Our Work

From neighborhood air quality in Detroit to climate workforce development in the South Bronx to mobility innovation in LA, our work meets communities where they are. Through Community Resilience Funds, facilitated Studios, and convenings like the Purpose Summit, we have engaged 80+ organizations, reached nearly 190,000 people, and distributed $1.5M in community-directed funding across three geographies. We are now expanding that model, deepening our work in existing cities while continuing to bring the infrastructure for community resilience to new urban ecosystems across the country.

:Locations

LA County

Los Angeles

New York City

Michigan

Community Resilience Labs

Our Community Resilience Labs aim to help communities withstand disruption, recover more equitably, and build long-term adaptive capacity for present and future generations. Community Resilience Labs are comprised of three areas of programming:

FUND
Community Resilience Fund

Direct catalytic grants ($50,000–$250,000) to place-based resilience initiatives across climate, health, and housing that reduce risk, avoid losses, and generate economic, social, and environmental impact.

STRENGTHEN
Community Resilience Studios

Collaborative convenings that bring grantees and partners together to build capacity, exchange best practices, unlock additional capital, and co-develop pathways to scale community-driven resilience solutions.

CONNECT
National Collaboration

Leverages CIV:LAB’s national network, including Advisory Committees and grantee cohorts in NYC, Michigan, and Los Angeles, to connect local solutions into a broader, more coordinated resilience movement.

:Events and Strategic Convenings

We bring together cross-sector stakeholders to strengthen local networks of climate leaders and facilitate networking, the cross-pollination of ideas, and collaboration.

Events and Strategic Convenings

:Overheard in Our Communities

“We deeply appreciate the flexibility built into the CIV:Lab grant which gave us the latitude to adapt our plans in response to our partner schools’ needs.”

NY Sun Works

“We are grateful for CIV:LAB’s support to enable us to constantly improve our efforts to better protect Los Angeles’ vulnerable populations from climate change.”

Cheung

Founder and Executive Director, SmartAirLA

“It doesn’t feel like a traditional funder-grantee relationship… [we] feel more like colleagues, where it’s easy to approach [CIV:LAB]… it doesn’t feel like I need to be walking on eggshells with what I share with you.”

Arif Ullah

Executive Director, South Bronx Unite