This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
When a rare tornado swept through the north side of Minneapolis, Michelle Neal scrambled for cover at a fast-food restaurant. “It was unreal—we could have died,” she told Minnesota Public Radio. “McDonald’s saved me.”
It’s the kind of scenario that Julia Nerbonne, executive director of Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, wants to make sure communities are better prepared for as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather. The faith-based nonprofit hopes to transform churches and other congregations into emergency shelters with solar power and battery storage to withstand power outages—especially in historically disadvantaged communities, like north Minneapolis, which have long been overburdened by pollution and underinvestment.
“We want to have a building,” she said, “in which they can have a cooling place, in which they can refrigerate their medication—a place where they can be with the community in the midst of a crisis.”
Around the country, nonprofits and other community organizations like Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light were hoping these sorts of projects would receive funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has $3 billion to spend on environmental justice community grants through Sept. 30, 2026. But the Biden administration has only been able to award about half the money so far, and experts say the unspent 50 percent can most likely be clawed back by President-elect Donald Trump—a blow to communities of color and poor rural communities that had long waited for help like this.
Among the threatened initiatives is the EPA’s Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Grantmaking Program, which dedicated $600 million in block grants for projects aimed at tackling…
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