2006
Grants Paid During 2006
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Center for Whole Communities $10,000
Fayston, VT
Seed funding to rollout the Center’s new cutting-edge model land conservation measurement and evaluation tool, Measures of Health. This tool (which provides a set of selection criteria to guide land conservation groups in determining why and for whom they are protecting land), having been developed and tested, will now be nationally disseminated. Intensive training and support will be provided to early innovator organizations in land conservation. A best practice handbook will be published, a website developed, and the model will be updated with detailed regional case studies.
(Final Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Great Plains Restoration Council $60,000
Fort Worth, Texas
To refine, expand, and begin the national dissemination of its model Youth Inter-ACTION program. Rare, and likely unique, this program marries social work and personal health components with environmental education and action projects. Targeted to help marginalized urban minority and reservation-based Native American youth impacted by poverty, AIDS, and mental health issues, the program helps them personally heal as they work on healing the environment. The model uses mentors, workshops, special training, and hands-on experiences to address personal health, as well as environmental issues. In year one, the existing program in Fort Worth and Wounded Knee will fine-tune the developing curriculum. In year two, the program will be expanded to Denver.
(First payment of a $90,000 grant)
Natural Resources Defense Council $20,000
New York, NY
For the environmental advocacy education and training initiative. At the heart of this effort is the creation and publication of the definitive guidebook for environmental leaders. The book provides an intellectual foundation for this work (values, principles, and history) discusses the characteristics needed to successfully do it, presents the basic tools it requires, and exposes the reader to strategies and tactics. Addressing the need for hands-on environmental advocacy training, the project develops a training session that will be offered in partnership with local and state organizations in five key states. At least 250 future environmental leaders will receive this ³must have² practical education. This unprecedented career-shaping training combined with this first-ever book, will provide emerging environmental leaders both practical tools and proven tactics and well-equip them to build in the work of their predecessors.
(Final Payment of a $100,000 grant)
Pays America $20,000
Boston, MA
For support of the Pay As You Save (PAYS) Northeast Program Launch, to demonstrate and promote this promising way to significantly increase the use of energy saving technology in American homes and businesses. Pays America, working with Energy Efficient Institute and Pace Energy Project will conduct extensive outreach and education in at least five states in the Northeast. Market Assessments will be conducted. Ultimately PAYS systems will be designed and approvals sought, and implementation achieved in up to three states. This involves working with regulators, capital providers, and others to ensure a comprehensive implementation plan including training, marketing, billing functions, certification standards, etc. In year three of the project, based on the New England experience, PAYS will be introduced in other regions of the country with an eye towards replication. Members of the PAYS team will generate nation-wide attention and momentum for PAYS. The likelihood of ever increasing energy prices will also help insure public interest in innovative solutions and help nationally advance this promising model.
(Second Payment of a $85,000 grant)
Rainforest Alliance $25,000
New York, NY
For the pilot project “Strengthening Demand for Sustainably Harvested Wood for National Green Building.” The Rainforest Alliance is seeking funding to provide technical support to a small national network of environmental organizations working regionally to facilitate the incorporation of environmentally certified wood products in the one-year pilot testing of proposed new “green” building standards for residential homes. During this pilot, the Alliance’s technical support will help facilitate builders access to certified wood products, help identify sources, advance methods to establish distribution, etc. The Alliance will also aggressively work nationally with the entities involved in the standard setting from the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council which deals with forest certification) to the USGBC (the building industry group defining and promoting standards) which has launched the one-year pilot of LEED-H (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System for residential home building. A successful pilot program will mean an accessible, self-sustaining supply of certified wood increasingly being available across the country which means more U.S. forests being managed in an environmentally beneficial manner.
