Who made an impact?

Year after year, teams that participate in the RISE Climate Solutions Campaign create incredible projects that address the climate crisis. All of our teams make a significant impact year after year, and we want to recognize those who went above and beyond. Every year, we award Eco-Grants to teams who make the biggest impact so they can continue their projects year after year. Here is a list of $1000 grand prize winners from past RISE Climate Solution Campaigns. If you would like to see a full list, please select the year you are looking for. Congratulations to our teams!

2022-2023 RISE Grand Prize Winners

LAcarGuy International Changemaker Grand Winner – $1,000

Matungu Community Development Charity
Nairobi, Kenya

Addressing large-scale issues of waste in their community, Team MCDC reduced 5,000 kgs of waste from the environment and educated students in local schools and across social media platforms. This ambitious team established 4 micro-gardens with the ability to feed up to 200 people monthly while planting 3000 trees. Team MCDC also furthered their efforts by processing 5,000 kgs of organic fertilizer, which were used to plant crops and indigenous trees.

Environmental Impact Grand Prize – $1,000

Mary Bragg Green Team
Cerritos, CA

The students at Mary Bragg Elementary School took on the ambitious feat of addressing multiple topics of the Climate Solutions Campaign. They managed sorting stations on their school campus, planted trees, held an E-Waste drive, encouraged alternative forms of transportation, participated in beach clean ups, and raised money for students in Africa. Mary Bragg also worked with a school in Nigeria, JSS Tudunwada, to learn more about their culture while fundraising money to beautify their community. They also were the recipients of the EPA Presidential Environmental Youth Award and the California Green Ribbon School Award.

To see a full list of 2022-2023 Winners, click here!


2021-2022 RISE Grand Prize Winners

LAcarGuy International Changemaker Grand Winner – $1,000

Malezi Community Centre Primary School
Nairobi, Kenya

This team addressed the large-scale issue of waste in their community. The ultimate goal of the Malezi team was to construct a centralized waste holding facility away from the community. The students did door to door campaigns across the community to educate families about the benefits of reducing waste in addition to more information about their cleanup efforts. This ambitious team collected 2 tonnes of trash and are planning to purchase trucks for waste transport that is independent of the government. Simultaneously, they also created a rooftop garden at their school to support further efforts in greening their community.

Environmental Impact Grand Prize – $1,000

Mary Bragg Green Team
Cerritos, CA

The Mary Bragg Green Team stepped up to  take on every single environmental topic for their RISE Campaign! This student team sold trees via Tree Plenish, sold rain barrels, established a Trash Free Lunch Sorting Station, held beach clean ups, and began a food recovery program by donating edible food through Food Finders. On top of all this, they donated $500 to Matungu in order to help another team plant more trees internationally. Additionally, this team is participating in activities with This Little Light Africa to plant gardens and purchase new desks for a school.

To see a full list of 2021-2022 Winners, click here!


2020-2021 RISE Grand Prize Winners

Grand Prize Winner – $1,000

Matungu Community Development Charity
Nairobi, Kenya

Team MCDC was a wonderful team to work with during the Climate Solutions Campaign. They are a group of four motivated girls who are passionate about solving the climate crisis in their community and ended up inspiring their community to plant more than 3,500 tree saplings! From the start, they were committed to the campaign and it showed in their organization, coordination, and overall success of their project. They had clear goals on how to help their community and executed their project exceptionally well. 

To see a full list of our 2020-2021 Winners, click here!


Interested in Joining RISE?

Registration for the 2022-2023 cycle is now closed. If you would like to participate in the next campaign term, please reach out to program manager Robyn Murphy RobynM@gradesofgreen.org.