Rooted in Justice 2025-2026: Now Accepting Letters of Inquiry
The Cedar Tree Foundation is excited to announce a new round of Rooted In Justice funding. Letters of Inquiry will be accepted through Thursday October 2nd, 2025. Please read on for information about the grant program and instructions to apply.
ABOUT ROOTED IN JUSTICE:
“Rooted in Justice” is a funding program designed to help amplify youth voices and actions in the environmental and food justice movements. Rooted in Justice supports community-based organizations and groups that manage established, youth-led, urban greening programs within a justice framework as a core part of their work, with two-year grants of $25,000/year.
Rooted in Justice recognizes the importance and undeniable right of every young person to have the ability to develop their own relationship with the environment, be it through growing food, spending time with nature, creating community green spaces, or becoming environmental stewards. Rooted in Justice also honors the power and possibilities that arise when young people collectively work to be change-makers in their communities.
Rooted in Justice supports organizations and programs that work with young people between the ages of 12 to 20 in cohort-based, youth-led programming for communities or cultures which have historically or currently experience:
A lack of access to land or nature;
Agricultural oppression and/or neglect;
Food apartheid; and/or
Other forms of injustice based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics and disability.
Rooted in Justice awards a small number of grants each year with applications due in the fall and decisions made the following spring. Final grant decisions are recommended to the Cedar Tree board via a participatory grantmaking process with outside reviewers who have experience in youth-led urban greening, as well as food or climate justice programming. So far the program has awarded multi-year grants to 21 organizations and one-time grants to 10 additional organizations since 2021. You can review past grant awards HERE. Note that we expect to award up to 4 grants through the Rooted in Justice program in April 2026.
2025-2026 APPLICATION PROCESS:
Please read through the entire program description below to better understand whether your organization is a good fit for Rooted in Justice. New this year, in response to suggestions from the outside review panel and in an effort to decrease the burden on applicants, Rooted in Justice has shifted to a Letter of Inquiry process as a first step in applying for a grant. More information below. There is a link at the bottom of the page to the Letter of Inquiry. All Letters of Inquiry are due by Thursday October 2nd at 12:59pm.
DEFINITIONS:
Rooted in Justice grants support existing organizations/programs that include all five elements described below: social justice-based, youth-led, urban greening, cohort-based youth work, and youth budgeting. We articulate our understanding of the terms we use below in an effort to provide a guide for prospective organizations to use in determining whether their program is a good fit. However, as we continue our work towards questioning and dismantling some of our preconceived notions, we recognize that these are not finite definitions and encourage prospective applicants who still feel their work may be a good fit to describe in their proposals why this is the case.
Social Justice-Based Programs: Programs dedicated to creating equitable outcomes for communities directly affected by injustice through strategies that include but are not limited to:
Sharing and redistributing power and resources - such as: distributing food grown by youth to senior citizens facing food apartheid; sharing access to land, tools and seeds for growing crops to immigrants.
Amplifying voices and leadership - such as: organizing local youth to provide feedback to a city on the need for more recreational green space or how to spend climate resilience funds.
Tackling root problems and organizing against oppression - such as: community advocacy, supporting youth pathways to job opportunities, environmental health work.
Developing a critical analysis with youth and community members - such as: mapping access to farmer’s markets in a city, or analyzing food waste in a school and developing a campaign to minimize it.
Urban Greening: For the purpose of this grant we define “urban greening” as any activity that creates a mutually beneficial relationship between city dwellers and their environments. Programs that are a strong fit for Rooted in Justice will have many opportunities for youth to be outdoors. Project settings can include, but are not limited to:
Urban and aquaponic farms
Greenhouses and rooftop gardens
Community gardens, green spaces, and rain gardens
Composting sites
Land conservation efforts
Urban forests
River or other water restoration
Youth-Led: The development of youth leadership skills is a core part of programs funded by Rooted in Justice. Young people have the opportunity to play a role in the planning and decision-making for their program and may help shape the internal workings of the organization. Examples of youth-led programs include programs where participants:
Manage a portion of their programming budget
Co-facilitate program activities, meetings and gatherings;
Shape their own programming and/or organizational strategic planning;
Have regular and end-of-program opportunities to provide program feedback and evaluation; and
Have opportunities for personal and/or professional growth within the program and organization.
Cohort-Based Youth Work: Rooted in Justice looks to fund organizations that build community with cohorts of youth through intentional, recurring programming. This grant is intended to support programs that offer youth significant learning and leadership opportunities as a group and as individuals. Priority will be given to organizations that have program infrastructure that supports a cohort of youth over time. Drop-in programming, one-time conferences, or individual internships are not a good fit for Rooted in Justice.
