Since 2014, the Direct Support Fund (DSF) has provided small grants to grassroots groups working toward environmental justice in Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley. Mountain Watershed Association leads the project and disburses grants on a monthly basis.
Watch this video to learn more about the Direct Support Fund!
Back in 2014, small citizen groups were leading the charge against hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. But they had few resources to distribute information and gather their communities.
Noticing that so many community groups needed help, a group of grassroots organizers, including staff from MWA, established the Direct Support Fund. The grant’s initial funds provided small amounts of money to folks working to protect their communities in the shale fields.
Since then, the fund has grown to support the broader region of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, places that have been historically impacted by resource extraction. Community groups working on petrochemical buildout, riverside industries, pollution from power plants, and broader environmental justice issues are all welcome to apply for funding.
Michael Badges-Canning, a longtime community organizer with Marcellus Outreach Butler and other groups, has been on the Direct Support committee since the beginning of the project. He sees grassroots groups as key players in forming local environmental policy.
“Small groups know what their communities need,” says Badges-Canning. “That’s why it’s so important to put funding in their hands.”
In 2023, Badges-Canning submitted his own funding application. He was helping to organize “Tour de PAC” (Pennsylvania Action on Climate), a cross-state bicycle ride for climate justice. On the ride, organizers met with frontline communities and collected environmental impact statements. They shared those stories at the PA Climate Convergence and delivered statements to decision-makers in Harrisburg.
Other groups have applied for Direct Support funding to organize in-person actions, activities, and gatherings to educate people about pressing environmental issues in their communities.
Dan Riverkeeper, a North Carolina group, received a small grant to host guided river rallies and drum circles with local Indigenous groups to raise awareness and opposition to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, other liquid natural gas projects, and climate issues threatening their waterways.
The DSF has also funded the Rising Nation River Journey, an event held every four years by the Lenape Nation of Pennsylvania. The journey down the Lenape Sipu (Delaware River) to promote the awareness that the Lenape people living in Pennsylvania are carrying on their ancestral traditions of environmental stewardship and community building.
The fund has also helped other groups organize more formally. One of these groups, Yough Communities Care (YCC), is a community group originally organized in 2016 to oppose the Invenergy gas-fired power plant.
YCC spread awareness about a power plant permit proposed along the Youghiogheny River in West Newton. The group applied for funding to do local outreach and encourage concerned residents to join a public viewing of the appeal.
After a seven-year advocacy effort, Invenergy withdrew its application in 2023. YCC continues to collaborate with MWA on educational town halls about environmental issues along the Youghiogheny River.
The DSF has even helped groups grow into official, 501c3 non-profit organizations. Protect PT, a non-profit environmental advocacy group in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, got its start as a Direct Support grantee. Now the group has eight full-time employees dedicated to its communities’ safety, security, and quality of life.
The DSF is also currently funding Concerned Residents of Western Pennsylvania (CROW), a group organizing against a data center in Homer City, PA. The fund has provided cash for CROW to distribute flyers, print signs, and organize meetings to protect the community’s land and water.
The Direct Support committee meets on a monthly basis to review grant applications. Apply today – the application is easy to fill out, and you’ll hear back from the committee soon!
The Direct Support Fund is made possible by The Cloud Mountain Foundation, The Plastic Solutions Fund, The Heinz Endowments and The 11th Hour Project and is a project of the Mountain Watershed Association.
Organizations serving on the coordinating committee include:
Indigenous Environmental Network, Earthworks, People Over Petro Coalition, Marcellus Outreach Butler, Mountain Watershed Association, and the Center for International Environmental Law
Previous members have represented:
Clean Air Council, Clean Water Action, Berks Gas Truth, Protect Our Children, Shalefield Stories, OnePA, Center for Coalfield Justice, Black Appalachian Coalition, and the Ohio Chapter of the Sierra Club