The TogetherGreen Initiative, created by Audobon and supported by Toyota, announced the first winners of the TogetherGreen Conservation Innovation Grants. The first round of grants totals $1.4 million and will aid 41 projects in 24 states.

TogetherGreen winners were selected from more than 120 applicants across the U.S. and share the common quality of an innovate approach to handling environmental problems. The projects receiving funding include:
 

• Engaging low-income students in middle schools to devise and implement energy saving plans (Denver, Colorado)
• Constructing gardens to stem storm water overflows that carry pollutants and disease-laden sewage into homes and waterways (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• Involving the public in hands-on strategies for restoring vanishing wetlands vital to flood control (coastal Louisiana)
• Reducing bird fatalities caused by their attraction to the lights in high-rise buildings (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

A full list of projects receiving funding is available from the TogetherGreen website. Projects that provide solutions for inner-city and non-English speaking communities received special attention; the TogetherGreen Initiative has committed itself to funding initiatives for groups that are underserved by most environmental resources. Grant recipients were selected by a committee made up of leaders from academic, environmental and non-profit communities.

"Our biggest environmental problems can't be solved unless we engage people from every ethnic, racial and economic community that makes up America and help them realize their power to make a difference in their own communities," said John Flicker, Audobon's president, in a press release. "These TogetherGreen Innovation Grants help local groups to engage people and to start achieving tangible conservation results at the same time."

The projects selected by TogetherGreen will receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $68,000 — with lower amounts earmarked for promising proposals that will need additional support in the future. The grants also leveraged approximately $4.5 million in matching and in-kind support. Audobon will be teaming a local chapter or unit of its national network with each winning organization in order to better use the resources of both groups for its objectives of public engagement and environmental enhancement.

Audobon and Toyota launched the TogetherGreen Initiative earlier this year. The plan is a five-year commitment to provide conservation projects with funding, train leaders for environmental initiatives and create volunteer opportunities on environmental projects. Beyond its series of grants, TogetherGreen has already created community volunteer days in over 40 cities. Toyota provided a $20 million gift to Audobon to fund the program — the largest such gift in Audobon's two century-history.

Image — TogtherGreen