Togethergreen Awards $1.1 Million For Innovation Grants
In 2008, Toyota and the National Audubon Society began TogetherGreen
, a five-year initiative to fund conservation projects, train environmental leaders, and offer volunteer opportunities which considerably benefit the environment. Toyota donated $20 million and employee time while the Audubon Society committed its national resources and years of environmental experience. The latest round of grant recipients have been announced and 43 projects in 27 states will split almost $1.1 million in Innovation Grants.
The projects are selected by their innovation, potential gains in habitat, water, and energy conservation, and opportunities to engage new audiences. In 2010, many projects were selected due to their involvement of new audiences, such as urban youths and rural ranchers, who are often underserved or not engaged in environmental action. These grants will be used to motivate, equip, and engage people to improve the health of their environment and communities, and to find solutions for local environmental concerns.
TogetherGreen is also working toward increasing the number of conservation professionals, and improving on their skills and knowledge. Therefore, in addition to the grant, recipients will also gain opportunities for professional development. This includes online training and a multi-day workshop that is held in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Services National Conservation Training Center. Audubons staff will also offers support in the form of communications assistance and networking with other grantees, to share practices and learn from each other.
The 2010 recipients grants range from $5,000 - $66,100. Many of these grants will amount to even more seed money through matching and in-kind support. In 2009, recipients increased their grants by over four million dollars, which allowed them to reach even more people and provide greater results.
A full list of the 2010 TogetherGreen Innovation Grant recipients can be found at www.togethergreen.org/grants. Some notable grantees include:
$177,828 to New York to fund four projects: hands-on conservation internships, camps, and job training for children from underserved New York City schools; clean up beaches and monitor wildlife in New York City to demonstrate the impact of the clean-ups; working with farmers in the St. Lawrence Valley to improve wildlife habitats; and working with partners across New York state to get kids and families to create, install, and monitor next boxes to protect American kestrels.
$100,000 to Ohio to restore prairie in and around Dayton and to work with community members to remove invasive Amur honeysuckle from their property in downtown Columbus and to train students in the community in GIS/GPS and habitat restoration techniques.
$60,990 to Connecticut and Vermont to develop relationships with owners of large tracts of forest land. The goal of this project is to help the land owners manage their land for wildlife.
$45,000 to Wyoming to connect landowners with Natural Resources Conservation Service funding to support conservation and restoration on their land.
$40,000 to Pennsylvania to encourage Pennsylvanian municipalities to improve and conserve bird habitats.
Since 2008, TogetherGreen, which is funded by a $20 million grant from Toyota, has awarded over $3.2 million to more than 130 projects nationwide. TogetherGreen has also supported 120 Conservation Fellows and over 750 Volunteer Days events nationwide.
by: Allen Smythe
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