Sustain Our Future Foundation Awards $1.5 Million to 14 Community-Centered, Nature-Based Carbon Removal and Land Restoration Initiatives
The second round of Reparative Land Collective grants advance community-led land stewardship across the U.S. and Puerto Rico
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February 18, 2026
Washington, DC - Sustain Our Future Foundation (SOFF) today announced $1.5 million in new grant awards to 14 organizations through its Reparative Land Collective grants program.
This second round of funding to the collective expands the growing network of community-rooted land stewards who are restoring ecosystems, advancing land ReMatriation, and implementing agricultural and forestry practices that remove carbon from the atmosphere while strengthening community sovereignty.
The grants support land acquisition, ecological restoration, cooperative development, and land-based workforce pathways across rural and urban geographies and Tribal Nations. Together, these projects demonstrate how land justice, climate mitigation, and community self-determination can function as a unified strategy for long-term ecological and economic resilience.
“Through the Reparative Land Collective, we are building climate solutions rooted in local land stewardship, cultural knowledge, and community governance,” said Yinka N. Bode-George, Founder and CEO of Sustain Our Future Foundation. “This second round of grants deepens the Collective’s ability to restore land, expand regenerative livelihoods, and create lasting, community-accountable pathways for nature-based carbon removal.”
The Reparative Land Collective was launched to demonstrate how community-led ecosystem restoration can serve as both a climate solution and a reparative economic pathway. Across their lands, Collective partners are:
Restoring prairies, forests, wetlands, and agricultural soils that sequester atmospheric carbon
Rebuilding community governance and cooperative land stewardship systems
Reclaiming land access through acquisition projects in urban and rural ecosystems
Creating regenerative workforce and land-based economic opportunities
In addition to grants, Collective partners receive technical support in legal strategy, land planning, infrastructure design, and cooperative governance. Funding also supports program facilitation, community advisory board leadership, and a trust-based grantmaking infrastructure that ensures the Collective remains community-governed and participatory.
This second grant round builds on the Collective’s inaugural cohort, expanding its geographic reach and strengthening the connective infrastructure among land stewards.
“At Sanctuary Farms and Sacred Spaces, land is the foundation for healing, collective self-determination, and ecological responsibility. This investment affirms our belief that land can be a site of relationship, centered on repair, restoration, and reciprocity. With Sustain Our Future’s support, we’re manifesting work in Detroit that honors people, place, culture, and our more-than-human kin,” shared jøn kent, the Co-Founder of Sanctuary Farms.
Grant awards support the following organizations and initiatives:
The Great Plains Action Society — $275,000
Expanding Indigenous-led prairie restoration and land ReMatriation efforts in Iowa City through 1.05 acres of land acquisition, ecological restoration, and stewardship planning.
Sanctuary Farms— $275,000
Strengthening regenerative food systems in Detroit through 11.87 acres of land acquisition, infrastructure expansion, and community-centered land care programming.
Allensworth Progressive Association— $300,000
Supporting land restoration and agricultural revitalization in California’s historic Black farming town of Allensworth through 2.55 acres of land acquisition.
Arif Urban Agrarian Collective— $50,000
Expanding urban land access, cooperative agriculture, and culturally rooted food production systems.
The Marigold Fund — $50,000
Advancing community-led land retention, cooperative development, and regenerative land pathways.
Wukchumni Tribe— $50,000
Supporting cultural stewardship, intergenerational ecological knowledge transfer, and traditional land planning.
Fideicomiso de Tierras Comunitarias para la Agricultura Sostenible (FiTiCAS) — $50,000
Strengthening cooperative land access and agroecological stewardship for small farmers in Puerto Rico.
MACE Family Properties— $75,0000
Supporting generational land retention and sustainable land management practices in rural Mississippi.
HABESHA Inc Ubuntu Farmers Cooperative— $75,000
Expanding regenerative agriculture, cooperative development, and workforce pathways.
Intertribal Spiritual Lodges Niskithe ToNwoN Eco-Village — $50,000
Advancing Indigenous-led eco-village development centered on cultural revitalization and sustainable infrastructure.
Help for Landowners — $50,000
Expanding technical assistance, planning support, and land-care education for rural landholders.
North Bay Organizing Project (Somos Tierra initiative)— $50,000
Strengthening organizing, cooperative agriculture, and land-use planning for working families.
Center for Heirs Property Preservation— $50,000
Sustaining legal and forestry support that protects heirs’ property and generational land assets.
Sustainable Forestry & African American Land Retention— $50,000
Supporting Black forest owners through stewardship training, cooperative models, and sustainable forestry planning.
General Program Facilitation, Advisory Board Honoraria, Rapid-Response Funds, Member Conference Attendance, and a Technical Assistance Consortium - $100,000
About Sustain Our Future Foundation
Sustain Our Future Foundation (SOFF) is a national not-for-profit organization that collaborates with corporate sustainability teams to de-risk and deepen the impact of sustainable infrastructure projects by ensuring that local communities' priorities are part of the planning, siting, and development phases of the projects. Our goal is to raise the standard of sustainable development to promote economic development, community partnership, local self-determination, and environmental health for all communities.