Creating the Conditions for Environmental Justice

Building capacity with vulnerable communities and Tribes for over 20 years.

We stay until our job is done.

Protecting, Building, Catalyzing

Through training, workshops, and mentorship, the Capacity Collaborative (formerly EFCWest) protects environments and builds capacity for Tribes and communities to catalyze the skills, resources, and funding necessary to realize their goals.

Our Current Projects

  • Puerto Rico

    Water and wastewater management are challenges for rural Puerto Rican communities. The CC is working with small water systems and offering wastewater workshops to residents of the mainland and Vieques.

  • San Carlos Apache

    With almost 2 million acres on their reservation, managing solid waste is a challenge. The CC is working with the San Carlos Apache Nation to identify community needs and explore better communication.

  • Thriving Earth Exchange

    The CC is a parter with the American Geophysical Union’s Thriving Earth Exchange program to bring community science to pressing environmental problems.

  • Hawaii

    How will Hawaii convert almost 90,000 cesspools to sewer or septic when many of the homeowners are living below the poverty line? The CC is working with community members and the Department of Health to explore this issue through our community outreach training and tools.

  • Alabama

    From failing septic systems and sewer overflows to toxic chemical contamination and systemic racism, rural Alabama faces multiple challenges. The CC is working with four communities to help them address their environmental injustices.

  • La Jolla Tribe

    The La Jolla are working to build climate resilience in the face of higher temperatures that are bringing fire and drought. The CC is helping them explore adaptation opportunities through our community engagement tools.

  • South Carolina

    Willington, South Carolina is a small African American community that suffers from a deep history of systemic racism. The CC is working with the community to help them catalyze federal and private funding for local economic development and climate adaptation.

  • Yavapai Apache

    The Yavapai have been working to improve their solid waste management practices for over ten years and in 2024 they are ready to explore composting. The CC will help them develop a feasibility study to move this initiative forward.

  • East Africa

    The CC helped create Women’s Climate Centers International to support climate smart agriculture, economic development and drought resistance for rural East African women. We continue to serve as the US backbone for this organization.