The world-famous singer, actress, fashion designer, and businesswoman Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty is donating a grand total of $15 million to organizations in the US and the Caribbean focused on climate justice.
This charitable act is in part a response to the devastating hurricanes that have ravaged the home region of the Caribbean in recent years. The money will be donated in the form of grants through the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), which the singer founded in 2012 to honor her grandparents Clara and Lionel Braithwaite. The grants will also be funded with support from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s #StartSmall philanthropic initiative.
“At the Clara Lionel Foundation, much of the work is rooted in the understanding that climate disasters, which are growing in frequency and intensity, do not impact all communities equally, with communities of color and island nations facing the brunt of climate change,” Rihanna stated in a press release. “This is why CLF prioritizes both climate resilience and climate justice work across the US and Caribbean.”
The recipients of the grants are 18 grassroots organizations within the US and Caribbean that are centered and led by minoritized communities. Some of the organizations include the Solutions Project, which supports grassroots-level solutions, the Indigenous Environmental Network, which supports Indigenous tribes and communities in protecting sacred sites and natural resources, and the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, which focuses on tracking and improving environmental threats at the neighborhood level. For a full list, click here.