New Frontline Resource Institute Announces $1 Million for Frontline Community Groups

(WASHINGTON – Jul. 20, 2022) A newly launched organization called Frontline Resource Institute (FRI, pronounced “free”) is providing $1 million to organizations serving frontline communities – those impacted first and worst by climate change and environmental disruption -- so that they can do what they do best: advocate for their fundamental rights to healthy and safe environments. Funding will be used by community leaders to create durable, effective and equitable climate solutions that address the dire circumstances wrought by climate change and environmental disruption.

“Until recently, big green organizations underestimated the value of frontline community-based solutions to help solve our climate crisis,” said Dr. Margot Brown, EDF’s vice president of Justice and Equity. “FRI will serve as a resource for communities to grow and strategize climate solutions on their own terms.”

FRI is a new institution developed by a Conceptual Committee of eleven individuals representing communities from Manila, Philippines, to St. James Parish, Louisiana, and beyond. Together with Vernice Miller-Travis, a pioneering environmental justice thought leader, committee members contribute a diversity of opinions, perspectives and approaches to environmental justice and climate justice work.

“I’ve waited decades for green groups and EJ groups to collaborate meaningfully at the level that FRI represents. But the urgency of the climate crisis is forcing us to think and act in different ways,” said Vernice Miller-Travis, EVP and Environmental Justice Lead of the Metropolitan Group. “May we emerge via FRI with a commitment to focus our energy and resources on the people and places under the greatest threat.”

EDF is proud to provide in-kind support to the Frontline Resource Institute and to support FRI’s mission to support frontline communities and build a world where all can achieve healthy, safe and sustainable environments.

FRI is releasing inaugural grant opportunities through a Collective Action Fund at the Tides Foundation totaling up to $1 million. Learn more at our upcoming webinar on Thursday, July 21 at 2pm ET.