Work

Built at the intersection of creativity, co-design, and sustainability.

Rooted in Justice Grant Development

The Cedar Tree Foundation

CHALLENGE

A family foundation wanted to deepen its power-shifting practice after a successful participatory grantmaking pilot. The program funds nonprofits running youth-led urban green initiatives, work that traditional philanthropy has consistently underfunded.

APPROACH

Peak Bloom co-designed the annual grant program with foundation leadership, then ran it end to end: grant administration, grantee support, and the operational and logistical refinements that kept a strong panel of community reviewers coming back year after year. Grantee administration was designed to be low-lift and streamlined, letting organizations keep their focus on program delivery.

IMPACT

Since its 2020 pilot, Rooted in Justice has completed four more grantmaking cycles, distributed over $1M to small nonprofits, and built a seasoned corps of returning community reviewers. The program now includes curated professional development calls and a growing alumni network.

“Out of the several participatory grantmaking groups I've participated with over the years, RIJ is my favorite. The spreadsheets were easy to understand and work through, participants were honest and well-versed in this work, and we'd built such a great rapport... Carina did a wonderful facilitating job, as well as curated that warm, welcoming, meaningful space for us to work.”

“Out of the several participatory grantmaking groups I’ve participated with over the years, RIJ is my favorite. The spreadsheets were easy to understand and work through, participants were honest and well-versed in this work, and we’d built such a great rapport… Carina did a wonderful facilitating job, as well as curated that warm, welcoming, meaningful space for us to work.”

— Rooted in Justice Review Panelist, 2026

Garden Layout Design + Curriculum Outline

City Blossoms

CHALLENGE

City Blossoms is a DC-based nonprofit that cultivates community well-being through creative programming in kid-driven gardens. Its in-house resources and youth-led frameworks are exemplary, but staff attention stays where it belongs, on core programs, which leaves little room to extend those models outward.

APPROACH

Peak Bloom worked with City Blossoms on two projects that elevated existing programs and widened their partnership portfolio. Working alongside youth participants and staff, Peak Bloom first designed the curriculum outline for their Youth Entrepreneurship Manual. Peak Bloom then supported City Blossoms' collaboration with Georgetown University Hospital, designing a layout to convert an unused green space into a learning garden for adolescents in an in-patient program.

IMPACT

City Blossoms' program materials and youth-centered practices are now accessible through the Youth Entrepreneurship Manual as an online resource, and carried into the design of their first youth-centered green space being developed with a university partner.

“Carina designs with people, not for them. She worked with our youth and staff on the Youth Entrepreneurship Cooperative from the start, then set it up so we could carry it forward ourselves. That guide is now a resource we share widely. She also helped us design the layout for our first learning garden with a university partner. We came away with more capacity than we started with, not a dependency on an external consultant.”

— Raf Woldeab

Executive Director, City Blossoms