From restoring coral reefs to creating recycled plastic furniture, the Guam Green Growth Initiative, or G3, is doing their part to ensure the island’s sustainable future.

However, sweeping cuts to federal lifelines are presenting challenges.

“There is a disruption that has occurred in the national government and all of us are seeing it in different ways. It is either through the elimination or modification of funding opportunities that once were available,” said Lt. Governor Josh Tenorio.

Tenorio added that the Department of Interior is even walking back funding for programs that they’ve already approved, with a specific target of anything related to promoting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).

“Programs that were supporting expanding cultural programming have been eliminated. We had an approved project that was in the funding stream to expand CHamoru language, cultural practitioners, and the network of teachers that has been disapproved by the Department of Interior,” added Tenorio.

Funding for trades education, environmental justice, and cultural workforce development has also been put on hold, or removed from the pipeline in its entirety.

But instead of standing still, Dr. Austin Shelton, G3’s Steering Committee Co-Chair, says the initiative is pushing forward, securing new grants from sources still willing to invest in Guam.

“We do have a new grant from the U.S. Forest Service, funded through the organization Kupu in Hawai’i,” said Shelton. “They’ve been able to add things like additional funding for the stipends.”

“The biggest benefit is that when our conservation corps members finish the six-month program, they are also going to get education stipends so that they’ll be able to pay tuition at GCC or UOG, and continue to get the advanced training in these areas,” added Shelton.

And the navigating home program under the National Science Foundation is aiding in bringing skilled CHamorus back home for a one-year paid position in Guam's sustainability workforce.

“They gave us a mechanism to facilitate this, which is to give those with advanced skills a one-way ticket home and then a one-year salary in an agency or at the University of Guam,” said Shelton.

Expanding the call beyond our borders, G3 has even assisted the cnmi and palau in launching their own green growth initiatives, with President Hilda Heine launching another in the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

So even as federal support wanes, G3 is doing their due diligence, finding new methods of planting roots and proving that resilience, innovation, and community can carry their mission forward.