Grantees

LARGE GRANTS:

Solar Youth: A $10,000 grant from the GNH Green Fund will allow Solar Youth to expand its Citycology program to a third neighborhood starting in the spring of 2012. As the organization states in its letter of intent, “Citycology is a core program of, and main entry point into, Solar Youth’s ‘Cycle of Stewardship,’ a menu of programs through which youth from New Haven’s low income communities develop core personal and social developmental skills starting at a young age, build on their experiences, maintain relationships, progressively gain more leadership skills, become positive change agents in their environments, and then serve as role models for younger children. Like all Solar Youth programs, the main goal of Citycology is to nurture youth who are happy, healthy, community-oriented and environmentally conscious.”

New Haven Land Trust: A $10,000 grant from the GNH Green Fund will allow the New Haven Land Trust to restore full public access to its Long Wharf Nature Preserve by repairing stone dust paths through the preserve, rebuilding a footbridge washed away by Tropical Storm Irene, and developing new interpretive signs. The Land Trust will use this project to strengthen ties to the nearby Sound School, involve a wider range of citizens in the upkeep of the preserve, and allow more people to use the preserve, both as a destination and as a connection between neighborhoods.

Common Ground High School: A $9000 grant from the GNH Green Fund will help Common Ground High School incorporate applied, community-based projects into upper-level courses.

Connecticut Fund for the Environment/Save the Sound: $9000 from the GNH Green Fund will help CFE/Save the Sound to develop a set of online tools to help homeowners and small business owners through the process of designing and intalling small-scale, on-site treatment for urban stormwater runoff generated by their rooftops, driveways, and parking lots. Runoff is the #1 source of water pollution in the United States. This program will help environmentally conscious New Haveners address their contribution to Long Island Sound pollution while serving as an example to their neighbors.

SMALL GRANTS:

Quinnipiac River Watershed Association: A $3000 grant from the GNH Green Fund will allow the Quinnipiac River Watershed Association to develop material for and host breakfast meetings to educate New Haven, North Haven, and Wallingford public works crews on what they can do to help protect the Quinnipiac River by avoiding damage to steamside vegetation.

West River Neighborhood Association: $3000 from the GNH Green Fund will help the West River Neighborhood Association to develop a community garden in cooperation with the Barnard Environmental Studies Magnet School.

Quinnipiac University: $2130 from the GNH Green Fund will support research to measure levels of a common industrial-related organic pollutant at several sites along the Quinnipiac River.

New Haven/Leon Sister Cities Project: Transportation accounts for the lion’s share of greenhouse gas emissions in Connecticut. $2000 from the GNH Green Fund will support a public outreach campaign from the Sister Cities Project to assist New Haven residents in addopting more environmentally friendly commuting habits.