(Second Payment of a $75,000 grant)
2005
Grants Paid During 2005
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Center for Whole Communities $25,000
Fayston, VT
Seed funding to rollout the Center’s new cutting-edge model land conservation measurement and evaluation tool, Measures of Health. This tool (which provides a set of selection criteria to guide land conservation groups in determining why and for whom they are protecting land), having been developed and tested, will now be nationally disseminated. Intensive training and support will be provided to early innovator organizations in land conservation. A best practice handbook will be published, a website developed, and the model will be updated with detailed regional case studies.
(Second Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Earth Pledge Foundation $5,000
New York, NY
In support of BIOGAS–Bringing Innovative Garbage Answers to Society. The grant will help pilot the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology in America by designing and constructing three demonstration anaerobic digesters: one at a food pantry, another at a public school and the third in a public housing project. AD uses airtight tanks where bacteria breakdown organic waste into compost and useful gas. In addition to the pilot sites, a hands-on environmental science curriculum to teach students and the public the science and benefits of AD and raise awareness will be developed for use at AD facilities through the country in a variety of settings. Knowledge gained from the pilot phase will be used to accelerate the replication of other AD facilities in NYC and around the country.
(Final Payment of a $55,000 grant)
Natural Resources Defense Council $30,000
New York, NY
For the environmental advocacy education and training initiative. At the heart of this effort is the creation and publication of the definitive guidebook for environmental leaders. The book provides an intellectual foundation for this work (values, principles, and history) discusses the characteristics needed to successfully do it, presents the basic tools it requires, and exposes the reader to strategies and tactics. Addressing the need for hands-on environmental advocacy training, the project develops a training session that will be offered in partnership with local and state organizations in five key states. At least 250 future environmental leaders will receive this “must have” practical education. This unprecedented career-shaping training combined with this first-ever book, will provide emerging environmental leaders both practical tools and proven tactics and well-equip them to build in the work of their predecessors.
(Second Payment of a $100,000 grant)
Pays America $55,000
Boston, MA
This grant was given for support of the Pay As You Save (PAYS) Northeast Program Launch. The PAYS program overcomes market barriers to the use of energy efficient technology by providing this technology to homeowners and businesses at no upfront cost. PAYS uses the long run savings resulting from decreased energy usage to recover the initial cost of the investment. This system additionally benefits the consumer through immediate lower energy bills. The program launch will be used to demonstrate and promote this promising way to significantly increase the use of energy saving technology in American homes and businesses. PAYS America, working with Energy Efficient Institute and Pace Energy Project will conduct extensive outreach, education, and market assessments in at least five states in the Northeast. Ultimately PAYS systems will be designed, approved and implemented in up to three states. This involves working with regulators, capital providers, and others to ensure a comprehensive implementation plan including training, marketing, billing functions, certifications standards, etc. In the third year of the project, building on the New England experience, PAYS will be introduced in other regions of the county with an eye towards replication. Members of the PAYS team will generate nation-wide attention and momentum for PAYS. The likelihood of ever-increasing energy prices will also help insure public interest in innovative solutions and help nationally advance this promising model.
(First Payment of a $85,000 grant)
Rainforest Alliance $50,000
New York, NY
A grant for the pilot project “Strengthening Demand for Sustainably Harvested Wood for National Green Building”. The Rainforest Alliance will utilize this grant to provide technical support to a small national network of environmental organizations working regionally to facilitate the incorporation of environmentally certified wood products into new buildings. Specifically this effort is focused on advocating for the use of these sustainable wood products in the one-year pilot testing of new “green” building standards for residential homes. During this pilot, the Alliance’s technical support will aid builders in accessing certified wood products by helping to identify sources, advancing methods to establish distribution, etc. The Alliance will also aggressively work nationally with the entities involved in the standard setting from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) to the USGBC (United States Green Building Council), which has launched the one-year pilot of LEED-H (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System for residential home building. A successful pilot program will result in an accessible, self-sustaining supply of certified wood available across the country.
