Are you working to address issues related to food, climate change, or resilience in your community? Discover how a Food and Climate Equity Grant can help you meet your project goals.
The Food and Climate Equity (FACE) Grants program supports a more just and resilient Austin by providing direct funding for community-led solutions that enable transformative change in the areas of food, climate, and resilience. The program aims to uplift the experience of those most impacted by systemic and structural inequities, eliminate disparities in health outcomes, and improve quality of life for all.
By offering grants up to $3,000, we hope to support community organizations that represent and/or serve racially and economically diverse Austinites and have unique insight into their communities' needs.
About the grant and who should apply?-
History
In 2023, the Offices of Sustainability and Resilience held separate mini grant competitions, the Food Justice Mini Grant and the Resilience Mini Grant, awarding a total of $150,000 to community-driven projects. In 2024, the offices are collaborating to expand the grant opportunities available across the city and make it easier for community members to access support for their programs all in one place.
Program goals
The FACE Grants program aims to:
- Encourage underrepresented voices to be leaders of change
- Support local action to reduce inequities
- Build relationships and trust between City staff and community organizations
Who should apply?
The program welcomes ideas and projects from all applicants who want to build food justice, climate justice, and community resilience in Austin. We will prioritize proposals led by communities negatively impacted by systemic inequities. Funding is prioritized for projects that can meaningfully engage with the impacted groups, such as:
- Black, Native American/Indigenous, Latinx, and Asian communities of color
- Youth and young adults
- People over 65
- People who are pregnant, nursing, and/or caring for infants
- People with chronic disease
- LGBTQIA2S+ communities
- Immigrant, migrant, and/or refugee communities
- People with disabilities or limited mobility
- People with mental illness or mental health issues
- Low-income communities
- People experiencing homelessness
- People with past criminal records
- People who work outside
- Veterans and service members
Grant requirements-
This program is seeking applicants who are leading transformative change within the communities they represent. Funded proposals may include ongoing work or new projects. Funding is available for projects addressing one or more of the following program areas: food justice, climate justice, or community resilience.
Applications will be accepted from non-profits, schools, for-profit businesses, homeowner associations, faith-based groups, grassroots initiatives, and more. To be considered for a grant, applicants must meet the requirements below.
- Applicants must be serving the Austin-Travis County area
- Awardees are not required to be 501(c)3 registered non-profits, but organizations/entities or their fiscal sponsor must register as a vendor with the City of Austin before funding can be awarded
- Only one application is allowed per applicant
- There are no insurance requirements for this grant
- Funds cannot be used for any political activity, including lobbying or campaigning
- Organizations must commit to completing the following tasks:
- Track Project Progress
- Track Spending
- Share Results, Reflections, Challenges, and Stories
Want to learn more about how applications will be scored?
- View our grant scoring rubric. (PDF; 120KB)
- Vea nuestra rúbrica de puntuación de la subvención. (PDF en Español; 96.3KB)
Learn more about our grant categories-
About food justice
By food justice, we refer broadly to movements advocating for transformational change around how our food moves from the fields to our forks. This includes the concept of food sovereignty, or the right of communities to define their own food and agriculture systems.
Project ideas
Example projects may include, but are not limited to:
- Low-cost home meal or grocery delivery services
- Community events centered on food systems or food justice
- Community garden supplies and resources
- Composting or waste processing equipment
- Innovative food rescue techniques
- Value-added food upcycling pilot programs (e.g., ugly fruit juice or preserves or spent grain bread)
About climate justice
Climate justice refers to the findings that climate emissions and climate change can have disproportionately harmful social, economic, and public health impacts on low-income and disadvantaged communities. Climate justice work aims to reverse or reduce those disparities and increase climate awareness and action. Eligible projects will demonstrate alignment with the Austin Climate Equity Plan. Successful grants will be designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while also addressing the intersection of climate and justice.
Project ideas
Example projects may include, but are not limited to:
- Education programs at schools, youth-serving, or youth-led organizations
- Tool libraries or repair workshops
- Increased or improved monitoring or data collection, such as air quality monitoring
- Promoting climate or air quality awareness
- Promote or enhance active or public transit
- Promoting or implementing emissions reduction strategies
About community resilience
Community resilience refers to the capacity of a community to recover, adapt, and thrive before, during, and after a disruptive event by working together, planning, and building supportive networks. This includes the concept of community resilience networks, or a group of trusted community groups that provide information and services before, during, or after a disruptive event and together create a hyper-local network of resources that are accessible to the population nearby.
Project ideas
Example projects may include, but are not limited to:
- Holding a community workshop focused on creating a household emergency plan
- Building community capacity, such as creating a community ambassador program before, during, and after emergencies
- Community resilience network programming, such as job training
How to Apply and Next Steps
Register and complete your application in our grant portal by Thursday, July 25, 2024, at 11:59 pm. You may save your application and return to it, but it must be submitted by the deadline to be considered.
Applicants will be notified of selection decisions by September 1, 2024.
Need help with your application?
- Learn more about using the grant portal (vea este documento en español).
- Read through the questions and answers shared during office hours (PDF, 0.7 MB).
If you have any questions, need additional support completing your application, or would like to request a paper application to complete, please email sustainability@austintexas.gov or call 512-974-1364.
- Want to complete your application in a language other than English?
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