Just Solutions is a left-of-center policy-advocacy organization that is focused on environmentalism, with an especially broad understanding of what that term includes. It has proposed sweeping changes to American society under its “intersectional” environmentalist umbrella including government ownership of housing, the abolition of conventional fuels, and the transformation of the American health care system into a “public good.” ^{1 2 3}

Founding and History

Just Solutions was founded in 2021 as a fiscally sponsored entity under the large left-of-center organization Community Initiatives. Its founder was long-time left-of-center activist Aiko Schaefer. ⁴

Finances

As a fiscally sponsored entity, Just Solutions does not have independent tax filings, rather, its financing is included on the tax return of Community Initiatives. Community Initiatives is a very large fiscal sponsor organization. In the fiscal year ending June 2023, it had over $59 million in revenue and over $51 million in assets. ⁵

Just Solutions lists several prominent funders, including the Breakthrough Energy Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the Stolte Family Foundation, the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Clif Family Foundation, the Heising-Simons Foundation, the Sierra Club Foundation, and Invest in Our Future. ⁶

Ideology

Just Solutions is focused on intersectionality and applying a race-based lens to climate change and environmentalism. It notes specifically that its leadership is “BIPOC” (Black, indigenous, people of color) and claims to be fighting against the “historic colonial and capitalistic systems of oppression” that it claims are destroying the environment and affecting minorities. It states that these minority communities need to be placed in leadership positions to combat these alleged injustices and enact a “just transition” to a “living economy” that is based on community-owned weather-dependent energy production systems. ¹

Just Solutions features a “land acknowledgement” on its website claiming that it occupies land that was allegedly stolen from “countless” indigenous tribes. ¹

Projects and Initiatives

Just Solutions produces policy reports to advance its policy goals. The organization has published an essay claiming that upending the American health-care system and turning it into a public good to address supposed market failure is an issue of environmental justice. ²

It published an essay advocating that housing policy, specifically the adoption of “social housing” that is publicly owned and permanently off the real estate market, is a matter of environmental justice. ³

Just Solutions has published several reports and essays relating to President Donald Trump’s second election, expected actions of the second Trump administration before it assumed office, and actions taken since the inauguration. In January 2025, the group, in conjunction with other environmentalist organizations and activists, released a 43-page report dealing with the expected effects of the incoming Trump administration. Among its many discussed issues, the report stresses the supposedly “intersectional” nature of environmental issues and their effect on what it considers to be oppressed people. In addition to bemoaning expected deregulation, the report also laments that it expects tens of millions of federal grant money for “environmental justice grants” to dry up and expressed fears that grants that could not be rescinded would be subject to more stringent reporting and auditing by the government. ⁷

Leadership

Aiko Schaefer is the founder and executive director of Just Solutions. She has worked in the left-of-center non-profit industry for decades and previously taught courses related to social work at the University of Washington. ⁴

1. “About Us.” Just Solutions. Accessed February 8, 2025. https://justsolutionscollective.org/about-us/.
2. “Climate Resilience and the Failure of the Healthcare Market.” Just Solutions, October 21, 2024. https://justsolutionscollective.org/climate-resilience-and-the-failure-of-the-healthcare-market/
3. “Social Housing as an Avenue for Environmental Justice.” Just Solutions, November 12, 2024. Accessed February 8, 2025. https://justsolutionscollective.org/social-housing-as-an-avenue-for-environmental-justice/.
4.  “Aiko Schaefer.” LinkedIn. Accessed February 8, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aiko-schaefer-3670107/.
5.  Community Initiatives, Return of an Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990), Part I, 2023.
6. “The Collective.” Just Solutions. Accessed February 8, 2025. https://justsolutionscollective.org/the-collective/.
7. “Defending and Advancing Climate Justice Policies – Just Solutions.” Just Solutions. Accessed February 8, 2025. https://justsolutionscollective.org/defending-and-advancing-climate-justice-policies/.