Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium Launches Environment and Climate Justice Fund

New grant fund will award $10,000–$20,000 to organizations advancing environmental and climate justice for Black girls, women, and femme-identifying youth.

SELMA, Ala., Feb. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium (Southern Black Girls) launched its Environment and Climate Justice Fund, a new grant initiative dedicated to supporting organizations that advocate for and build solutions around environmental and climate justice impacting Black girls, women, and femme-identifying youth in the South. The application deadline is March 10, 2026.

With the launch of the Environment and Climate Justice Fund, Southern Black Girls deepens its commitment to resourcing those who are on the frontlines of the climate crisis in the South. The fund will provide grants ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 to underfunded organizations that center Black women and girl-led organizations who are advancing environmental and climate justice through mitigation, resilience, and policy change. Eligible organizations must operate in one of 13 Southern states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The launch of the Environment and Climate Justice Fund reflects a natural extension of the organization's mission. Chanceé Lundy, Executive Director of Southern Black Girls and a distinguished environmental engineer by training, brings decades of expertise at the intersection of environmental justice and community empowerment. In 2024, she was invited by the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá, Colombia, to engage with leaders, activists, and women entrepreneurs on shared challenges around climate change, equity, and economic empowerment.

"For more than twenty years, I've worked alongside communities and know first-hand that communities of color experience the disproportionate impacts from environmental pollution and climate change. Black women are often on the front lines advocating for justice and building innovative - community based solutions with little to no resources, said Chanceé Lundy. "We are proud to launch a fund that directly resources those leaders who are building resiliency, advocating for equitable environmental and climate policies, and protecting the land, water, and air our communities depend on."

The fund opens during Black Climate Week 2026 (February 21–28), a national campaign led by The Solutions Project and the NAACP now in its sixth year that centers Black communities as hubs of climate innovation and justice. By launching alongside this national moment of recognition, Southern Black Girls is amplifying a clear message: investing in organizations that center Black women and girls is one of the most powerful strategies for building climate resilience in the communities that need it most.

"By centering joy as both resilience and resistance, Southern Black Girls is building a future in which our communities have the infrastructure, resources, and power to survive and thrive amid environmental pollution and climate change," Lundy added. "Black Climate Week reminds us that our communities aren't just surviving climate change—they're solving it. This fund is our investment in those solutions."

For more information on eligibility requirements, key dates, grantseeker workshops, and how to apply, visit southernblackgirls.org/ecjusticefund.

About Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium

Founded in 2017, the Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium (Southern Black Girls) is headquartered in Selma, AL and committed to channeling greater resources to underfunded Black women-led organizations across the South. Founded by LaTosha Brown, Felecia Lucky, Alice Eason Jenkins, and Margo Miller, the Consortium operates in 13 Southern states and employs a participatory grantmaking approach that centers Black girls' voices and experiences while supporting racial justice, education, health and wellness, economic mobility, and leadership development. To date, Southern Black Girls has awarded over $11.4 million to more than 250 Black women-led organizations and invested $600,000 in micro-grants to 1,000 Black girls through the Black Girl Joy Challenge. For more information, visit www.SouthernBlackGirls.org.

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SOURCE Southern Black Girls & Women's Consortium