Oregon Water Equity Fund
Senate Bill 5506 (SB 5506), passed in the Oregon Legislature’s 2023 Regular Session by the Joint Subcommittee on Capital Construction, created the Oregon Water Equity Fund, allocating $500,000 “for distribution to the University of Oregon Just Futures Institute to conduct research to understand and address water needs of environmental justice communities and to award grants.”
2024 Recipients
In 2024, the Oregon Water Equity Fund, through the Community Water Justice Award program, supported eleven projects led by community-based organizations and other public-interest entities in Oregon.
7 Waters Canoe Family
An inter-Tribal Indigenous community organization based in Portland, Oregon. 7 Waters strives to promote Indigenous cultural stewardship and community wellness, particularly through engagement with traditional canoe practices.
Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians — Changing Currents
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians’ (ATNI) Changing Currents Tribal Water Summits are inter-Tribal convenings designed to bring together staff and leadership from Northwest Tribes and Native communities to foster dialogue and collaboration around common water interests, working toward a shared agenda.
The Coalition of Communities of Color
The Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) addresses the socioeconomic disparities, institutional racism, and inequity of services experiences by families, children, and communities. CCC seeks to organize these communities for collective action resulting in social change to obtain self-determination, wellness, justice, and prosperity.
Ethiopian and Eritrean Cultural and Resource Center
The Ethiopian and Eritrean Cultural and Resource Center (EECRC) Water Justice Initiative aims to enhance community awareness and leadership in water justice through culturally appropriate workshops and initiatives. The project includes workshops, training sessions, and community engagement activities designed to empower individuals with knowledge and leadership skills in water conservation and justice.
Friends of Tryon Creek
Friends of Tryon Creek (“Tryon Friends”) is a community-supported nonprofit started in 1970 by a group of dedicated park neighbors seeking to preserve Tryon Canyon. The organization’s mission, in partnership with Oregon State Parks, is to inspire every community to identify, cultivate, or reclaim their relationship with nature in Tryon Creek’s cherished urban forest.
Long Tom Watershed Council — Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program
Indigenous peoples have rights of sovereignty to life-long and intergenerational ties to the places they tend. Many of these ties have been compromised under colonization — the imposition of colonial values and lifeways on Indigenous people. The Long Tom Watershed Council’s Traditional Ecological Inquiry Program (TEIP) provides resources for the restoration and ongoing support of these relationships in the process of decolonization and re-Indigenizing teaching and learning.
Necanicum Watershed Council
The Necanicum Watershed Council (NWC) is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to the well-being of all communities, both human and wildlife, that rely on the Necanicum Basin. Through hands-on restoration, conservation education, and community collaboration, NWC believes there is an economically and ecologically equitable future for all life on the north Oregon coast.
Portland Harbor Community Coalition
Portland Harbor Community Coalition (PHCC) is a collective of organizations and individuals representing frontline communities including Native American/Indigenous people, Black/African-American people, immigrants, refugees, people experiencing homelessness, and current residents living, working, subsisting, or recreating around the Portland Harbor Superfund Site.
Ríos to Rivers — Maklaks Ambos Shitchla
A water navigation and water protection project of Ríos to Rivers’ Maqlaqs Paddle, Maklaks Ambos Shitchla centers partnerships, friendships, and relationships between Indigenous peoples who are navigating, protecting, and sustaining their waters. Maklaks Ambos Shitchla is intended to operate as a network of Indigenous peoples in relation through water navigation, protection, and connection — a group of Indigenous peoples traveling together throughout their waters, sharing their stories, and taking direct action to occupy and protect their homelands.
Upper Willamette Stewardship Network
Launched in 2018, the Upper Willamette Stewardship Network (UWSN) is a partnership comprised of four watershed councils, a land trust, and a conservation nonprofit. These organizations work together, sharing information and resources to achieve advancements in conservation across the region. Through this collaborative effort, network members work to improve and expand programming, increase collective cost effectiveness, eliminate the duplication of efforts, and achieve long-term organizational stability. This is all in service to the UWSN’s shared commitment to the region’s land and water resources and communities.
Verde
Verde is by and for low-income communities and communities of color. Verde lives its mission to build environmental wealth by investing in climate resilience. Verde’s educational and community engagement programs are designed to strengthen communities’ voices in decision-making spaces and uplift the next generation of climate leaders. Core to the organization’s mission is the belief that communities experiencing the harshest impacts of climate change should be front and center in policy and advocacy.