(First Payment of a $75,000 grant)
2004
Grants Paid During 2004
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Center for Whole Communities $40,000
Fayston, VT
Seed funding to rollout the Center’s new cutting-edge model land conservation measurement and e valuation tool, Measures of Health. This tool (which provides a set of selection criteria to guide land conservation groups in determining why and for whom they are protecting land), having been developed and tested, will now be nationally disseminated. Intensive training and support will be provided to early innovator organizations in land conservation. A best practice handbook will be published, a website developed, and the model will be updated with detailed regional case studies.
(First Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Earth Pledge Foundation $10,000
New York, NY
In support of BIOGAS–Bringing Innovative Garbage Answers to Society. The grant will help pilot the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology in America by designing and constructing three demonstration anaerobic digesters: one at a food pantry, another at a public school and the third in a public housing project. AD uses airtight tanks where bacteria breakdown organic waste into compost and useful gas. In addition to the pilot sites, a hands-on environmental science curriculum to teach students and the public the science and benefits of AD and raise awareness will be developed for use at AD facilities through the country in a variety of settings. Knowledge gained from the pilot phase will be used to accelerate the replication of other AD facilities in NYC and around the country.
(Second Payment of a $55,000 grant)
Marine Conservation Biology Institute $60,000
Redmond, WA
For the project, “From Sea to Shining Sea: The First Map of the Real United States.” Conceived and coordinated by MCBI in close partnership with the National Geographic Society, SKYTRUTH and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), this project creates a new map showing not only the 3.6 million square miles of the USA above sea level but also the 4.4 million square miles of ocean under US jurisdiction. Combined with a teacher’s guide and web materials, the map will be distributed to teachers across the country. “Virtual” teacher workshops will be conducted. This project will fundamentally change how the oceans will be perceived by the next generation of environmentalists. The map will show the rich topography, place names, and boundaries of the oceans under USA control, as well as present compelling ecological stories and the conservation status of key places in the oceans such as the Hudson Canyon and Georges Bank.
Natural Resources Defense Council $50,000
New York, NY
For the environmental advocacy education and training initiative. At the heart of this effort is the creation and publication of the definitive guidebook for environmental leaders. The book provides an intellectual foundation for this work (values, principles, and history) discusses the characteristics needed to successfully do it, presents the basic tools it requires, and exposes the reader to strategies and tactics. Addressing the need for hands-on environmental advocacy training, the project develops a training session that will be offered in partnership with local and state organizations in five key states. At least 250 future environmental leaders will receive this “must have” practical education. This unprecedented career-shaping training combined with this first-ever book, will provide emerging environmental leaders both practical tools and proven tactics and well-equip them to build in the work of their predecessors.
(First Payment of a $100,000 grant)
Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies $20,000
Redmond, WA
In support of the Green CDC Initiative, a model to engage and support CDC’s (Community Development Corporations) in green development planning and implementation. Funds will fully develop the model in Massachusetts and then disseminate it to other states and regions around the country. The purpose of this grant is to turn the robust CDC sector into a force for “green” (environmentally friendly) development.
(Final Payment of a $60,000 grant)
2003
Grants Paid During 2003
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Earth Pledge Foundation $40,000
New York, NY
In support of BIOGAS–Bringing Innovative Garbage Answers to Society. The grant will help pilot the use of anaerobic digestion (AD) technology in America by designing and constructing three demonstration anaerobic digesters: one at a food pantry, another at a public school and the third in a public housing project. AD uses airtight tanks where bacteria breakdown organic waste into compost and useful gas. In addition to the pilot sites, a hands-on environmental science curriculum to teach students and the public the science and benefits of AD and raise awareness will be developed for use at AD facilities through the country in a variety of settings. Knowledge gained from the pilot phase will be used to accelerate the replication of other AD facilities in NYC and around the country.
(First Payment of a $55,000 grant)
InterVol $45,000
Rochester, NY
To support the replication of InterVol’s medical waste reduction program throughout the United States. Funds will be used to create and disseminate information to recruit and train sponsors interested in operating an InterVol program in their area. InterVol’s program operates in two ways: reduction of waste through education and reduction through the collection and redistribution of supplies and equipment disposed of due to regulation or obsolescence.
