Friday, May 29, 2009

We Received a Vermiculture Grant from the City!

Portland Recycles! Small Grants Program funds 21 community organizations


 

Asian Pacific American Senior Coalition (APASC): Promoting Sustainability in the Asian Pacific American Community. Projects focus on increasing knowledge of recycling practices and the reduction of waste in the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. Purchase durable tableware from second hand stores for use at the Fook Lok Hollywood Loaves and Fishes program. Offer door-to-door educational training and demonstration program within homes of Asian American community members in SE Portland.

 

Center for Environmental Equity (CEE): Clean-to-Green.  Public education projects offer interactive workshops for targeted households regarding proper recycling and disposal of hazardous household wastes and utilizing low-cost, low-toxic alternatives.

 

***Columbia Ecovillage: Large Scale Vermiculture for the Columbia Ecovillage. Urban co-housing community will utilize large scale composting system to handle 60 residents' food scraps.  Offers educational opportunity to tour groups.***

 

Historic Kenton Firehouse Committee: Composting with North Portland community groups. Neighborhood Coalition partnering with North Portland Tool Library to implement composting at Historic Kenton Firehouse rental and office spaces. Includes educational workshops and signage for site.

 

Holy Redeemer Catholic School: Holy Redeemer Recycles!  Students and staff play active roles in creating and maintaining green programs. Funds will be used to upgrade the lunch program at school by purchasing durable utensils and bowls that will replace plastic and paper currently being used.

 

Impact NW (formerly Portland Impact): Save a Plate, Save the Earth. Congregate Housing Services Program (CHSP) provides eight meals a week to an average 90 seniors and adults with disabilities residing in public housing. Funds will be used to replace foam delivery trays that are disposed in the garbage with reusable, insulated meal delivery containers.

 

Jackson Middle School: Jackson Middle School Logo Bottles.  School-wide campaign to decrease plastic water bottles being discarded by the Jackson community. Funds will be used to purchase logo bottles that will be advertised and sold daily at the school and at special events.

 

King School PTA: Reusable Flatware. This is an initial project for greening the King School community by replacing the use of disposable eating utensils at the school. Currently use non-recyclable flatware that creates a large amount of waste.

 

Montavilla Farmers Market: Durable Dish "Vendor of the Week" Pilot Program. Pilot project to declare August "durable dish" month at the Montavilla Farmers' Market. Durable dishes will replace disposable service ware for one rotating ready-to-eat vendor each week during the month of August (5 total). This pilot will result in data and documented experience using durable dishes in a public, outdoor setting that can be shared with other groups for events. 

Northeast Portland Tool Library: Neighborhood Tool Sharing for Economy and Ecology.  Helps residents borrow and share home-repair tools instead of purchasing them. Offers workshops that teach people how to repair and remodel their existing homes. Funds will be used to increase tools for lending. Partners with other groups for a series of workshops promoting recycling, waste reduction or other sustainability themes.

 

Oregon Green School @ Laurelhurst: Vermicomposting of Edible Garden Waste at Laurelhurst K-8 School.  Funds will be used to extend current school-wide edible garden by supplying compost bins and books to support efforts to expand green program and educate students about the environmental benefits of composting.

 

Oregon Tradeswomen, Inc.: Building Girls Go Green at Emerson Garden.  Project will provide middle school girls with the opportunity to work as a team on building a community garden shed and raised garden beds to benefit the residents of the King neighborhood in NE Portland. The girls will learn about recycling, waste reduction and bio-remediation of contaminated land at Emerson Garden.

 

Our United Villages: Community Outreach. Purchase durable dishes for various community events held or hosted at the Our United Villages space where people come together, discover their common interests and develop their ideas that benefit the community as a whole.

 

Portland Community Reinvestment Initiative, Inc (PCRI): PCRI E-Newsletter Project.  PCRI residents are low-to-moderate income families of diverse backgrounds. Quarterly newsletter sent to families living in PCRI housing will now be produced electronically.  Result in 90% savings over hard copy version, reducing need for paper and ink.

 

Rigler K-8 School: Rigler School Waste Reduction. Rigler K-8 School has strong gardening and recycling program that has been supported by the local community.  Rigler's SUN program includes gardening and composting and funds will help expand the program to offer more food from the garden and increase amount of waste composted. Funds will also replace plastic and Styrofoam with durable trays and flatware.

 

St George Antiochian Orthodox Christian Church: Durable Dish Project. Grant funds will target entire parish population and frequent visitors by providing durable dishes for church related events. Signage will appear in three languages (English, Arabic and Russian) and target the large immigrant community who attends this church.

 

Swapnplay: Swapnplay Home Library. Swapnplay is a cooperative organization that exists to build community while reducing dependence on new goods through the sharing of resources. Funds will support the Household Goods Library that includes durables for events and food preservation equipment.

 

Sylvania Environmental Center (Portland Community College): Vermiculture Project.  Grant will fund construction of composting worm bin to contribute to the Vermiculture Project on PCC Sylvania campus and the Science and Engineering Department. Increase program to handle capacity of food generated through cafeteria in sturdy structures designed and built by students of the Environmental Center.

 

The Ainsworth Street Collective: Ainsworth Street Collective Shared Resources & Waste Reduction.  The primary aim of the Ainsworth Street Collective is to create a neighborhood dedicated to sustainable living, working together to develop a self-reliant community. Host and attend monthly gatherings as potluck/social events and gardening group. Purchasing durable dishes for monthly gatherings and food preservation equipment.

 

The Collective of Geniuses (CoG): The CoG Reclamation Factory.  Goal is to support emerging and disenfranchised artists through environmentally and socially sustainable means. Multifaceted project that incorporates purchasing equipment and reusing materials to create notebooks, sketch pads, greeting cards and other paper items.

 

Whole Child Montessori Center: Waste Watchers.  Hands-on way for young children (3-6 years old) to explore what gets wasted and how waste can be seen as potential new products. Purchase worm bin, composter and books to create Waste Watchers program.


1 comment: