultaneously as an operational base for ACANA’s corridor greening crews, a propagation nursery supplying plant stock for corridor planters and community orchards, and a community space for food education, cultural wellness programming, and environmental stewardship.
10. Fair Amount Food Forest
Fair Amount Food Forest (FAFF) is a community-based, publicly-accessible, and educational food forest garden in Fairmount Park. For three years, FAFF has partnered with Brothers of Strawberry Mansion (BOSM), a non-profit serving as a food pantry and resource for the Strawberry Mansion Community. FAFF and BOSM collaborate on food pantry programming, urban farming, farmer’s market operations and related community programming. Previously, the CREJ Fund supported FAFF and BOSM in holding cooking and nutrition demonstrations, as well as launching and staffing the Strawberry Mansion Farmer’s Market. This year, the CREJ Fund will support FAFF and BOSM to staff the growing farmers market and food pantry, as well as acquire the building and land utilized by BOSM to operate the food pantry and support both organizations’ operations.
11. Fernhill Food Forest, fiscally sponsored by Friends of Fernhill Park
Starting as a simple garden plot in 2021, Fernhill Food Forest has grown into a community-driven growing space with a mission to steward Fernhill Park to benefit both humans and the environment. Described as part permaculture classroom, part woodland and restoration project, and part community gathering space, Fernhill Food Forest also collaborates with local schools to deliver nature education. The CREJ Fund will support the expansion of Fernhill Food Forest’s tree canopy, restoration of woodlands, increase of perennial food systems in Fernhill Park, and a new paid community forestry pipeline through a 10-week paid community forestry training program. Fernhill Food Forest is fiscally sponsored by Friends of Fernhill Park.
12. Get Fresh Daily, fiscally sponsored by CultureWorks of Greater Philadelphia
Get Fresh Daily (GFD) is a food justice and community wellness organization rooted in West Philadelphia’s 52nd Street corridor. Founded in 2017, GFD’s mission is to ensure equitable access to farm-fresh, local, organic, and chemical-free food, while cultivating community around well-being and holistic healing, and strengthening regional farmer capacity to support a more just, resilient food system. The CREJ Fund will support GFD’s launch of a cooperative value-added food hub rooted in food sovereignty, circularity, and community resilience in West Philadelphia. Uplifting Black farmers and growers, GFD plans for this model to transform post-market surplus produce into culturally-rooted products that flow back into the community. Get Fresh Daily is fiscally sponsored by CultureWorks of Greater Philadelphia.
13. Karen Community Association of Philadelphia (KCAP), fiscally sponsored by Movement Alliance Project
The Karen Community Association of Philadelphia’s mission is to empower and uplift Karen refugees in Philadelphia by preserving Karen culture and language, supporting their communities’ access to traditional food and agricultural practices, and creating safe community gathering spaces. They have supported Karen farmers growing food in South Philadelphia for over 10 years, supplying a farmer’s market that feeds approximately 200 families a week. In partnership with Farm Philly, they recently found a permanent home for their food justice work. The CREJ Fund will support developing the land into a community farm through soil remediation and new infrastructure. Karen Community Association of Philadelphia is fiscally sponsored by the Movement Alliance Project
Questions about the CREJ Fund can be directed to Justina Thompson at justina.thompson@phila.gov with the Subject Line [CREJ Fund]. The next CREJ Fund opportunity is expected to open in Fall 2027 on the Philadelphia City Fund’s website.