Youth Budgeting: As part of grant proposal, all Rooted in Justice grantees must share a plan to allocate a portion of the grant funds for youth participants to manage. What do we mean by this? We ask applicants to specifically set aside some amount of grant funds for youth to allocate to priorities of their choosing. For example, youth participants can use their allocated funding to:
Fund an entrepreneurial endeavor;
Design the brand or swag for their group;
Hire a speaker or outside expert to teach a new skill;
Purchase supplies for a community-based art project;
Host a celebration for their families, friends and neighbors;
Pay for transportation to programming, special events, or conferences; and/or
Any other youth-led activity the group may find beneficial.
WHO CAN APPLY:
This year, applicants must be located in one or more of the following states:
Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C. (24 states + DC)
Organizations of any size can apply, but preference will be given to organizations or programs with a budget of less than $800,000. Note that programs must already exist. RIJ funds are not available to start new programs or pilot new work.
This grant cannot be used to fund:
individuals;
lobbying or partisan political activity;
re-granting programs;
organizations that have a religious affiliation or mission;
new/pilot work, or
for-profit organizations
GRANT AWARD DETAILS:
2 Year Grant
Rooted in Justice Grant awards are two-year grants of $25,000 per year.
After the initial two year grant, grantees may be eligible for a third year of funding at the same or lower level through a simple renewal process.
In the 2025-2026 grant cycle, the Cedar Tree Foundation expects to support 4 organizations with multi-year grant awards.
Additional Funding for Professional Development
Each Rooted in Justice grantee organization also has access to an additional $6,000 to support professional development opportunities identified by each organization. Half of these funds must be used to directly support the professional development of youth.
Rooted in Justice grantees can request reimbursement from this professional development fund to attend conferences, hire consultants, purchase equipment or software that increases organizational capacity, or participate in any activities that strengthen youth programming or justice practice of program providers in support of their youth development programming. The funds set aside for youth professional development can be used for youth exchanges or youth participation in conferences and other professional development opportunities directly for youth.
Community Professional Development Calls
Cedar Tree works with grantee partners to assess their professional development interests and facilitates on-line gatherings of staff or youth for skill shares, training, and networking opportunities.
These Professional Development calls happen 2-3 times per year.
GRANT DECISION PROCESS:
In an effort to reduce the burden on applicants and streamline the application process, this year the Rooted in Justice program will be using a Letter of Inquiry process. The Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is designed to help clarify your organization’s fit for Rooted in Justice and it includes a self-screening questionnaire as well as a series of short answer questions about your organization and youth work. Our hope is that the Letter of Inquiry form will not take more than an hour to complete. It is focused on factual information about your program and is designed to be brief bullets, short answers or links to web pages. Letters of Inquiry are due by Thursday October 2nd at 11:59 PM EST.
Submitted Letters of Inquiry will be screened by Rooted in Justice program staff and consultants. We plan to notify all applicants via email of their next step by mid-November. Organizations that make it through the LOI stage will be invited to submit full proposals, which will be reviewed, as in past years, by an outside review panel of individuals with experience in youth-led urban greening. Panelists will be recruited based on their background in building youth-led programs, connection to urban greening or growing work, lived experience as BIPOC leaders working towards equity, participation in similar programming, and/or experience in community-based philanthropy.
Grants will be announced by the end of April, 2026. All full proposals submitted in the final round will receive feedback from the review panel.
USE OF FUNDS:
Rooted in Justice funding must be used for project support of existing youth led, urban greening, social justice work and associated general operating expenses. Operating expenses can include anything from program costs like staff salaries and youth stipends to organizational sustainability needs like major equipment purchases and leadership/staff training. If your organization’s entire mission is youth led, urban greening, social justice work, the Rooted in Justice grant can be general support.
HOW TO APPLY:
If you believe your organization is a good fit for a Rooted in Justice grant, we ask you to submit a Letter Of Inquiry (LOI) by completing the Google Form linked below. The form includes a preliminary self-screening exercise which will help you clarify your eligibility for a Rooted in Justice grant. If you pass the self-screening, we encourage you to fill out the short answer questions of the LOI. To preview the LOI form before filling it out, please click HERE.
To be considered for a grant, you must submit your LOI by Thursday October 2 by 11:59pm EST. Applicants will be notified via email by early November with either an invitation to submit a full proposal or a notice that you are not moving ahead in the process.
We invite you to connect with the Cedar Tree Foundation for the purposes of asking clarifying questions about the program or the LOI via:
Webinar: We will be offering a webinar to review the Rooted in Justice Program, the LOI and answer questions on September 8th at 2:00pm eastern standard time. The recorded webinar will be available on our website. To join the Zoom Meeting on September 8th, follow this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88529045360?pwd=5MH9bNS1vOcmb6TU6ZNJKSRR4O9go7.1
Email: Specific questions can be emailed to rootedinjustice@cedartreefoundation.org. Please allow up to 72 hours for a response.
Office Hours: Office Hours to connect with a representative of Rooted in Justice will be held on September 16th to answer any specific questions that applicants have about the LOI. Check back here in early September for the Zoom link for the office hour.
Letters of Inquiry are due on Thursday October 2nd by 11:59pm EST. The Cedar Tree Foundation will not be able to accept LOI forms after that time.
Page Updated 7/2025