Sitting at the nexus between movements for housing, and environmental and economic justice, Collectrify, a trust-based participatory grant-making fund, has been working for more than half a decade to create safe, affordable, resilient homes and communities throughout America. Built by — and for — climate justice advocates, Collectrify provides philanthropic and technical resources to frontline leaders and organizations working to decarbonize homes by replacing building systems that run on fossil fuels with ones that run on clean energy (also known as electrification) and make sure others in the movement have access to the information to do the same in their communities.
Collectrify was founded to provide solutions for the compounding and long-standing energy and housing affordability crises. Rooted in environmental justice and the principles for a just transition, we work to ensure that limited-wealth communities and communities of color don’t continue to bear the burden of all of the challenges that arise from industrial pollution and the fossil fuel industry at large. We do this by resourcing frontline organizations to lead the way in designing and implementing programs and projects to create clean-energy economic futures for their communities. Housing is central to energy and climate justice.
Executive Director, Collectrify
Building relationships and bringing partners together to get things done is core to Collectrify’s work. Collectrify bridges philanthropy, policy, and practice with the knowledge that frontline communities already know what’s needed to create lasting solutions. They connect leaders from housing, energy, consumer protection, health, and climate justice together to inspire bigger changes. Collectrify’s partner Debt Collective is a great example.
Debt Collective is an organizing movement focused on building power for people with debt. Together, they are working on tackling not only housing and utility affordability and preventing displacement but also climate change by organizing renters in California. Debt Collective created the Tenant Power Toolkit to organize, educate and protect tenants as well as build a base of renters advocating for decarbonizing — or significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions like CO2, methane, and other pollutants harmful to health — in housing, starting in Los Angeles. Their ultimate goal is creating green social housing for all. Collectrify’s partnership with Debt Collective is just one example of how they are centering housing rights and moving electrification forward across sectors of the larger environmental movement.
Beyond California, Collectrify’s longtime partner Hope Village Revitalization, has been driving community-led electrification and energy efficiency efforts in Detroit, Michigan. Collectrify provided the first investment in The Hope Village Revitalization Sustainable Community Builders Project, a community-led effort to scale mostly electric, energy efficient, solar-powered, deeply affordable multifamily and single-family apartments and homes in its neighborhood, with a goal to scale to other Detroit and Highland Park neighborhoods. Hope Village is working to remove fossil fuels from homes in the neighborhood, leading to larger economic development and community transformation.
With the use of solar power, energy efficiency, and electrification upgrades you can reduce the energy burden on people’s homes, helping them to stay in their communities. That’s how you build affordable and sustainable neighborhoods.
Executive Director, Hope Village Revitalization
From left to right at the June 10 Clean Economy and Community Impact Summit in Detroit. Ike Irby, Mitch Landrieu of E Pluribus Unum, Jeff Jones of Hope Village, and Jennifer Somers of Collectrify.
Collectrify and its partners prove that we have to learn from each other and from those most impacted to transform fossil fuel-based systems into ones that can sustain a cleaner and greener society. To bring this vision to life, Collectrify created the Learning Community Collaboratory to serve as a hub for information and connection for grantees,community partners, and allies working across the country. Through the Collaboratory, Collectrify gathers and shares information on effective electrification solutions, develops trainings, resources and tools for the field, and cultivates a unique space between philanthropy and community practitioners to advance the decarbonization movement.
We’re here to help catalyze a just transition in the built environment that improves quality of life, generates economic opportunity and affirms community leadership at every stage. I see Collectrify becoming a model for how philanthropy can be reimagined: not just to fund innovation, but to follow the wisdom of communities who’ve been innovating all along.
Co-Executive Director, Collectrify
The Windward Fund is proud to support administrative processes, high level thought partnership and convenings that allows Collectrify and its partners to focus on their mission and act when the moment is urgent. As Jen explained, “Any issue that we might have, we work in collaboration with the Windward Team to find a way to solve it.” The Windward Fund has also been able to connect Collectrify with other organizations in its network, creating ties and connections within the larger environmental movement. Together, Collectrify will continue to electrify homes and community-serving facilities across the country — building a brighter and more affordable future for us all.
