Headwaters Foundation for Justice Receives Bush Foundation Grant to Advance Environmental Justice in Midwest

The Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Minneapolis, as a reflection of their expertise in the area of community organizing, will use a grant from the Bush Foundation, St. Paul, to improve the environmental health of people of color and low-income communities throughout Minnesota.

Bush’s multi-year commitment of $ 400,000, coming on the heels of a $ 200,000, 2-year commitment, will help fund Headwater’s Environmental Justice Fund during the years 2005 and 2006.

The size and scope of this grant advances important work for environmental justice in the Midwest, where work in this area has lagged behind what is being done on either coast. The money will be used to make grants to small, grassroots organizations engaged in environmental justice activities.

The Bush Foundation is a strong supporter of ecological health in this region. They seek to help people and organizations develop ways to treat ecological health as an interdependent system, rather than as isolated problems to be solved and in this way to help restore, preserve and protect our resources.

Headwater’s Environmental Justice Fund grew out of the awareness that people of color, and low income people, need to hold a leadership role in environmental policy because they are far more likely to live near sources of pollution, have less access to public decision-making processes, and be subjected to weaker enforcement of environmental laws.

Giving affected communities more of a voice in issues of environmental policy is a very important way of improving the ecological health of our communities. Anita Pampusch, president of the Bush Foundation, said, "We were pleased to see the focus of the Environmental Justice Fund because Headwaters can reach small, grassroots organizations that would not typically be eligible for Bush grants."

"Because these issues are often intractable and deep-seated, both organizations acknowledge that the work has to be accomplished over the long haul," said Steve Newcom, executive director of Headwaters. "We are hopeful that this is just the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership."

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