Frontline Communities Hold the Answers to the Climate Crisis. The Solutions Project Helps Bring Them To Life.

The Solutions Project (TSP) seeks to boldly answer these questions, putting the communities most impacted front and center, and amplifying and resourcing the innovative solutions they hold. By creating movement infrastructure for this network of grassroots nonprofits across the US, including through raising and distributing funding, providing capacity-building support, and amplifying their stories to the mainstream, TSP is influencing policies and changing the narrative in ways that represent communities. Instead of the dominant climate narrative of “doom and gloom,” TSP is driving the conversation to stories of innovation, leadership, hope, and self-determination found in these frontline coalitions.

Originally founded in 2013, the organization was transformed when Gloria Walton took charge in 2020, shifting the focus to climate justice and centering the communities forced to pay the highest environmental price and the solutions they are innovating. Gloria is a coalition builder, and through her leadership, TSP has forged a multi-sector alliance between grassroots organizations and community leaders, policymakers, businesses, and philanthropy. Forging these links is vital to TSP’s goal of changing how climate work gets funded. Currently, only 2% of US climate philanthropy goes to Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)-led organizations, whereas 90% of TSP grantees are BIPOC-led.

Gloria Walton began her career as a community organizer in South Central Los Angeles over 20 years ago. She spent 16 years organizing with low-income communities of color, igniting her passion for economic and environmental equity. As an activist, she transitioned SCOPE, an economic justice organization, into a climate justice powerhouse, recognizing the interconnectedness of environmental and social issues. Her dedication caught the attention of TSP, where SCOPE became an inaugural grantee of the organization. After joining the Board, Gloria became TSP's CEO, paving a new way forward to fuel the movement for climate justice.

The Solutions Project invests in three levers of change: money, visibility, and movements. They prioritize grantmaking by fundraising multi-year grants and have supported over 350 grassroots organizations across the country. Their 'ecosystem funds' offer technical and administrative support and bring together funders to amplify their impact. For example, the Justice40 Accelerator helps grantees access and leverage federal funding while Communicating Our Power builds narrative power and communications capacity for organizations. Thanks to these programs, grantees report an ability to increase their climate justice footprint, and a 182% increase in press coverage for their work.

The movement supported by TSP has achieved significant local, state and national policy wins. As a result of their efforts and grantee advocacy, Tribal governments won the ability to influence how 620 million acres of federal land were managed. In Illinois, grassroots organizers established the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, while in NYC, all new citywide schools will be fully electric while preexisting schools will be 100% electric by 2030. These are only three of many influential, hard-won policy wins that actively refute the state of climate paralysis, demonstrating that we have the right—and the tools—to create a healthier future.

The impact of The Solutions Project and Gloria’s leadership extends far beyond policy and innovation; it fundamentally empowers individuals and communities to be agents of change by sharing their stories and experiences. By providing resources, training, and support, the organization empowers grassroots leaders to advocate for clean energy and other environmental solutions. By amplifying unheard perspectives and community solutions, Gloria and TSP are helping to rewrite our evolving climate story.