Vancouver supports 150 projects in first year of Greenest City Fund

Vancouver’s Greenest City Fund has made grants totalling CAD$538,492 (US$529,891) and supported 150 projects, since its launch last year, reinforcing the city’s Greenest City Action Plan. The grants have assisted initiatives that include helping families connect to nature near their home, making small businesses more energy efficient, holding bike skills courses for low-income individuals, and creating a sustainable, community-supported fishery for Vancouver.

“Each grant category has been over-subscribed, and we are very encouraged by the public support and participation in the projects, from green jobs to waste reduction to energy efficiency,” said Mayor Gregor Robertson. “This year, we want to encourage even more people to get involved and raise awareness about our Greenest City goals.”

The Greenest City Fund is a unique, four-year partnership between the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Foundation that is designed to help Vancouver become the greenest city in the world by 2020. In April 2012, both organisations contributed CAD$1 million each to create the Fund.

“One of the important features of the Greenest City Fund is that it provides an opportunity for the entire community to be involved,” said Faye Wightman, President and CEO of Vancouver Foundation. “There are youth-led projects, projects led by neighbourhoods and individual residents, and ones led by community groups. This has resulted in an amazing diversity of projects, from restoring parts of Stanley Park, to helping neighbourhoods reduce their ecological footprint, to growing urban orchards.”

The Greenest City Fund comprises three granting programmes: Generation Green Grants, which fund youth-led projects; Greenest City Neighbourhood Small Grants, which fund projects created by Vancouver residents that benefit their neighbourhood; and Greenest City Community Grants, which fund Vancouver projects led by community-based charitable organisations.