11th Hour Racing Supports Initiatives Addressing Critical Ocean Challenges in 2024

Initiatives support ocean literacy, ecosystem restoration, and sustainability projects.

In 2024, 11th Hour Racing funded 36 renewed grants, bringing the total to 58 active projects across 54 organizations. These organizations span Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, and other locations across the U.S.

At 11th Hour Racing, we strive to enhance ocean health by funding local solutions to global challenges. By partnering with these community organizations, we envision a future of cleaner, healthier waterways driven by local stewardship. The following are the renewed grantees supported by 11th Hour Racing.

  1. Azul (Calif., U.S.) elevates Latinx voices to protect ocean ecosystems by developing leaders stemming from grassroots efforts to the national policy-making level.
  2. Baltimore Compost Collective (Md., U.S.) continues its youth-empowering food scrap collection and composting model in diverse and under-resourced city neighborhoods.
  3. Billion Oyster Project (N.Y., U.S.) returns oyster reefs to New York Harbor through shell recycling and community-led restoration and education initiatives. 
  4. Center for EcoTechnology (Mass., U.S.) provides businesses with technical training and policy expertise that remove barriers to reducing food waste.  
  5. Chicago Maritime Arts Center (Ill., U.S.) offers unique opportunities for youth to engage with the Chicago River ecosystem through rowing, boatbuilding, and ecological learning. 
  6. Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation (R.I., U.S.) engages Rhode Island fishers to remove and dispose of ghost gear from Narragansett Bay waters.
  7. Community Boating Center | New Bedford (Mass., U.S.) partners with the New Bedford Public Schools system to offer lessons in sailing, ocean stewardship, and junior instructor training. 
  8. Community Boating Center | Providence (R.I., U.S.) provides easily accessible and affordable programs for Providence youth to engage in experiential on-water education.
  9. Compost Power (N.Y., U.S.) provides public housing communities in New York City with composting services and education, along with community gardens and leadership training. 
  10. Conanicut Island Sailing Foundation (R.I., U.S.) creates access to educational and professional pathways in ocean fields through the Marine Trades Career Exploration Field Trip Program.
  11. Courageous Sailing (Mass., U.S.) leverages local school partnerships to blend STEM, sailing, environmental advocacy, and socioemotional learning in its programs for Boston youth. 
  12. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center (R.I., U.S.) offers a variety of programming for Newport families that prioritizes accessible experiential education, local food security and composting initiatives, and building environmental stewardship in young students.
  13. Franklin’s Promise Coalition | BoriCorps (Fla., U.S.) empowers young environmental stewards of Puerto Rico through hands-on education and training in restoration fields.
  14. Groundwork Rhode Island (R.I., U.S.) continues to develop the West End Compost Hub for food scrap collection and composting in Providence communities.
  15. Institute for Local Self-Reliance (D.C., U.S.) promotes more equitable access to compost funding in New England through their pilot mini-grant program.
  16. Institute for Local Self-Reliance (D.C., U.S.) administers a second round of its mini-grant program for the New England region.
  17. Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe (Mass., U.S.) facilitates the First Light Shellfish Farm, Preserving Our Homelands Camp, Native Environmental Ambassadors program, and other initiatives that center responsible stewardship of natural resources and traditional ecological knowledge. 
  18. Massachusetts Oyster Project (Mass., U.S.) diverts oyster shells from landfills and restores local oyster populations through its shell recycling program. 
  19. Movement Education Outdoors (R.I., U.S.) connects young people with the land and water through environmental education programs grounded in four pillars of mindfulness, Black & Indigenous history, environmental justice, and leadership.
  20. newportFILM (R.I., U.S.) hosts documentary film screenings to heighten awareness of local to global issues, while its Green Team promotes sustainable event practices.
  21. Ocean Discovery Institute (Calif., U.S.) offers a pipeline of in-school and out-of-school science and conservation programs that empower students to pursue STEM careers. 
  22. Ocean Research and Conservation Association (Fla., U.S.) installs reef balls and other living shoreline techniques to improve coastal resilience in the Indian River Lagoon with the help of a robust local citizen scientist network.
  23. Polynesan Voyaging Society (Hawaii, U.S.) uplifts traditional wayfinding knowledge via youth and adult navigator training while building community across the world through its canoes’ voyages. 
  24. Protectores de Cuencas (P.R., U.S.) expands its local plant nursery to implement nature-based solutions that restore Puerto Rico’s vulnerable coastal mangrove systems. 
  25. Rhode Island Food Policy Council (R.I., U.S.) leverages a diverse local network to reduce food waste, advance composting, and advocate for sustainable food policies across the state of Rhode Island.
  26. Rhode Island Schools Recycling Project (R.I., U.S.) teaches school communities to engage students, teachers, and staff in the transition to sustainable food waste practices. 
  27. Rocking the Boat (N.Y., U.S.) empowers youth through wooden boatbuilding, sailing, and restoring local urban waterways in the Bronx and its new San Francisco location.
  28. Sail Newport (R.I., U.S.) merges the local school district’s STEM curriculum with sailing fundamentals and boating safety through experiential youth programming. 
  29. Save the Bay (R.I., U.S.) combines coastal adaptation and resilience projects with local behavior change in the Narragansett Bay Watershed. 
  30. Seacology (Calif., U.S.) supports youth sports programs while engaging students in mangrove restoration and education. 
  31. SoundWaters (Conn., U.S.) integrates year-round STEM education into sailing, research programs, and kelp farming for youth and young adults on the Long Island Sound. 
  32. The Ocean Foundation (D.C., U.S.) conducts a rapid and economical technique to restore and rehabilitate large mangrove wetland areas in Puerto Rico. 
  33. The Outlaw Ocean (D.C., U.S.) pioneers investigative journalism covering topics of lawlessness at sea and trains young journalists from across the world through The Outlaw Ocean Institute. 
  34. Urban Rivers (Ill., U.S.) restores habitat and enables experiential education along Chicago’s waterways through expansion of the Wild Mile
  35. Vieques Conservation and Historical Trust (P.R., U.S.) facilitates community-led mangrove and seagrass habitat restoration to support a more climate-resilient Bioluminescent Bay. 
  36. World Wide Fund for Nature Foundation | BioMa (Rome, ITA) manages a marine science-focused museum connecting the public and local youth to the rich biodiversity of the local Miramare Marine Protected Area.

 

 

Header image: Ocean Research & Conservation Association