Composting

Funding Opportunity For BIPOC-Led And BIPOC-Serving Composters

March 11, 2024 Najee Quashie, Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Create! BIPOC, Composting, Environment, Funding

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is launching a BIPOC Community Composter Mini-Grant Program — funded by 11th Hour Racing of The Schmidt Family Foundation — to support new or existing local community composters in coastal states in New England. Programs seeking funding must be BIPOC-led or BIPOC-serving, in a Native Nation, or working in a historically excluded neighborhood. We will provide $100,000 in sub-grants to selected projects, awarding up to 10 grants with a minimum grant of $5,000 and a maximum of $20,000.

Community Organizations Take Ownership Of Local Food Systems

September 1, 2023 Punnya Kalapurakkel, Next City. Create! Boston, Composting, Food and Agriculture, food justice, Gardens, Local Economy

What if there was a way for communities to create a food system, from land ownership to composting, that could sustain itself? Community organizations’ efforts to create a sustainable food ecosystem in Boston’s lower-income neighborhoods offer a window into resident-led food security initiatives in disinvested communities around the country. Dorchester, Roxbury and other majority-minority neighborhoods in the city are home to a grassroots, informal network of community organizations that manage food-related processes ranging from harvest to gardening to composting.

As Heat Islands Worsen In Baltimore, Local Composting Can Relieve It

September 16, 2022 Alondra Sierra and Sophia Hosain, Institute for Local Self Reliance. Create! Baltimore, climate crisis, Composting, Environment, extreme heat

The urban heat island effect emerges when the temperature in a metropolitan area is significantly hotter than in surrounding areas. Heat islands are largely a result of urban development, where materials like concrete and asphalt replace natural vegetation. In a city’s concrete jungle, materials found in buildings, roads, and sidewalks absorb the sun’s heat and emit it back into the air, raising the surrounding surface and ambient temperatures. Waste heat generated from vehicles, industrial facilities, and other human sources also add to the higher temperatures, leading to greater emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gasses. Urban heat islands pose a serious public health threat to those living in these zones―often people of color, low-income communities, and vulnerable age groups.

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