The Conservation Alliance announced the Confluence Program grantees: Apache Stronghold, Monumental SHIFT Coalition, Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission, and Valentine Conservation Community Project.
Each of these groups will receive $50,000 in grant funding this month, along with another $50,000 in 2022, as well as resource sharing and communications support through 2023.
Apache Stronghold is an organization based in Arizona that works with conservation groups and those who share a love for natural places. The grant funding will help support the organization’s efforts to protect an Apache sacred site, Chi’chil Biłdagoteel (also known as Oak Flat), from proposed underground mining.
Southwest-based Monumental SHIFT coalition is a collaborative network of BIPOC-led groups working together to grow the traditional conservation movement to represent and honor better the lands and places sacred to its communities. The organization is working to secure National Monument designations for the Castner Range in Texas and Avi Kwa Ame in Nevada, and Wild and Scenic River designations for the Gila River in New Mexico.
The Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission (SEITC) is a consortium of 15 federally-recognized Tribal governments that formed to protect their ways of life throughout Southeast Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Their mission is to protect Tribal lands and waterways region for future generations. SEITC is working on developing an Indigenous-led framework for co-managing transboundary watersheds flowing from British Columbia through Southeast Alaska, which are threatened by mining development.
The Valentine Conservation Community (VCC) is a group of 30 residents led by a multi-generational Black family that seeks to create the Valentine Street Park and Trails in East St. Louis, Illinois, located within a mile of the Mississippi River. Its mission is to preserve the land, protect the wildlife and restore the Valentine Street neighborhood by imbuing a historical culture of conservation and love for nature in the neighborhood.
The Confluence grant program was directed by seven advisory committee members, with support and guidance from The Conservation Alliance staff. The committee established the funding criteria, project types, and application process. The advisory committee also reviewed applications and chose the final grant recipients.
The Conservation Alliance developed the Confluence Program in 2021 to connect to historically racially marginalized people for the protection of natural places. The program is a first step in the organization’s efforts to help create new systems and structures that bring together all the groups, businesses, and people committed to this work.
The program aims to achieve its goal through multi-year grant funding for groups that are led by Asian, Black, Brown, Indigenous, Latinx and other People of Color working to elevate voices and perspectives of people working to protect a natural place. In 2022 and 2023, the program will focus on relationship-building founded in trust and resource-sharing and will be shaped according to the specific needs of each grantee organization.
One grant program goal is to capture and share learnings regarding the gap between financial needs and available funding. The Confluence grant program received 80 applications, representing a need for $4 million in funding.
For complete information, visit www.conservationalliance.com.