(First Payment of a $60,000 grant)
New England Science Center Collaborative $10,000
Audubon Society of New Hampshire
Bethlehem, NH
For the New England Science Center Collaborative (a project of the Audubon Society of NH) to articulate, test, and prepare for dissemination its model for linking research institutions with science centers to educate the public about climate change, and potentially, other current issues in science and environmental policy. The model that has been used in New England will be captured in a case study that identifies the keys to its success that could be applicable in other regions. The model will then be piloted in North Carolina to test its replicability. The result will be a field tested model that can then be applied to other regions of the country.
(Final Payment of a $65,000 grant)
Oregon Water Trust $5,000
Portland, OR
Building a Water Trust Movement: Enhancing Abilities of Conservation Buyers to Complete Environmental Water Transactions in the Pacific Northwest. The goal of this grant is to launch a water trust movement, beginning by developing and regionally testing its model in the Pacific Northwest.
(Final Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Tellus Institute for Resource and Environmental Strategies $40,000
Boston, MA
In support of the Green CDC Initiative, a model to engage and support CDC’s (Community Development Corporations) in green development planning and implementation. Funds will fully develop the model in Massachusetts and then disseminate it to other states and regions around the country. The purpose of this grant is to turn the robust CDC sector into a force for “green” (environmentally friendly) development.
(First Payment of a $60,000 grant)
The Trust for Public Land $10,000
Boston, MA
Seed funding for their National Tribal Lands Program to launch a national land conservation movement among American Indian tribes. Based on its initial success on a pilot basis in only a few states, the Trust for Public Land now seeks to create a truly national program to advance land conservation of tribal lands. A national staff will be put in place to increase the protection of these lands through education, technical assistance to tribes, and research and development of land protection strategies that work for tribes. The project leverages TPL’s staff of over 400 and its over 40 offices around the country by facilitating their ability to partner with tribes to conserve tribal land.
(Final Payment of a $40,000 grant)
2002
Grants Paid During 2002
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Clean Air – Cool Planet $20,000
Portsmouth, NH
For Clean Air-Cool Planet’s model Business and Community Partnership Program. Through outreach, information, and technical assistance, this pilot program seeks to establish a national model to engage large and small businesses in addressing the problem of global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
(Final Payment of a $60,000 grant)
New New England Science Center Collaborative $55,000
Audubon Society of New Hampshire
Bethlehem, NH
For the New England Science Center Collaborative (a project of the Audubon Society of NH) to articulate, test, and prepare for dissemination its model for linking research institutions with science centers to educate the public about climate change, and potentially, other current issues in science and environmental policy. The model that has been used in New England will be captured in a case study that identifies the keys to its success that could be applicable in other regions. The model will then be piloted in North Carolina to test its replicability. The result will be a field-tested model that can then be applied to other regions of the country.
(First Payment of a $65,000 grant)
Oregon Water Trust $30,000
Portland, OR
Building a Water Trust Movement: Enhancing Abilities of Conservation Buyers to Complete Environmental Water Transactions in the Pacific Northwest. The goal of this grant is to launch a water trust movement, beginning by developing and regionally testing its model in the Pacific Northwest.
(Second Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Partnership for Parks $25,000
New York, NY
To create “Green List,” a national model for technologically linking and building grassroots constituencies around a particular public policy issue. Technology has yet to be used by environmental groups to link up their collective memberships (which number in the hundreds of thousands) to more easily and cheaply exchange information with all their constituencies and to organize them into an effective force.
(Final Payment of a $55,000 grant)
Scenic America $20,000
Washington, DC
To produce and distribute Scenic Solutions, a CD-ROM featuring case studies and examples of the latest scenic conservation best practices from across the country. Over 3,000 CDs will be distributed to citizen activists, land trusts, state and federal agencies, state and national conservation organizations, and professional design organizations. The techniques and solutions made accessible using this interactive technology will provide communities the tools they need to protect and enhance their visual quality and their natural and cultural resources.
