FLAGSTAFF — The City of Flagstaff Sustainability Office and Sustainability Commission are pleased to announce this year’s Neighborhood Sustainability Grant recipients. The Neighborhood Sustainability Grant program is an annual grant opportunity for Flagstaff individuals, organizations, and businesses to continue or implement new community sustainability projects. This year, 13 of an impressive 31 applicants received grant funding in amounts ranging from $2,150 to $7,500.
The following are a sampling of the 2023 grant awardees:
- Community Assistance Teams of Flagstaff (C.A.Ts) will expand their People at Work (PAW) program to provide opportunities for unemployed and unsheltered relatives to learn skills and earn income by converting construction waste into usable items for sale.
- Flagstaff Community Market will purchase leftover wholesale food after Sunday community markets from local food producers and supply needed produce to the local nonprofit Flagstaff Family Food Center.
- Thaddeus Cates and The Factory will establish a permaculture community garden and educational space in southeast Flagstaff.
- Restoration Soils will provide high-value compost from their industrial composting facility for use in community and school gardens.
- Flagstaff Shelter Service’s Bike Program will install bike racks and provide bike education to clients at their Crown location.
- Flagstaff Family Food Center will reduce food waste from the FFFC kitchen through composting and provide educational workshop opportunities to the community.
- Lily of the Field will continue to organize an eastside Saturday community market.
- Flagstaff Junior Academy plans to create an educational garden for students and community members on their new campus.
- Northland Hospice & Palliative Care will expand their garden and add a pollinator garden to offer hospice patients natural space and healthy fresh food.
- Alexi Kimiatek, in partnership with City Parks Recreation, Open Space and Events and Beautification, will establish an accessible community fruit orchard at Bushmaster Park.
To view the full list of this year’s funded projects, visit flagstaff.az.gov/NSG.
The Sustainability Commission, which is made up of seven Flagstaff resident volunteers, reviewed the applications and scored them based on the given grant guidelines and scoring rubric. Applications are typically due in September each year. Across over a decade of the grant, sixty-three projects have been funded in the City of Flagstaff.
For related questions, please contact Tia Hatton, City of Flagstaff Sustainability Coordinator, at tia.hatton@flagstaffaz.gov or 928-666-0988.