Urban Environmental Justice Program Area

Urban Environmental Justice Program Area is sponsored by Conant Family Foundation. This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

Grants & Guidelines — CONANT FAMILY FOUNDATION Abortion Access, Community Organizing for Racial Justice and Urban Environmental Justice are Conant Family Foundation’s primary funding areas. Two additional funding areas will be added in 2026: Immigrants Rights and Palestinian Rights. At this time we do not have any open opportunities to apply for funding.

We are anticipating that guidelines for Community Organizing for Racial Justice funding will be posted here in July 2026. Abortion care is essential health care. The Abortion Access Program Area supports access to safe, affordable, and legal abortions.

Priorities include increased access to self-managed medication abortion, abortion access and women’s healthcare information in southeastern states, and abortion services and support in Illinois. In 2026, these organizations were selected to receive gifts for two consecutive years. Please click on each organization for more information.

Abortion Care Network $10,000 Chicago Abortion Fund $50,000 CHOICES Carbondale Memphis $35,000 Feminist Women's Health Center $40,000 Kentucky Health Justice Network $30,000 Midwest Access Coalition $30,000 Mountain Access Brigade $40,000 SASS Self-Managed Abortion Safe and Supported $10,000 Western Alabama Women's Center $15,000 Community Organizing for Racial Justice This Program Area utilizes participatory grantmaking, shifting decision-making power to a team of Chicagoans with lived experience of racial injustice as well as proximity to the issues and communities the Foundation seek to engage Additional information on our participatory grantmaking process can be found on this page .

A n ew participatory grants team has been assembled in 2026. They will identify the funding focus area(s), develop guidelines and post an application process here in JULY . Please check back for updates at that time.

(Apologies to those who have been checking back — this is taking longer than expected!) Urban Environmental Justice The vision of the Urban Environmental Justice Program Area is that all Chicago residents live in environmentally safe communities. Low-income communities and communities of color experience disproportionately higher levels of air, water, and soil pollution and contamination.

Nonprofit organizations addressing environmental injustice in these communities are the focus of this Program Area. Gifts are made to organizations that identify environmental hazards, involve their communities in identifying solutions, and advocate for justice and remediation.

Eligible applicants will be Chicago-area nonprofit organizations that are a) led by those directly impacted, b) include community members in decision-making, and c) accountable to the communities they seek to improve.

Alliance of the Southeast $30,000 Chicago Frontlines Funding Initiative $75,000 Coalition for a South Works CBA $35,000 Friends of the Parks $25,000 Respair Media Quantum Entanglements $20,000 Southside Together $30,000 Sweet Water Foundation $25,000 The Conant Family Foundation is proud to partner with other foundations on issues that align with our mission.

Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund $25,000 Chicago Fund for Safe & Peaceful Communities $10,000 Chicago Peace Fellows $35,000 Illinois Community Power Fund 10,000 Chicago’s deep history and current vibrancy owes much to the countless immigrant families that call Chicago home. Dozens of organizations have provided much-needed community organizing, legal guidance, and mutual aid.

These are one-time, unrestricted gifts for 2026; it is not yet determined if this grantmaking area will continue beyond 2026. Midwest Immigration Bond Fund $15,000 Migrant Support Collective $20,000 Organized Communities Against Deportation $25,000 PASO: West Suburban Action Project $25,000