Shelburne Farms $5,000
Shelburne, VT
To develop and disseminate a model environmental education program for use in schools located near public forest lands to utilize these natural resources as effective teaching tools for increasing environmental understanding and to create an informed future constituency to insure long-term forest stewardship.
(First Payment of a $40,000 grant)
The Trust for Public Land $30,000
Boston, MA
Seed funding for their National Tribal Lands Program to launch a national land conservation movement among American Indian tribes. Based on its initial success on a pilot basis in only a few states, the Trust for Public land now seeks to create a truly national program to advance land conservation of tribal lands. A national staff will be put in place to increase the protection of these lands through education, technical assistance to tribes, research and development of land protection strategies that work for tribes. The project leverages TPL’s staff of over 400 and its over 40 offices around the country, by facilitating their ability to partner with tribes to conserve tribal land.
(First Payment of a $40,000 grant)
Vermont Forum on Sprawl $5,000
Burlington, VT
For the Vermont State Report Card on Smart Growth: A National Model. The Report Card will be a national model for empowering states, communities and citizens to change state spending and regulatory practices from promoting sprawl development to supporting smart growth that protects the environment, revitalizes downtowns and village centers and encourages agriculture and forestry.
(Final Payment of a $40,000 grant)
2001
Grants Paid During 2001
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
Clean Air – Cool Planet $40,000
Portsmouth, NH
For Clean Air-Cool Planet’s model Business and Community Partnership Program. Through outreach, information, and technical assistance, this pilot program seeks to establish a national model to engage large and small businesses in addressing the problem of global warming through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
(First Payment of a $60,000 grant)
NatureRail
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy $20,000
New York, NY
To launch NatureRail, a new environmental initiative seeking to advance the rediscovery and public appreciation and appropriate use of green lands along the railroad corridors that criss-cross every major metropolitan area in America. This environmentally sensitive, diverse, and biologically abundant land (much of it along stream corridors or through wetlands were the flat land made it cheaper to run railroads) constitutes an urban area wilderness with the potential of becoming an urban Appalachian trail.
(Final Payment of a $60,000 grant)
New England Forestry $40,000
Groton, MA
To develop and disseminate a model monitoring protocol for large-scale forest conservation easements using the Pingree Forest Conservation Easement in Maine as the pilot.
Oregon Water Trust $40,000
Portland, OR
For building a Water Trust Movement: Enhancing Abilities of Conservation Buyers to Complete Environmental Water Transactions in the Pacific Northwest. The goal of this grant is to launch a water trust movement to promote the use of voluntary, market-based techniques such as the purchase, lease or donation of water rights to protect and restore environmental uses of water. A model approach will be developed and regionally tested in the Pacific Northwest and then nationally disseminated
(First Payment of a $75,000 grant)
Partnership for Parks
City Parks Foundation $30,000
New York, NY
To create “Green List,” a national model for technologically linking and building grassroots constituencies around a particular public policy issue. Technology will be used by environmental groups to link up their collective memberships (which number in the hundreds of thousands) to more easily and cheaply exchange information with all their constituencies and to organize them into an effective force.
(First Payment of a $55,000 grant)
Shelburne Farms $15,000
Shelburne, VT
To develop and disseminate a model environmental education program for use in schools located near public forest lands to utilize this natural resource as an effective teaching tool for increasing environmental understanding and to create an informed future constituency to insure long-term forest stewardship.
(Second Payment of a $60,000 grant)
Vermont Forum on Sprawl $35,000
Burlington, VT
For the Vermont State Report Card on Smart Growth: A National Model, a national model for empowering states, communities and citizens to change state spending and regulatory practices from promoting sprawl development to supporting smart growth that protects the environment, revitalizes downtowns and village centers and encourages agriculture and forestry. The report card provides a methodology to evaluate in a particular state how state spending, policies, and regulatory practice are either encouraging sprawl or advancing environmental sensitive growth practices.
