FLOWS Climate Justice: Solutions Rooted in Culture

FLOWS (Foundations for Leaders Organizing for Water and Sustainability) builds community leadership, beautifies environments, and transforms systems for justice and resilience. We’re led by and for People of Color, immigrants, affordable housing residents, LGBTQIA+ and Frontline communities.

FLOWS is one of a handful of local grassroots Environmental Justice organizations led by the communities we serve. Our deep interconnectedness to air, water, soil, our plant and animal kin, our shared ecosystems and diverse cultures mean that when we win, we all win. 

From leadership training and advocacy, to implementing natural solutions for flooding, drought, access to clean drinking water, to developing a community Climate Justice plan, your support helps center equity in local environmental work. We implement tangible solutions for communities that need it most and shift the narrative about community leadership. 

Check out our website weareflows.org for more info and for learning resources celebrating FLOWS leaders and our approach to more holistic, beautiful environmental solutions. We are a project of Colorado Nonprofit Development Center.

YOUR INVESTMENT SUPPORTS:

1. Innovative Solutions for a Local Mobile Home Community Facing a 20+ Year Water Crisis

Help us implement natural solutions to clean the drinking water and teach about permaculture design approaches, while building the community’s leadership.  

2. Community-Led Resilience

Too often, people approach our communities to implement outside solutions. We work with the community to identify and implement solutions, while building economic opportunities. It may take more work upfront but is more powerful, long-lasting and equitable in the long run. Support our work to develop community resilience hubs, ecosystem restoration, native and edible food rain gardens, and more, hand in hand with our communities– people of color, immigrants, affordable housing residents and more.

3. Community Leadership & Advocacy

We build spaces for community members to share their expertise and connect community to policy-maker tables and advocate for their community health powerfully. We take our team and community members to Latino Advocacy Day to meet with our state representatives and convene focus groups to give input on local policy. Our collaborative ongoing community series with our partners Once and Future Green is working to go further, developing a People's Plan for the Planet with a 500 year horizon, which will also provide input into the Boulder Valley Comprehensive Plan.

4. Leadership Development Fusing Environmental & Social Justice

We help grow and support the leadership of our FLOWS Community Council and our communities. Several have gone on to start their own nonprofits, community led organizations and businesses, inspired by our team dialogues, trainings, hands on projects and based on the needs of our communities.

TESTIMONIAL

“In my first year with FLOWS, I have learned more about Climate Justice than in any other group I have been a part of...the group allows me to be myself and develop my capacity to be a leader within my own community." FLOWS Leader

FLOWS IN ACTION  

Ramon Gabrieloff-Parish at a recent FLOWS event talking about Afrofuturism and its powerful influence in our work for a 500 year People’s Plan.

Working with the leaders of San Lazaro working to solve their water crisis. They invited the Colorado Department of Health & Environment to learn more about San Lazaro and share about the recently passed Mobile Home Park Water Quality Act.

FLOWS leaders, partners from San Lazaro and more at Latino Advocacy Day at the State Capitol asking our representative Kyle Brown to support key Environmental Justice legislation, support a ceasefire and peace in Gaza, and bring awareness to local Boulder County environmental injustices.

FLOWS assessing a local flood site for remediation with City of Boulder engineers and water staff. 

FLOWS community outreach at the Cinco de Mayo celebration in Longmont. We asked people what community efforts they wanted to see locally, about their inspirations, and gave away compost bins, recycle bins, reusable bags, light bulbs and sustainable prizes. Our local County Commissioner Marta Loachamin stopped by! (pictured L to R: Ayleen Guzman, Lili Ko, Indya Love, Marta Loachamin, and Michelle Gabrieloff-Parish) 

Flyer for 5-500: People's Plan for the Planet, the third part of our ongoing community series.