Overview

The Just Transition Fund is on a mission to create economic opportunity for the frontline communities and workers hardest hit by the transition away from coal. As a hybrid initiative—part grantmaker, part catalyst—we provide investments to help communities create 21st-century jobs and technical assistance to empower local leaders to act.  Our goal is to advance economic solutions that are equitable, inclusive, and low carbon. We work to:

• Strengthen local economies by ensuring inclusive and equitable economic growth
• Build the resilience of low-income workers
• Accelerate the development of low-carbon solutions, and
  
• Grow and scale the national coal community transition movement.
  
 

Guided by a belief in the power of communities, the Fund leverages public and private resources, advances learning, and guides policy change to accelerate and scale an equitable and just economic transition—from the ground up.

To address the energy transition challenge, the Just Transition Fund uses a new philanthropic approach—acting as both a grantmaker and nonprofit innovator—to help scale community-based economic and workforce development models that create a pathway to prosperity for coal workers and communities. Our grants help build the capacity and effectiveness of the coal community transition field and accelerate communities’ ability to respond. We invest in and scale replicable strategies and equitable, inclusive solutions that bring new 21st-century economic development models to coal communities.

By creating an on-ramp for foundations, the Just Transition Fund engenders national and regional philanthropic engagement by enabling foundations to invest directly in local coal-affected communities.

The Just Transition Fund plays a vitally important, multifaceted role in supporting the just transition movement to both achieve depth and breadth of impact.

Its team has the knowledge and set of relationships necessary to effectively resource just transition work, while also providing coal communities with access to specialized expertise.”

–Rachael Young
Program Officer at the Mertz Gilmore Foundation
Read more about the partnership between the foundation and Just Transition Fund