(First Payment of a $40,000 grant)
2000
Grants Paid During 2000
Including Payments for Grants Approved in Prior Years
American Community Gardening Association $25,000
Berkeley, CA
To develop the Growing Communities Curriculum to train a new generation of community organizers in how to use community gardens to cultivate activists in low-income communities, and to enhance the power of local community members to have a positive impact on their own lives and on the urban environment. The Curriculum will, for the first time, pull together best practices, expertise, and models from the community garden movement’s collective experience and wisdom and test, evaluate, and widely distribute this information in a form that meets the needs of community gardening groups. The resulting Manual will be in English and Spanish. The Curriculum will greatly enhance the American Community Gardening Association’s (ACGA) own training program as well as be used by organizations around the country. The curriculum will be developed and tested through two “training-the-trainers” workshops involving 60 groups. The Curriculum will be promoted within over 300 gardening organizations around the country.
(Final Payment of a $50,000 grant)
Center for Health, Environment and Justice $15,000
Falls Church, VA
Seed money to launch their Children’s Environmental Health Project, a targeted outreach effort to give individual parents and community groups the information, tools, and networking opportunities they need to take action. The primary goal of this project is to promote grassroots involvement in protecting children from exposure to hazardous chemicals in food, air, soil and drinking water by: researching and writing a guidebook for lay audiences on children’s environmental health risks and the individual or collective actions people can take to protect children; provide ongoing support and assistance to groups and individual parents using the guidebook; using the Internet, including a listserv to disseminate information and to network groups and individuals working on these issues; and conduct briefings in five cities each year where children are at especially high risk from environmental threats.
(Final Payment of a $50,000 grant)
Conservation Partnership
Open Space Institute $25,000
New York, NY
To develop model innovative education and outreach programs linking urban children and families from diverse backgrounds and needs, (including families confronting chronic illness and pain, disabilities, HIV, domestic violence, and pediatric bereavement) with the natural beauty of an adjacent and splendid environmental resource, in this case, the stunning and newly preserved 19,000 acre Sterling Forest in New York. Funding is sought to develop targeted education, public outreach and special programming in three areas: the Teaching, Creative, and Healing Landscapes. Programs will be developed to serve groups as diverse as those dealing with pediatric bereavement, battered women and children, pediatric AIDS, and children with developmental disabilities.
Low Country Open Land Trust $20,000
Charleston, SC
A one-time $20,000 grant for the “2001 Endangered Landscape Strategic Initiative.” Using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology, this model forges a partnership between land conservation and historic preservation organizations to produce a collective strategy for the permanent protection of an entire endangered cultural landscape. This project will create a model for collaborative efforts among conservation and preservation organizations and demonstrate how a land trust (with other conservation groups) can work with preservation organizations to ensure the long term protections of special areas.
NatureRail
Rails-to-Trails $40,000
New York, NY
To advance the rediscovery and public appreciation and appropriate use of green lands along the railroad corridors that criss-cross every major metropolitan area in America. This environmentally sensitive, diverse, and biologically abundant land constitutes an urban area wilderness with the potential of becoming an urban Appalachian trail. NatureRail promises to be a special type of nonprofit initiative–small, flexible, highly strategic, with no permanent staff. It is being created to achieve public awareness of the value and potential of this unrecognized and hidden environmental asset and to advance model national demonstration projects illustrating how this wilderness in the city can be used for environmental, recreation, inspirational, and community-building purposes.
(First Payment of a $60,000 grant)
Resource Renewal Institute $5,000
Delmar, NY
To establish a green plan for the State of New York as a national demonstration model of how to implement comprehensive environmental management. Based on a model pioneered and operating in the Netherlands, a green plan is a highly cooperative strategy for solving environmental problems by performance-driven covenants between government and all sectors of the economy instead of the present short-term, single-issue, conflict-based approach whose success at actually improving environmental quality is coming under increasing questioning by environmentalists and business. Year one will build support for this new approach to addressing environmental issues working with business, government and non-governmental organizations. Year two will focus on creating a formal process for developing a green plan in the state, and year three will be devoted to the creating and implementation of the plan in New York State and sharing the model beyond its borders.
(Final Payment of a $50,000 grant)
Reuse Development Organization, Inc. (ReDo) $55,000
Indianapolis, IN
To create and make operational a national large donations program. This program will allow for the receipt, processing and distribution of vast quantities of surplus items (ranging from building materials, to medical supplies, food, equipment, and household items) donated in quantities too large for any single reuse center to warehouse. Having identified this problem and the opportunity it presents, ReDo seeks to create and implement a new national program that can facilitate donations (coordinating, pick-up, distribution, etc.) The result will be the redirection of vast quantities of materials out of the waste stream and into the hands of organizations all across the country who can put this surplus material to good use.
Shelburne Farms $40,000
Shelburne, VT
To develop and disseminate a model environmental education program for use in schools located near public forest lands to utilize these natural resources as effective teaching tools for increasing environmental understanding and to create an informed future constituency to insure long-term forest stewardship. The program will educate teachers working in communities neighboring public forest lands about forest stewardship issues and provide them tools to develop curricula meeting state and national educational standards. A program will be designed, piloted, evaluated, refined and then in partnership with others (including established educational programs of the National Park Service and the National Forest Service), nationally disseminated. Through this model, classroom teachers will be linked to current research and resource specialists and receive resources and training to effectively integrate natural resources issues and concepts into curricula while meeting educational standards.
(First Payment of a $60,000 grant)
Southern Environmental Law Center $25,000
Charlottesville, VA
To launch its River Recovery Project, an effort to create model river clean-up strategies that can be used locally, regionally and nationally to achieve real results for the most polluted rivers in the country. Ignored for nearly 30 years, requirements under the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act are beginning to reinvigorate a national program to clean up polluted rivers and make this proposal particularly timely. Working with local partners, SELC will promote model multi-faceted approaches, including the development of watershed restoration plans. Having developed these model approaches in the South, home to some of the nation’s most important water resources,they will be available to assist river clean-up across the country. SELC will help organize and work with local coalitions; assist groups in getting technical help; educate the public; and pressure decision-makers to fund clean-up efforts.
The Watershed Institute Boston College $20,000
Chestnut Hill, MA
To develop the Urban Ecology Field Study Program, a model for helping urban youth attain positions of environmental leadership in their local communities, from a pilot project in Boston to a national model. The program links urban public high school students to their own communities through long-term field studies including environmental research and restoration projects. It is specifically focused on urban school systems and recognizes the value of urban ecosystems. The grant will help the Institute develop its national expansion strategy and implement it. To replicate the program, a handbook will be produced, teachers will be trained, national outreach will be conducted, and three additional schools systems in other cities will be selected and the project replicated as a test of the national replication strategy which will then position the Institute to disseminate the program nationally.
(Final Payment of a $40,000 grant)
The Wilderness Society $20,000
Washington, DC
To help establish the new national Wilderness Support Center in Durango, CO as a resource to assist the resurgence of the grassroots movement for wilderness protection. The Center will provide emerging statewide wilderness campaigns with the hands-on assistance, new tools, organizing, outreach, media, political expertise and public education skills they need. Serious wilderness work is happening in 20 states, often led by a new younger generation of advocates. This center will help them develop well-organized strategies; enhance communication and information-sharing throughout the wilderness movement, and provide hands-on, site specific assistance and training to grassroots activists across the nation-at key moments in key places. The Center will bring to these new advocates the knowledge and experience of those who have worked on historically successful wilderness campaigns combined with the best current knowledge on strategy and tactics.
(Final Payment of a $50,000 grant)